Fuliza has disbursed 81 billion in the six months between January 2019 and June 30. According to a recently released 2019 report which covers fiscal year of 01 April 2018 to 31 March 2019, 10.7 million opt-in customers use the service out of the total 22.6 million M-Pesa subscribers. Simply put, out of two M-Pesa users, there is a high likelihood that one uses Fuliza.
Safaricom’s mobile overdraft service is the world’s first contextual mobile overdraft facility. The service allows M-Pesa customers to complete transactions when they have insufficient funds in their account.
A customer can use Fuliza to send Money, Pay bills and Buy goods through the Lipa na M-Pesa option. However, a user cannot withdraw the funds from their account like other Safaricom loan services.
Fuliza’s statistics are a reflection of Kenyans’ borrowing habits. The service processes 12 overdrafts per second.
The idea behind this service stemmed from a study that showed that up to 58% of M-Pesa transactions failed due to insufficient funds.
Fuliza charges a 1% access fee and a maintenance charge that varies depending on the amount borrowed. The service automatically deducts fund deposited in a customers’ M-Pesa account to settle the outstanding overdraft.
