Kashagi Nano Loan Update

So in the past two articles have been reviewing the Kashagi Nano Loan service by Stewart Bank. When I used the service, it was still very new and as expected with a new service it had a lot of kinks that had to be ironed out for it to be operate optimally. You can read more on my previous articles.

A friend and workmate of mine recently used the service and when he was narrating his experience I realized that the product has received some improvements and modifications to make it more effective and convenient. I could not test for myself as I suspect I have been blacklisted due to my delay in repaying the loan, read my last article for more details.  

My major complaint with the whole service was that you were forced to open an iSave account with Stewart Bank first where the loan would be deposited into. This to me was ridiculous and strenuous given I had to visit the banking halls and have an extra bank account which I did not need, on top of all that Stewart Bank is part of Econet which owns Ecocash; the biggest mobile money platform in the country, why were they not using that and save their customers a lot of time. As I conversed with my colleague asking him questions I realized that they removed the iSave requirement and now the money gets deposited into one's Ecocash account, Finally!!!. That alone will make the service much more efficient and effective. One can now truly apply for Kashagi and have the money at his/her disposal in 60seconds as advertised!.

My other complaint was on the issue of  how to repay the loan. When I was trying to repay the loan again it gave me no option to pay using Ecocash!! Had not linked my iSave account to Ecocash and was not going to travel to the bank to do so, this was a Bank Account i did not want in the first place. I kept the money in my Ecocash just in case and to my surprise, a week after the deadline they deducted their money from my Ecocash wallet!!! Baffling isn't it. Have now learnt that they have included an option to pay via Ecocash, again Finally!!!. 

Now all may seem perfect but not yet. The day I had the conversation with my colleague I had just drove him to the nearest Econet shop from work because after he had paid his nano loan, they also deducted that same amount from his Ecocash. The explanation he was given was that he should have  not paid the funds on his own, their system will deduct from the borrower's Ecocash wallet when its due!!!! again...WHHHHHAAAAAAAT!. So does this mean you cannot clear you nano loan earlier??? Hope someone at Stewart Bank clarifies that. So he was advised to expect his refund in the next couple of hours, unfortunately got occupied and forgot to follow up as to whether he had gotten his funds before end of day.

In conclusion, the Kashagi Nano Loan service is good and if handled well can disrupt the micro finance industry. However the service itself needs to be polished ensuring that its convenient for a client to borrow and repay. Love the fact that they removed the iSave account, that move alone has removed a lot of inconveniences but more needs to be done especially when it comes to repaying the loan.

Yours Truly

A Zimbo Who Loves Innovation