By M&M Team
Mobile loan apps have come in handy for Kenyan borrowers since September 2016 when banks cut off unsecured loans following the entry into force of interest rate capping.
But navigating through the mobile loans apps world for the best offers is time consuming and energy surping.
In this article our writers have narrowed down to five key reasons that will make you love mKey loans.
The app was launched on September 3, 2018 by Finserve, a fintech firm owned by Equity Group Holdings.
Time saving
Every borrower wishes to take the shortest time between they apply for a loan and when the loan is disbursed.
But the reality in Kenya is that borrowing can be very frustrating when you have an urgent need.
The shortest turnaround time is usually between 7-14 working days. This has been the case since the coming into force of the interest rate capping law in 2016 that forced most banks to withdraw overdraft services to keep risks down.
Mobile loan apps that have taken over micro lending since the interest rate capping came with a promise of faster loan approvals and disbursement.
While they have significantly shorter turnaround time compared to banks, it is mKey app that takes the award for the shortest turnaround time.
Loans approvals and disbursements mKey are done in a fraction of a minute; 10 seconds.
Essentially, this makes it the best loan app if you are borrowing to finance an emergency needs or funding small business operations.
mKey is more than a loan app
Most loan apps only have the lending capability. Therefore the relationship the mobile loan only app is exactly like that of a borrower and a loan shark where the borrower is always on the losing side.
mKey changes all that with its versatile capabilities. The app allows users to make savings in the digital wallet that can hold up to Sh999,999. The user can then transfer the funds to their bank accounts in any of the 46 licensed banks.
mKey users can also use the savings to fund business operations including paying for supplies, paying staff wages and salaries as well paying rents.
Besides, users can use their savings to pay their medical insurance premiums, power and water bills and residential rents.
The beauty of it that the savings and transfer transactions build on the user’s credit profile and will increase the loan value they can get from the app.
What this means is that a user can qualify for very high loan values depending on the frequency and value of non-credit transactions on the app.
In other apps, the only thing that determines whether one can get higher loan value in the second application is the repayment pattern of the previous loan.
3 Low interest
For any borrower, the cost of a loan is a key consideration because it may determine one’s ability to repay.
With the disappearance of bank overdrafts, mobile loans that took over microcredit landed in Kenya with punitive interest rates.
In some apps, the interest charged is not any different from that charged by backstreet loan sharks. In most apps, interest rates range between 11 percent to 25 percent which would translate between 132-300 percent annually.
However, Finserve has set mKey loans interest at between 1-9 percent. The interest charged on a particular loan is dependent on the borrowers status with credit reference bureaus. Poor credit rating means a higher interest rate while good ratings results into a lower interest rate.
In essence, the low interest rates offered by mKey means one can escape the exploitation by many of the older mobile loan apps and still get credit that has dried up in the banks.
Value of the loans
Among borrowers who were most hurt by the disappearance of personal unsecured loans from the banks are small business owners.
Not even the mobile loans apps could serve them because the loan values are too small to meet their business needs.
The highest loan value in the earlier loan apps is Sh 100,000 which can only be attained after repeat borrowing over  a lengthy period of time.
With its higher limit of Sh1 million, mKey answers the need for credit by owners of small business.
Getting the higher value loan only requires one to conduct higher value transactions on mKey which will be picked by the app’s algorithm to analyse the applicants cash flow levels.
Encouraging a personal saving
Saving money to meet future needs is not an easy task. Many people find themselves failing to meet their saving goals because it require a very high level of discipline and also because the lack of gripping incentives.
mKey seeks to change that through an embedded reward scheme. In the reward scheme, the user earns points everytime they put in their digital wallet. The points earn can be redeemed as online shopping vouchers.
Infact its tha easiest way