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Best Loan Apps in Nigeria: Because digital lending companies are now being registered in Nigeria, the government is enforcing registration as a means of cleaning up the microlending industry. With this registration, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) hopes to differentiate between loan sharks, or unlicensed/illegitimate loan apps, and legitimate ones.
The FCCPC reported that as of January 2023, 78 businesses nationwide had obtained full authorization to function as digital lenders. There are now 118 digital lenders under the FCCC’s jurisdiction, with an additional 40 reportedly having received conditional approval from the Commission.
It is sufficient to say that despite the loan sharks’ cunning tactics and unethical methods of loan recovery—which frequently entail blackmailing or publicly harassing their clients—Nigerians have continued to support them.
Interest rates, repayment flexibility, and loan disbursement speed are important factors for Nigerians seeking credit, even though many are unable to discern between approved and denied loan applications.
We have examined ten of the greatest and most popular loan apps in Nigeria, along with the interest rates they provide. Below is a summary of what we discovered.
1. Branch: Branch is a Nigerian online lending platform that provides quick loans. With over 10 million downloads, the app is currently among the most popular in the Google Play Store’s lending category.
The app uses smartphone data from users to determine loan eligibility and generate customised loan offers. Depending on the customer’s risk profile, the app offers monthly interest rates ranging from 3% to 23%.
Depending on your repayment history, you can obtain personal loans with a term of 62 days to a year and an amount between N2,000 and N500,000 in as little as 24 hours.
According to an examination of the interest rate on the app, for example, if you borrowed N60,000 for 62 days at an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 181%, the total amount you would have to pay back would be N78,400 (N60,000 plus N18,400 in interest).
2. FairMoney: Over 10 million people have downloaded FairMoney from the Google Play Store. It provides quick loans in as little as five minutes without requiring any collateral or paperwork. Your smartphone data and repayment history determine the loan amounts.
With repayment terms ranging from 61 days to 18 months and monthly interest rates ranging from 2.5% to 30%, loan amounts vary from N1,500 to N1 million. For example, you may borrow N100,000 for three months, and at the end of the three months, you will have to repay N43,333 each month, for a total repayment of N130,000.
3. Palmcredit: Having been downloaded more than 5 million times from the Google Play Store, the Palmcredit app is among the most popular loan apps in the nation. The lending platform claims that without requiring any collateral, it can grant a speedy loan of up to N300,000 in under three minutes.
The platform states that you can get a quick loan of N10,000 to N300,000 and that you will receive your money in a business day if all of your documentation is correct and complete.
The range of the platform’s Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is 24% to 56%.
For instance, Plamcredit levies a 4% monthly interest rate if you select a 6-month loan and borrow N100,000. Since the interest rate is going to be N24,000 for the next six months, the entire amount due will be N124,000.
4. Carbon: A variety of financial services, such as personal and business loans, payments, fund transfers, credit scoring, savings accounts, and investments, are offered by Carbon, an online platform for financial services. Usually, the Carbon loan application process takes less than five minutes to finish.
Depending on the length of the loan and the amount you want to borrow, their interest rates can range from 2% to 30%. More than a million downloads have been made of the app.
5. Okash: For Nigerian mobile users, Okash is a quick and easy online loan platform run by Blue Ridge Microfinance Bank Limited. OKash provides all of its clients’ financial needs online, around-the-clock. The applicant’s bank account receives the authorised loan amount after a brief and minimally documented application process. The app provides loans with amounts between N3,000 and N500,000 and repayment schedules between 91 and 365 days.
The range of the company is 0.1% to 1%. On the other hand, the Okash interest rate is determined daily, translating into an annual percentage rate (APR) ranging from 36.5% to 360%. More than 5 million downloads have been made of the OKash app.
6. Aella Credit: It only takes five minutes to apply for a loan with Aella Credit. Your credit score can be raised and your credit limit raised without the need for paper documentation if you make your loan payments on time. Just BVN, a smartphone (iOS or Android), and your basic information will do.
Loan amounts range from N2,000 to N1.5 million, with terms of 61 days to 365 days, on the app, which has received over a million downloads. APR for this loan varies from 22% to 266% annually, with monthly interest rates between 2% and 20%.
QuickCheck
7. QuickCheck: With the help of machine learning, the quick loan app QuickCheck can anticipate borrower behaviour and quickly assess loan applications. This app is one of the most popular loan apps in Nigeria with over a million downloads.
Interest rates on QuickCheck loans start as low as 5% per month for the initial loan. With terms ranging from 91 days to a year, loans are available for N1,500 to N500,000. Interest rates range from 2% to 30%, corresponding to a monthly interest rate of 1% to 21%.
8. Umba: Umba has been downloaded more than a million times, just like other well-known loan apps in Nigeria. The lender is extremely proud to be the best digital bank in Africa. Customers can apply for, get, and repay loans using the app directly from their desktop or smartphone.
Umba loans have a maximum and minimum term of 62 days, and a credit amount that ranges from N2,000 to N30,000. The maximum interest rate the business can charge per year is 10%.
9. Newcredit: Another instant loan app with over a million downloads in Nigeria is called Newcredit. Nigerians can apply for N300,000 collateral-free personal loans through the personal loan app. The app analyses potential customers’ financial records using artificial intelligence (AI), including bank transaction SMS on their phones and other lenders’ reports of their creditworthiness.
Loan amounts on the app range from N10,000 to N300,000, with terms of repayment ranging from 91 to 365 days. The business levies a 4% monthly interest rate.
10. Ease Cash: Nigeria’s Ease Cash takes pride in being a safe, dependable, and online lending app. The app has been downloaded over a million times and offers instant loans with a tenure of 91 to 180 days, ranging from N1,000 to N100,000.
In addition to charging an annual percentage rate of 14% on its loans, Ease Cash said that it levies a one-time processing fee, with a minimum of 5% and a maximum of 20%, per transaction.
Conclusion
Numerous loan app operators have been known to extort money by contacting defaulters’ phone numbers and pleading for them to intervene, among other forms of harassment. These contacts could be with a borrower’s employers, friends, family, or coworkers. When you sign up for a loan on any of these apps, you give them access to your contact list, which is used in the event that you are unable to make your loan payments. When it comes to the loan apps, the mantra is: Don’t owe them.
