The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is cautioning defaulters of mobile money loans to repay their loans or risk facing heavy sanctions.
According to the Central Bank, persons who intentionally refuse to pay back loans acquired from their service providers will suffer negative repercussions on their credit reports and history.
The caution comes after it emerged that some individuals have acquired loans through mobile money platforms and have decided to register their SIM cards to avoid repaying the loans.
The Communications Minister, Ursula Owu-Esukuful, in July, rebuked such acts and described them as “evil corruption”.
In a statement dated September 28, BoG stated that its “attention has been drawn to some individuals who have acquired loans through mobile money platforms, but have deliberately refused to register their SIM cards under the ongoing national SIM Card registration exercise, with the intention of avoiding repayment…”
The BoG, however, informed the public that data on all mobile money loan customers are domiciled in the databases of credit bureaus.
“As a result, failure to repay such loans will attract negative repercussions on borrowers’ credit reports/history and could subsequently adversely affect any chance of obtaining loan facilities from other financial institutions and credit providers in future”, it warned.
BoG, therefore, stressed that “borrowers who have discarded their SIM cards are advised to contact their telecommunication service providers or respective lenders to discuss repayment arrangements to avoid adverse information on their credit reports that could deny them access to future credit facilities.”
