Loan Application Terms & Conditions

1. Nature of this application

Submitting a loan application is a request for credit from Soyosoyo SACCO. It is not a guarantee of approval, disbursement, or any particular amount or repayment schedule.

Credit is available only to bona fide members under the SACCO’s credit policy and by-laws. Officials may approve, decline, reduce, stage, or defer the application in line with policies, qualification rules, liquidity, risk assessment, and by-laws.

Where the member portal offers auto-disbursement for certain products, that path remains subject to product gates, guarantor clearances (if required), KYC, behaviour / savings headroom, and available funds. Products designated as committee-only (for example Medicare and Education loans on the live portal) do not auto-disburse.

2. Information you provide

You confirm that all information in the application (amount, purpose, collateral, guarantors, term, proof documents, and notes) is true, complete, and not misleading.

You authorise the SACCO to verify your identity, membership, contributions, loan history, guarantor capacity, wallet and bank payout details, and any other information reasonably needed to assess the application, consistent with the Privacy Policy and Kenya’s Data Protection Act, 2019.

False or incomplete information may lead to automatic disqualification, decline, cancellation, recovery action, and/or membership sanctions under SACCO rules and the credit policy.

3. Qualification, headroom, and SACCO funds

Displayed qualification (“available now”) is an estimate based on savings, behaviour, outstanding loans, pending applications, and product rules. It may change before approval or disbursement.

The published credit policy additionally describes eligibility aspirations such as active membership for at least six months, minimum cumulative contributions, and a minimum monthly share contribution. Live portal product settings and qualification algorithms control what you can apply for today; where pamphlet or by-law text differs from the live portal, the portal settings apply to the digital application and officials remain the authority for governance disputes.

Where the SACCO funds loans from its e-wallet or bank float, applications may be limited by available payout balance (including transfer fees). A qualified amount does not oblige the SACCO to disburse if funds are insufficient.

Loans are generally processed on a first-come, first-served basis subject to liquidity and policy.

4. Interest, fees, and repayment

Interest rate, interest type, processing fees, fines, and repayment frequency follow the selected loan product and SACCO settings in force at approval or as later lawfully varied under SACCO policy and applicable law. Historical pamphlet rates may differ from the live product card in the portal — the settings shown at application / approval prevail for that loan.

You agree to repay principal, interest, fees, and lawful charges on the due dates in the approved schedule (or as otherwise agreed in writing by the SACCO). Repayment typically begins no later than the month following disbursement.

Late or missed instalments may attract product late fines from the calendar day after the due date, as configured on the loan product. Under the live member-portal recovery engine, loans that remain seriously overdue may become eligible for formal debt collection when days past due reach sixty (60) or more, and the loan record may be marked defaulted when days past due exceed ninety (90). Older pamphlet wording that treated default at thirty (30) days is superseded by this engine for digital recovery sequencing.

5. Guarantors and security

All loans must be fully secured as required by SACCO policy and the selected product. Guarantors must be members of the society. Minimum guarantor counts and security forms follow the product rules shown in the portal.

Where a product requires guarantors, you understand that guarantors accept contingent liability for the loan or part of it under SACCO rules. Guarantors may receive early follow-up or prevention notices while the borrower is overdue, to encourage repayment before formal recovery.

Formal collection or enforcement against guarantors for recovery of the debt occurs after borrower-facing debt recovery efforts have failed or been exhausted. Under the live portal engine that stage is reached only after the loan is in serious arrears past the sixty-day collection threshold — that is, past sixty-plus-one (60+1) days overdue and beyond — and typically after assigned recovery attempts on the borrower have failed. Older pamphlet wording that required guarantor notice within fourteen (14) days of a thirty-day default is superseded for this sequencing.

Any collateral or security you offer may be perfected and enforced in accordance with SACCO policy and applicable law if you default. You will not dispose of pledged security without SACCO consent while the loan remains outstanding.

Savings pledged as security for another member’s loan cannot be used to offset your own outstanding loan unless alternative security acceptable to the SACCO is provided for the other member’s loan.

6. Disbursement and use of funds

Disbursement may be made to your registered M-Pesa, bank account, e-wallet, or other channel recorded on your membership profile, or as otherwise directed under SACCO procedures (including direct payment to a school or hospital for Education or Medicare loans when so directed).

You undertake to use the loan for the stated lawful purpose and not for illegal activity.

The SACCO is not liable for delays or failures caused by mobile-money operators, banks, network outages, or incorrect payout details you supplied.

7. Set-off, collections, and default

If you become delinquent or default, the SACCO may apply your contributions, share capital (where rules allow), e-wallet balance, dividends, or other amounts due to you toward outstanding loan obligations, subject to SACCO by-laws and applicable law. Where outstanding loan and interest are equal to or less than your savings, recovery may be made from those savings first.

Under the live member-portal recovery engine (where the SACCO has enabled debt collection): (1) loans at about sixty (60) or more days past due may be published to an internal debt-collection pool for borrower recovery; (2) formal guarantor collection follows after debt recovery efforts on the borrower have failed — which will be past sixty-plus-one (60+1) days overdue; (3) longer arrears may move into elevated or hardcore recovery tiers, and external agencies or legal proceedings may be used where authorised. Older pamphlet sequencing is superseded by this engine order.

A member in serious arrears or default, or who has guaranteed a loan in recovery, may be restricted from withdrawing membership until the loan is cleared, as provided in SACCO rules and by-laws.

You remain liable for costs of recovery that the SACCO is entitled to recover under its policies and the law.

8. Data protection and communications

You consent to the SACCO processing your personal and financial data for membership administration, credit assessment, disbursement, repayment, collections, audit, and regulatory purposes as described in the Privacy Policy.

You consent to receive notices about this application and any resulting loan by SMS, in-app notification, email, or other channels on file.

9. Electronic acceptance & indemnity

Ticking “I agree” and submitting this application constitutes your electronic signature and acceptance of these Terms for this application. The SACCO may retain records of your acceptance (version, date/time, member identity, application reference) for audit and dispute resolution.

You indemnify Soyosoyo SACCO and its officials and service providers against losses arising from false information, misuse of disbursed funds for unlawful purposes, or your breach of these Loan Terms, to the extent permitted by law.

If you do not agree, do not submit the application.

10. Approval decisions and appeals

Loan approval or rejection follows the SACCO’s credit procedures. A member of an approving committee must not sit on their own loan. Members are informed of the decision on their application.

Under the credit policy, a member who is not satisfied with a Management Committee loan decision may submit a written appeal to the Supervisory Committee within fourteen (14) days of that decision.

11. Governing rules

These terms sit alongside the SACCO’s constitution, by-laws, credit policy, product-specific rules, and the Co-operative Societies Act Cap 490 and Rules (and applicable county co-operative laws). On SACCO-specific credit and membership matters, those governing documents and lawful credit policy prevail. Live portal product cards control the digital application path where they implement that policy.

Disputes follow internal SACCO channels first, then the co-operative societies framework (including the Co-operative Tribunal where applicable) and Kenyan law.