Three years after Kenya handed the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) power to supervise digital lenders, consumer complaints against the sector have surged — not dropped. That is the uncomfortable finding sitting at the centre of the Competition Authority of Kenya's (CAK) latest annual report.
Complaints against digital credit providers climbed to 355 in the year to June 2025, up from just 67 the year before — a more than fivefold increase in twelve months. That single jump made digital lenders the largest source of consumer complaints across Kenya's entire financial services sector, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all grievances reported to the authority.
What Borrowers Are Actually Complaining About
The CAK report did not leave the complaints vague. The authority said the bulk of grievances centred on misleading representations, undisclosed charges, and unilateral changes to loan terms — the kind of conduct that erodes trust in digital credit fast.
"This sector has, over the years, continued to record a high number of cases," the CAK said, attributing the trend to rapid expansion of digital lending platforms that have widened credit access while generating "violations of consumers' welfare provisions." The watchdog added that "the main consumer infringements included false and misleading representations and unconscionable conduct."
The financial services sector as a whole accounted for 564 of the 915 total complaints received by the authority during the year — or 61.6% of all reported cases. Microfinance institutions followed digital lenders with 113 complaints, while Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Saccos) recorded 68 and commercial banks a comparatively modest 28.
Real Cases, Real Borrowers
The report named specific lenders and specific disputes. One complaint involved African Capital Limited, a licensed digital lender, where a borrower alleged that a loan of KES 177,720 (approximately $1,375) had ballooned to KES 500,000 (approximately $3,869) after additional charges were imposed. Following the CAK's intervention, the disputed charges were waived and the loan account closed.
In another case, a borrower complained that Mwananchi Credit repossessed their vehicle just two months after issuing a loan, despite an unresolved contractual dispute still on the table. The competition authority directed that complainant to pursue the matter through Kenya's Small Claims Court. Other lenders flagged in the complaints include Mogo Auto Limited, Supreme Credit Acceptance Limited, Simple Pay Capital Limited, and Premier Credit.
Regulation Exists — So Why the Surge?
Kenya amended its laws in 2022 to bring digital credit providers under CBK supervision, following years of documented abuses: punishing interest rates, misuse of borrowers' personal data, and aggressive — sometimes illegal — debt collection. Before that legislative change, hundreds of lenders operated with virtually no regulatory oversight.
The latest numbers suggest the licensing regime has not yet eliminated the friction between lenders and borrowers. This concern is well-documented in industry coverage across Africa, where app-based lending has expanded access to credit for millions while simultaneously creating new consumer protection blind spots.
The CBK has continued expanding its oversight even as complaints rise. The regulator licensed another 25 digital credit providers in the same week the CAK report surfaced, further growing a regulated market that now spans hundreds of firms.
The pattern is a familiar tension in fast-growing fintech markets: the speed of market expansion consistently outpacing improvements in how companies actually treat the people borrowing from them. Kenya's digital lending story is far from over — and based on this data, neither is the consumer protection problem.