The collections call we would never want to make

Our partner's collections playbook starts with a courtesy call after a missed payment, then a written restructuring offer, and only then, after every alternative has failed, recovery action. The sequence is published, it is followed without exception, and it exists because the partner has learned that restructured loans repay much better than seized vehicles ever liquidate.

Most missed payments are resolved with a tenor extension or a temporary payment holiday, not a tow truck. The partner's data, which we have seen in summary form, shows that fewer than 4% of missed-payment cases end up in any kind of recovery action, and most of those involve borrowers who became uncontactable rather than borrowers who engaged and worked through the problem.

The single most important thing you can do if you know a payment is going to be late is to call before the due date. A proactive call almost always unlocks a one-month payment holiday or a tenor extension at no extra fee, and it preserves your credit standing with the partner for future borrowing. A reactive call, after the fact, is a narrower negotiation — you have less room to manoeuvre and the partner has less flexibility to offer.

Restructuring is not a stigma. Roughly one in seven of our partner's borrowers restructures at least once over the life of the loan. The product is built to absorb the normal chop of running a Kenyan business or household. School fees in January, a slow December for retail, a delayed receivable from a corporate client — all of these are normal cash-flow events that the loan terms anticipate. Restructuring is the mechanism by which the loan adapts to your reality rather than asking you to adapt to it.

The mechanics of a restructure are straightforward. Either the tenor is extended (your monthly instalment drops, the total interest paid rises modestly, you get more time), or you take a payment holiday for one to three months (no instalments due, interest accrues, schedule resumes), or both. The partner walks you through the implications in writing before you commit, and the new amortisation schedule is generated immediately so you can see exactly what changes.

Recovery, when it happens, is the absolute last step after a documented 60 to 90 day workout window during which the partner has tried multiple restructuring options and the borrower has either declined them or become uncontactable. Even at that point, the partner will work with you on a private sale of the vehicle to maximise your residual value before any auction. Auctions are the worst outcome for everyone — the borrower loses equity, the partner takes a write-down, and the resale prices are typically 20-30% below private sale.

If you ever do find yourself heading toward recovery, the partner has named compliance officers who handle these cases with discretion. There is no public posting of your details, no debt collector knocking on your gate at 6am, no calls to your employer. The recovery process is handled in writing and through scheduled meetings, not through harassment. We have seen the partner walk away from recovery action altogether in cases where the borrower's circumstances genuinely warranted it.

Common restructuring scenarios we have seen work well: PSV owners affected by a fuel-price spike taking a two-month holiday and then resuming on a longer tenor; SME owners who lost a major client extending their tenor by six months while they replaced the revenue; private borrowers handling a medical emergency taking a single-month holiday with no other change. None of these required litigation, none required vehicle action, and all of them ended in fully repaid loans.

The partner does report to CRB, and a missed payment will reflect there. But a missed payment that is restructured and subsequently brought current is a much smaller mark than a missed payment that escalates. CRB looks at recency, frequency and severity. A single restructured incident from a year ago, against a backdrop of subsequent on-time payments, is essentially invisible in most credit decisions today.

What the partner cannot do, and will not pretend to do, is forgive principal. The loan is the loan. Restructuring changes timing and tenor; it does not erase the obligation. If your underlying ability to repay has fundamentally collapsed — the business has closed, the income has gone — the honest conversation is about a managed sale of the vehicle rather than a series of restructures that delay the inevitable. The partner will be honest about that with you, and so will we.

If you are in a tight month right now, call your concierge before you call anyone else. We coordinate the conversation with the partner, we know what restructuring options are likely to be available, and we have done this hundreds of times. Most clients who feared the worst end up with a manageable adjustment and a continued relationship.