Wabi (Micro Credit)

It is a method of lending small sum of e-money to individuals and merchants/agents to start or expand a small business.

The Contract:

This contract sets out the complete Terms and Conditions (hereinafter called "These Terms and Conditions") which shall be applicable to Wabi micro credit service.

These terms and conditions, as well as any related amendments or changes, will become effective once the credit customer has read and accepted them (by clicking on the option to “activate”.

  1. Definitions

In these Terms and Conditions, the following words and expressions bear the below meanings:

  • "Siinqee Bank" means a regulated financial institution agreed to provide mobile financial services to telebirr customers in collaboration with Ethio telecom.
  • "Ethio telecom" means a licensed payment instrument issuer who is agreed to provide Wabi micro credit services to its telebirr customers in collaboration with Siinqee Bank.
  • "National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE)" means the Institution established to license and regulate the activities of financial institutions in accordance with establishment proclamation No. 591/2008
  • "telebirr" means trade name of Ethio telecom mobile money service used to access financial services.
  • "Telebirr Account" means account opened for telebirr user to store, send, and receive electronic money.
  • "Wabi Micro credit Service" means Micro credit service provided by Siinqee Bank in collaboration with Ethio Telecom that enables individual customers to access credit service through telebirr channels in accordance with these terms and conditions set forth below.
  • "Wabi Salary Micro Credit service" means micro credit service provided by the Siinqee Bank in collaboration with Ethio telecom via telebirr platform to employees of private and public institutions based on the agreement with their respective institutions.
  • “Individual customer” means a natural person who has telebrr account and agreed to use Wabi micro credit service
  • “Electronic Money/E-Money” means the electronic monetary value depicted in customers’ telebirr account representing an equal amount of cash in Ethiopia Birr and operated Individual customers.
  • "You" or "your" means the individual Customers and includes the individual's personal representatives.
  • "We," "our," and "us," mean Siinqee Bank and Ethio telecom.
  • “Facilitation fee” This is a fee charged by individual customers to use the Personal Loan Service. The amount of this fee may be changed at any time by Ethio Telecom and the Siinqee bank with prior notice.
  • “Daily fee” means the fee paid by individual customers on daily basis for the number of days that the principal amount is not paid within the contract period.
  • "Penalty fee" means the fee which individual customers will be charged if they fail to honor their commitments on time.
  • “Due date” Is the last date in which the individual customer Is expected to complete his credit repayment.
  • "Bad debit" is a debt that has not been paid within 90 days after the due date.
  • "Words expressed feminine also applicable to masculine.
  • The word “individual " shall include both the masculine and the feminine gender.
  1. Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions
    • Before applying to use Wabi micro credit service you should carefully read and understand these Terms and Conditions which will govern the use and operation of Wabi Micro Credit service.
    • If you do not agree with these Terms and Conditions, please do not click the “activate” option and click “Cancel” on the Menu.
    • You will be deemed to have read, understood, and accepted these Terms and Conditions where:

 Upon clicking on the “Activate” option on the Menu requesting you to confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to abide with these Terms and Conditions; and/or by using or continuing to use and operate Wabi micro credit Service.

  • You acknowledge and accept the Wabi micro credit service and you agreed to do business with Ethio telecom and to operate the Wabi micro credit service only by electronic means via telebirr.
  • The terms and conditions can be modified or changed at any time by Ethio telecom and Siinqee Bank, upon these changes’ notification will be sent to you through appropriate communication channels. The updated term and condition will be binding on the customer from the date they are published on the telebirr App, portal, or website.
  • The individual customer agrees to use the credit for lawful purposes.
  1. Activation for Wabi micro credit Service

To activate Wabi micro credit service with Ethio telecom and Siinqee Bank, you must be at least:

  • Able to read, understand and accept these terms and conditions.
  • Should be 18 years old and above.
  • Have an Ethio telecom active SIM card.
  • Active user of telebirr and Ethio telecom products such as Data/Voice/SMS.
  • Stay on network for (3) (three) months and above after registered for SIM card and telebirr services.

To activate the Wabi micro credit service, individual customers shall use USSD (*127#) or telebirr super App.

  1. Eligibility Criteria to Get Wabi Micro Credit Service

A customer's borrowing capacity is determined by his or her 6-month telebirr telebirr transaction and telecom usage prior to the date of the Wabi credit payment service request. The telebirr transactions listed below are used to determine a customer's creditworthiness.

  • Purchase airtime or packages.
  • Buy goods or service.
  • bill Payment by self-service or at agent.
  • Utility payment by self-service or at agent.
  • Receive Bulk disbursement.
  • Receive Remittance.
  • Ticket purchase.
  • Fundraising payment.
  • Cash-in/Cash-out at agent
  • Saving
  • Send Money
  • Telecom usage like Voice, Data and SMS
  • Credit Repayment History
  • However, to get Wabi Selary micro credit receiving salary via telebirr or a prior agreement with the institution in the individual customer working is sufficient,
  1. Credit Amount and Fees
    • You can borrow any amount between the minimum and maximum amount permitted.
    • You will get the requested credit amount, and it will be credited to your telebirr account.
    • You should repay your previous credit first to get another credit.
    • You can pay your credit partially or fully at a time.
    • Credit repayment deadline will be 5 days, 10 days, 30 days, 45 days and 14 months from the date of taking the loan, depending on the type of loan.
    • The maximum credit amount for 5 Days, 10 Days, 30 Days, and 45 Days is 5,000 Br, 6,000 Br, 15,000 Br, and 30,000 Br, respectively. Whereas the minimum credit amount for the aforementioned credit days is 100 Br, 100 Br, 200 Br, and 5,000 Br, respectively.
    • If you repay your 5 days Wabi credit within the due date, you will be charged a facilitation fee of 1.5% of the loan amount on day one and you will be charged a daily fee ranging from 0.35% to 1.2% for the rest of the repayment period depending on your credit limit.
    • If you repay your Wabi 10 days credit, you will be charged a facilitation fee of 2% of the loan amount on day one, and you will be charged a daily fee ranging from 0.3% to 0.9% for the rest of the repayment period depending on your credit limit.
    • If you repay your monthly Wabi credit within 30 days, you will be charged a facilitation fee of 4% of the loan amount on day one, and you will be charged a daily fee ranging from 0.3% to 1% for the rest of the repayment period depending on your credit limit.
    • If you repay your 45 days of Wabi credit within 45 days, you will be charged a facilitation fee of 6.5% of the loan amount on day one. and you will be charged a daily fee ranging from 0.5% to 0.67% for the rest of the repayment period depending on your credit limit.
    • For Wabi salary credit, the repayment will be installment base (outstanding credit amount will be prorated for repayment period) that will be settled every month.
    • A 5 months’ salary Wabi loan has 14 months repayment period and has a 19.5% facilitation fee.
    • After the due date, you will be charged a penalty fee of 0.11% per day on the outstanding credit amount up on repayment for 90 days.
    • When the individual customer fails to repay the outstanding amount after 90 days after being overdue, the outstanding amount will be settled from Wabi Saving account.
    • The bonus/incentive will not be applicable for telebirr Wabi
    • If the loan is not repaid when it is overdue, Ethio telecom and Siinqee Bank may, where necessary, collect the debt using any alternative means, including direct debit from individual customers’ Siinqee bank or any other bank accounts.
    • After the due date, the Ethio telecom and Siinqee bank will take the outstanding credit amount from your e-money telebirr account automatically if you do not repay on time and in order to collect the bad debt using out of courts methods
    • The individual customer agrees that Ethio telecom and Siinqee Bank have the right to collect the debt by using alternative means, such as obtaining the individual customer's residential or business address, in order to assist in the collection of the debt outside of court.
    • The individual customer agrees that if the debt is not paid when it is overdue, Ethio telecom and Siinqee bank may transfer the individual customer's personal data to a third party (law firm or individual) involved in debt collection.
    • If the debt is not paid through an out-of-court alternative Ethio telecom and the Siinqee Bank have the full right to take the case to a regular court by themselves or through another legal service providing firm or an attorney.
  2. Governing Law

 The laws of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the directives of the National Bank of Ethiopia, as well as the relevant working procedures of the Siinqee bank and Ethio telecom shall govern these Terms and Conditions.

  1. Queries

For any inquiries regarding the telebirr Services, Procedures, Terms and Conditions of the telebirr, can call the telebirr Customer Contact Center (127 ), send a short SMS to 126 or visit the telebirr Social media Pages (https://telehub.ethiotelecom.et/) for more information.

 

  1. Termination

We shall be entitled to suspend or terminate this agreement wholly or partially due to your abuse, misuse, or fraud of any of the micro credit saving and loan services with or without prior notice to you. Any termination of this contract completely or in part may not affect any accrued rights and obligations of either party.

  1. Complaints

Complaints may be present in person, in writing, by post, fax, email or by telephone. Ethio telecom will take all measures within its means to resolve your complaints within a reasonable time. If You are dissatisfied with the response, you can escalate the matter to Siinqee bank and National Bank of Ethiopia sequentially

  1. Dispute Resolution

Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Agreement that is not resolved as per Clause article 9 above shall be referred to Federal court of Ethiopia having jurisdiction over the case.

  1. Lien

We shall have a general lien over all your property/assets in its possession in the event that you owe any money to us including but not limited to cash, goods, securities or valuables deposited for safe custody as security, cheques presented, bills and any other movable or immovable property. Where you are indebted to us in circumstances giving us the right to set off, all property held under lien shall be deemed to be held as security for the debt.

  1. Set Off

We may, upon notice, combine/consolidate your telebirr Account with any of your other accounts held in us, whether current, loan, savings, deposit, term deposit, joint or any other type and thereafter set off any amount held to your credit against any indebtedness you owe to us.

  1. Disclaimer

Your PIN must be kept confidential and not accessible to anyone other than you. You will be solely responsible for any loss/damage you may incur if you disclose your PIN to a third party or fail to change it regularly, make unauthorized use of your phone, or fail to promptly notify the relevant party and immediate suspend if your mobile phone or SIM card is stolen or lost.