Borrower guides
20 guides for anyone borrowing in Tanzania: what a loan really costs, how to check a lender, what the Bank of Tanzania's rules require of it, and what to do when repayments go wrong.
Written by the Kopesha team at Softsamic Company · No lender pays for these guides · How we write and check them
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Recently published or updated
New · 29 September 2026 · 13 min
Fees a microfinance lender may not charge you
The eight fees Bank of Tanzania rules ban outright for Tier 2 microfinance lenders, the ones they allow and on what terms (management fee, insurance, late penalty), a payout sheet checked line by line, and how to challenge a charge.
New · 29 September 2026 · 14 min
Harassed by a loan app: where to complain
Messages to your contacts, insults, threats and posts online: which Bank of Tanzania rules and which Acts forbid them, the evidence to save, and how to complain to the lender, Sema na BoT, the data protection commission and the police.
New · 29 September 2026 · 12 min
Is this loan app approved by the Bank of Tanzania?
How to check a loan app against the Bank of Tanzania's two lists: the 19 approved platforms and 116 unapproved apps, what an approved app must show you, look-alike names, and how to report one.
New · 29 September 2026 · 11 min
Your free credit report, and fixing a wrong entry
How to get the free credit report you can ask for every 12 months, what it shows and who put it there, how long a late loan stays on file, and the 2- and 15-working-day deadlines for flagging and correcting a wrong entry.
What a loan costs
Rates, fees and the arithmetic behind the number you actually repay.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 10 min
Comparing two loan offers, line by line
Two offers for TZS 1,500,000, one over 6 months with a fee and insurance taken at payout, one over 12 months with a smaller fee and compulsory savings held back, compared on cash in hand, total repaid and true yearly rate, with the Bank of Tanzania rules behind each line.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 12 min
How to read a repayment schedule
A TZS 600,000 loan laid out as a flat and a reducing-balance schedule, with principal, interest and fee columns. What regulations 39 and 42 require, how a short payment is applied, and what to do when a payment you made is missing.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 12 min
Mobile-money and app loans: what the fee really costs
A phone loan quotes a fee, not a rate. How to turn the fee into a monthly and yearly rate (fee added or deducted), what the Bank of Tanzania makes an approved loan app show you before you borrow, and what rolling one loan into the next costs.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 11 min
What a loan really costs in Tanzania
Flat and reducing-balance interest, fees taken at payout, daily and weekly loans and the effective annual rate, worked out in shillings, with the Bank of Tanzania rules that make a lender show you the true cost.
Choosing and checking a lender
Licences, approved apps, and the offers that are really frauds.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 13 min
Getting a loan approved: what lenders check
What a Tanzanian lender must weigh before it says yes, the questions on the form, how your credit bureau file is built, the papers to prepare, how to size the loan, and what to do if you are turned down.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 14 min
How to check a lender is licensed, and choose one
Who licenses microfinance lenders, SACCOS and VICOBA groups; the two shapes of a Tier 2 licence number; how to check a name against the Bank of Tanzania's register; and what to look for when choosing between licensed lenders.
New · 29 September 2026 · 12 min
Is this loan app approved by the Bank of Tanzania?
How to check a loan app against the Bank of Tanzania's two lists: the 19 approved platforms and 116 unapproved apps, what an approved app must show you, look-alike names, and how to report one.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 13 min
Loan scams in Tanzania and where to report them
How advance-fee loan frauds, fake agents, cloned lenders and fake apps work in Tanzania, which fees a licensed microfinance lender may lawfully charge, how to check whoever contacted you, and where to report: the police, TCRA's 15040 and the Bank of Tanzania.
Your rights and the rules
What the law requires of a lender, and where to complain when it is ignored.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 12 min
Before you sign: questions to ask, papers to get
Fourteen questions to ask a Tanzanian lender at the desk, each matched to the Bank of Tanzania rule that makes it answer, and the papers you are owed: the key facts statement, receipts, free statements and a settlement letter.
New · 29 September 2026 · 13 min
Fees a microfinance lender may not charge you
The eight fees Bank of Tanzania rules ban outright for Tier 2 microfinance lenders, the ones they allow and on what terms (management fee, insurance, late penalty), a payout sheet checked line by line, and how to challenge a charge.
New · 29 September 2026 · 11 min
Your free credit report, and fixing a wrong entry
How to get the free credit report you can ask for every 12 months, what it shows and who put it there, how long a late loan stays on file, and the 2- and 15-working-day deadlines for flagging and correcting a wrong entry.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 14 min
Your rights as a borrower, and where to complain
What Tanzania's microfinance and consumer protection rules entitle you to, what a lender may not do when collecting, and the complaint route from the lender to the Bank of Tanzania's Sema na BoT, with the time limit at each step.
When repayments go wrong
Missed payments, collateral, harassment and getting out of debt.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 14 min
Collateral and guarantors: what you can lose
What a microfinance lender in Mainland Tanzania may sell if a secured loan goes unpaid, and the steps it must take first: notice, an independent valuation, a floor price at auction and any surplus paid back to you. Plus what a guarantor signs up for, and a spouse's consent for a family home.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 14 min
Getting out of debt you already have
A plan for debts you already owe: list them, put spare money on the highest rate first, ask your lender to restructure, repay early without a penalty under Regulation 42, and agree a private sale of pledged goods. Worked figures in TZS.
New · 29 September 2026 · 14 min
Harassed by a loan app: where to complain
Messages to your contacts, insults, threats and posts online: which Bank of Tanzania rules and which Acts forbid them, the evidence to save, and how to complain to the lender, Sema na BoT, the data protection commission and the police.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 12 min
What happens if you miss a loan payment in Tanzania
The timeline after a missed installment with a Tier 2 microfinance lender: how the loan is graded day by day, when a late penalty is allowed, credit bureau reporting, the 14-day notice, the 60-day rule before a mortgaged home is sold, and what to do at each stage.
Borrowing for life's big costs
School fees, a medical bill, a motorcycle, a salary loan.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 13 min
A budget that survives the repayment
Test a loan installment against your worst month: a worked household budget in TZS, daily and seasonal income, salary deductions under the Employment and Labour Relations Act, and how to borrow for school fees or a hospital bill without the loan outlasting the need.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 14 min
Buying a bajaji or motorcycle on credit in Tanzania
A TZS 3.2 million boda boda loan worked through in shillings: whether the bike can carry its own installment, LATRA licence fees, the insurance the law requires, what happens if payments stop, and getting the card into your name at the end.
Kinds of loans, groups and SACCOS
The kinds of loan on offer in Tanzania, and borrowing through VICOBA, SACCOS and council schemes.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 14 min
The kinds of loan you can get in Tanzania
Business, group, salary, asset, farm, phone, housing and student loans, plus the council 10% loans: who may offer each one in Tanzania, the rule that governs it, the question to ask first, and where to read more.
Updated 29 September 2026 · 15 min
VICOBA, SACCOS or a microfinance lender?
How a registered VICOBA group, a SACCOS and a Bank of Tanzania-licensed microfinance lender differ: who supervises each, what happens to your savings, how much a SACCOS can lend you, paying off early, and where to complain.
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