Why Tala,Branch Loan Apps Hide Location and Contacts

Very few and only  chosen individuals know where Tala or Branch offices are. But why should these loan apps hide where their offices are located?

Recently, the Central Bank got mad at digital lenders because of such a reason in addition to others. Not just Tala and Branch but most of the digital lenders dislike disclosing where their business premises are located.

Here are the reasons why ;

Tala and Branch don't like to expose where their premises are.They also don't like customers to call them.They'll call you when the need arises. You can only get them through the app, social media and through email.

Many Kenyans wondered why they are hiding their locations and some of their contacts.The thing is they are after eliminating traditional office visits and human involvement like making and receiving calls.Customers depend on the apps,which is being 'digital'.

Loan apps are trust based.They don't know you but they give you a loan.Why are you looking for them?

Back in 2016 when Tala was gaining popularity, I asked the company to atleast make their numbers public because most of the customers wanted to reach out through calls and this is the reply I got;

Hi Mwabaya,
We are a remote lending company, we communicate with customers using Facebook, email an in app chat.
Thanks for reaching out.

After Some two months  I tried again asking Tala for their phone numbers. This time I contacted them as my blog Loans Kenya Blog and I received the same reply;

The thing is most loan apps will only call you when they need your attention especially when you fail to repay your loan in time. They'll use different numbers to make calls but when you try calling back no one will pick your calls.

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