Nairobi, March 8 -- Safaricom customers who delay paying their calls and SMS credit advance through the Okoa Jahazi service will now have the amounts automatically settled by debiting their loyalty points.

The move is designed to address defaults while also reducing the value of billions of shillings' worth of outstanding Bonga points which are a liability to the telco.

Customers can request a credit advance, which they are required to settle within five days. An advance-fee of 10 percent is charged for each Okoa Jahazi request, resulting in a customer receiving 90 percent of the credit advance.

"Dear customer, we have deducted 2,500 Bonga points for Sh750 to repay your Okoa loan," reads a message to a Safaricom customer which places t...