| dc.description.abstract | The Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) were introduced into the banking industry by
the Central bank of Kenya in order to ascertain the credit worthiness of customer for
loans. Thus, in Kenya, access to credit has in the past been complicated due to
stringent conditions imposed by commercial banks and credit providers. This study
therefore sought to establish the influence of CRBs on access to credit by small and
medium enterprises in Kitale Municipality, Trans-Nzoia County. The study was
guided by the following objectives: to investigate how credit reference bureaus
policies, influence access to credit facilitates by SMEs; to investigate how CRBs
procedures influence access to credit facilities by SMEs; to determine how financial
base of CRBs influence access to credit facilities by SMEs; to establish how the
nature of CRBs influence access to credit facilities by SMEs. It was hoped that the
findings of the study would give valuable information to institutions within the
Ministry of Finance, Attorney General office and Ministry of Trade that are directly
linked to SME‟s on how CRB‟s were perceived by the SMEs. The study utilized a
descriptive survey design. The target population comprised of 500 SME‟s registered
with Kitale Municipal Council. Respondents were grouped in strata of Small and
Medium enterprises owners‟ and Kreijcie and Morgan formula was used to
determine a sample size of 289 SME‟s. Random sampling technique was used to get
the intended respondents in each stratum. Data was collected by use of
questionnaires. Piloting of the study was carried out in the neighboring Eldoret
Municipality to ascertain the validity and reliability of the instruments. Data analysis
included the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics
involved the use of frequency tables, percentages. The findings revealed that the
CRBs have policies that guide their operations and that the Policies of CRBs have
great influence on their daily operations however, many lenders do not know that
there are policies that guide their access to credit facilities .This accounted for 55%
of the respondents. On the hand the lack of knowledge on application of procedures
may have led to frustrations on access of credit facilities as many may think nothing
is happening or that it‟s taking too long to access credit. This was as shown by 37%
of the respondents. On the financial base 20% of the respondents did not know the
influence of the financial base to credit facilities. A further 24% disagreed that the
nature of CRBs influenced access to credit facilities. The researcher recommended
that the procedures be clearly explained to the clients to enable decision making on
whether they were willing to go on with the process; the CRBs should ensure they
have a sound financial base to ensure that they are buffered financially in case of
defaulting by the SMEs. And that the legality of the CRBs should be displayed at all
times for ease of client view and understanding. | en_US |
