Cross River State regulates money lending under its own Money Lenders Law, Cap. M7, and the licensing process starts in a magistrate’s court.
A CAC certificate proves the company exists, and the question of whether it may lend gets answered somewhere else entirely.
Founders who build the product first and ask about permission later tend to find this out at an awkward moment. The rules apply to a trader lending from a shop in Ikom and to a fintech sending loans from Calabar through an app.
This guide covers each step, from deciding what kind of lender you are to renewing the license, and points out where digital lenders face federal rules on top of the state’s.
What the license covers
Under Section 31 of the Cross River law, as summarized by LexPraxis Solicitors, some bodies fall outside the money lender category.
They include cooperative societies, banks, insurance houses and corporate bodies authorized to lend under their own legislation.
A company that plans to run a bank or microfinance bank follows a Central Bank route. An ordinary non-bank lender sits under the state law, which is the route this guide covers.
A state license applies to the state that issued it, so a business that later opens in another state starts that state’s process from scratch.
Step 1: Decide what kind of lender you are
Write down the product before you touch any paperwork. Salary loans, small business loans, merchant finance and short-term working capital carry different risks and call for different documents.
Settle whether customers will apply at an office, through agents, on a website or in an app, and whether you plan to lend only in Cross River.
A fintech should also decide whether it funds and originates the loans itself or supplies technology to a licensed lender, because the lender carries the licensing obligation.
Your corporate objects, office address, loan agreements and daily activity should all describe the same business.
Step 2: Incorporate with the CAC
Register through the CAC portal and list money lending among the company’s objects, so the constitutional documents match what you plan to do.
Keep the company name, registered address and directors identical across every later filing, since the court application draws on the same records.
For a registered company, LexPraxis lists certified copies of the statement of share capital and particulars of directors among the documents the magistrate will want. A registered business name needs the relevant CAC form instead.
Step 3: Secure a business address in Cross River
The certificate attaches to the place where you propose to carry on business, so choose a real, traceable address before you give notice. A fully digital lender still needs one.
Customers may never visit, but the court, the regulators and the police officer who receives your notice need somewhere to find the company.
Use the same address in your CAC records, court application, loan documents and customer disclosures.
Step 4: Give fourteen days’ notice
Section 5 of the Cross River law requires at least fourteen days’ notice before the certificate application.
You send it by registered letter to the magistrate with jurisdiction over your proposed business address and to the police officer in charge of that area.
The notice states your name, your address and the address where you will operate. Keep proof of posting. Fourteen days is a minimum, so a business with a fixed launch date should start this step early.
Step 5: Apply to the Chief Magistrate
Once the notice period has run, file the application with the Chief Magistrate for the district where the business will operate.
The Cross River State Judiciary publishes its contact details, and a 2022 expansion of magistrate court jurisdiction means every local government area now has a Chief Magistrate Court, according to Voice of Nigeria.
For a registered company, LexPraxis lists the certified share capital and director particulars, the certificate of registration, a tax clearance certificate and a receipt for the statutory fees.
Other states also ask for police clearance and evidence of a current bank account.
Cross River does not appear to publish a current official checklist online, so call or visit the registry and ask what it requires today. That one conversation can save a rejected filing.
Step 6: Pass the fit-and-proper test
Before the application moves on, the magistrate decides whether the people behind the lending business deserve a certificate.
Section 6 of the Cross River Money Lenders Law lists the grounds for refusal, and both LexPraxis and a review of the law by two University of Calabar lecturers reproduce them.
A magistrate can refuse when there is no satisfactory evidence of good character, when the applicant or a manager is not a fit and proper person, or when a court has disqualified either one.
Failure to follow the application regulations is a further ground. In plain terms, the court looks at who you are, who will run the business day to day, and what their records show.
For a company, that scrutiny reaches the directors and anyone who will manage lending. Collect police clearance and tax records early, and make sure names, dates and addresses match across every document.
A certificate covers one business address, so a second office needs a fresh one. An applicant who is refused can appeal to the High Court.
Step 7: Pay the fees through official channels
Ask the registry for the current fee and a written payment instruction before you pay anyone.
The Cross River Judiciary’s contact page gives the headquarters as the High Court of Justice on Mary Slessor Avenue, Calabar, and the registry of the magistrate’s court handling your application is the right place to ask.
Old copies of the law carry fee figures from decades ago, and online guides repeat them without checking.
The state collects revenue through the Cross River Pay portal, where you pick the ministry or agency and the revenue head, and can look up payment status and receipts later.
Ask the issuing office whether your license fee goes through the portal and which revenue head to select.
The portal also processes tax clearance certificates, one of the documents the Chief Magistrate application needs.
Keep every receipt, and avoid anyone who offers to speed things up for cash outside an official channel.
Step 8: Collect the certificate and license, then set a renewal date
The certificate comes first and records the magistrate’s view that the applicant is suitable. The license follows and authorizes the lending itself. Check the name, address and validity dates on both documents before the first disbursement.
State money lender licenses in Nigeria generally run for one year, so ask the issuing office for the exact expiry and renewal procedure, and put the date in a compliance calendar.
A lapse after the loan book has grown creates trouble with customers, collections and any court action.
Step 9: Put proper loan documents in place
State money lender laws set formal requirements for loan contracts, receipts and records. Have a lawyer check your standard agreement against the current Cross River text before you launch.
Every loan should leave a trail made up of the signed agreement, the amount disbursed, the agreed interest and fees, the repayment schedule, each payment received and the balance still owed.
Digital lenders should also keep evidence of the borrower’s acceptance and consent. A dispute six months after disbursement gets settled by these records.
Lendsqr’s guide to obtaining a moneylender’s license in Nigeria covers the wider national picture for lenders who plan to expand.
Step 10: Price within the law
Section 11 of the 2004 text, which the University of Calabar review reproduces, caps simple interest on unsecured loans at 48 per cent a year and sets lower caps on secured loans.
The law defines interest broadly, so discounts, commissions, bonuses, fines and expenses above the principal all count towards the cap.
Processing fees and penalty charges can therefore push a loan over the limit, and the review cites court decisions that treat loans above the cap as illegal and unenforceable.
Because these figures come from the 2004 text, ask a Cross River lawyer whether anything has changed before you set prices. LexPraxis makes the same general point, that states restrict lender interest and limits differ by location.
Work out the total cost of each product, fees included, and build prices from your own numbers. A generous-looking rate can lose money once defaults, repeat refinancing and collection costs arrive.
Step 11: Build underwriting before you scale
Cross River borrowers include salaried workers, shop owners, farmers who trade produce, transport operators and people who combine several income sources. A bank account tells a lender very little about repayment capacity in that mix.
Where formal credit history is thin, transaction patterns, business cash flow, payroll records and earlier repayment behaviour give an underwriter something to work with, provided the data was gathered lawfully.
BVN, NIN and bank account checks confirm identity and cut some fraud, yet a verified identity cannot show whether a borrower can repay ₦500,000 over six months. Your underwriting model has to answer that second question.
Step 12: Check federal rules if you lend digitally
State licensing covers only part of what a digital lender owes.
The FCCPC’s Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations took effect in July 2025 and apply to non-bank lenders offering unsecured consumer credit through digital channels, with a compliance deadline of 5 January 2026.
A Federal High Court interim order halted enforcement in April 2026. On 20 July 2026 the court dismissed the challenge, upheld the regulations and lifted the order, and the FCCPC announced that the rules are fully enforceable again. Registration carries a cost of its own.
Lendsqr’s license FAQ puts FCCPC registration at ₦500,000 per app, so budget for it. Check the FCCPC’s site for the current position before you launch or change a digital product.
Getting ready before launch
Collect the corporate records, tax documents, director details, proof of address and proof of notice. Before the first disbursement, finish the loan agreement, pricing, repayment schedule, verification process, collections policy and complaints process.
Collections deserve their own rules, since the FCCPC framework grew out of complaints about harassment and misuse of borrower data during recovery.
Plan the timeline with some slack. The fourteen-day notice sets a floor, and court scheduling, document corrections and registry processing add to it. Most delays trace back to mismatched addresses, outdated tax documents or director details that differ between filings.
A few mistakes appear again and again. Some founders assume CAC registration lets them lend. Others skip the notice period to hit a launch date, or trust an old fee guide, or treat the state license as the end of their regulatory duties.
A fifth mistake is building collections before documentation, which leaves agents unable to explain a balance when a customer disputes it.
Where the license ends and the lending begins
Getting licensed in Cross River takes a registered company, a real address, fourteen days’ notice, a magistrate’s certificate and a license, with FCCPC compliance added for digital lenders.
Confirm each requirement with the Cross River authorities, keep every receipt and filing, and renew before the license expires. The license gives you permission to lend. Records, pricing, credit decisions and collections decide how long the business lasts.
