Is 247247 Equity Bank's paybill?

Sort of, but the framing misleads. 247247 is an aggregator paybill. The same number routes funds to dozens of different businesses depending on the account number you enter. Some of those businesses are Equity Bank products (Equity account top-up, Equitel airtime, Eazzy Loan repayment); many others are third-party merchants who bank with Equity and use 247247 as their settlement rail.

Why does my M-PESA SMS say "EQUITY BANK" instead of the business I'm paying?

Because 247247 is Equity Bank's aggregator paybill. The M-PESA system shows the paybill owner (Equity) as the recipient name, even though the funds are settled onward to a different merchant via the account number. This is standard for aggregator paybills and explains a lot of "why does it say Equity, I'm paying my school?" confusion.

What does the account number do?

For 247247, the account number is the routing key. Each merchant that uses 247247 as their paybill gets a specific account-number prefix or pattern; Equity's back-end matches the account number to the merchant and credits the right business. If you enter the wrong account number, the funds will route to whichever merchant matches that pattern — could be a complete stranger.

How do I top up my own Equity account?

M-PESA → Pay Bill → 247247 → account = your 13-digit Equity account number (or 10-digit Eazzy account number) → amount → PIN. The credit reaches your Equity balance within 1-5 minutes. The same paybill works for Equitel airtime (use your Equitel number as the account) and Eazzy Loan repayment (use your loan reference).

Are there other aggregator paybills like this?

Yes — common KE aggregators include 222222 (eCitizen, routes to dozens of government services including KRA, NTSA, KEBS, KPLC prepaid, etc.), 888880 (KPLC postpaid), and 980200 (KCB Group). Each uses the account number to route to specific merchants or sub-services. Aggregator paybills are widespread in Kenya because they let businesses route through a single trusted institution's rails without each one needing its own paybill.

How do I know if a paybill is an aggregator?

Three tells: (1) The M-PESA SMS shows a different recipient name than the business you're paying. (2) The required account number format is long or specific (Equity's 13-digit format, eCitizen's 7-character reference). (3) The same paybill appears across multiple service guides for different businesses. Aggregator paybills aren't scams; they're structurally legitimate, just confusing.

Equity 247247 paybill: an aggregator explained 2026

Of all the paybill confusions in Kenya, 247247 generates the most customer-service tickets. Someone pays their child's school fees via paybill 247247, the M-PESA SMS reads "EQUITY BANK", the school doesn't see the payment in their dashboard, and the parent is convinced the money went to Equity instead. The funds usually arrived — the school's account just hadn't been matched yet, or the parent entered a slightly wrong account number.

This article fixes the mental model. Once you understand aggregator paybills, the "why does it say Equity?" problem disappears.

What an aggregator paybill is

A standard M-PESA paybill — say 888880 for KPLC — routes every payment to one merchant's settlement account. The account number is the customer's reference (their meter number, in KPLC's case). One paybill, one merchant.

An aggregator paybill flips this. One paybill, many merchants. The paybill belongs to the aggregator (Equity Bank in this case), and the back-end uses the account number to figure out which underlying merchant gets credited. Equity sees the inbound M-PESA payment, looks at the account-number format, matches it to one of dozens of merchant configurations, and settles into the correct merchant's Equity account.

Why merchants use this model: it's faster and cheaper than getting their own M-PESA paybill provisioned. Equity already has the M-PESA integration, the reconciliation infrastructure, and the regulatory licensing. A merchant just opens an Equity business account and uses Equity's aggregator paybill (247247) with a designated account-number pattern.

What businesses route through 247247?

Equity itself uses 247247 for several of its own products:

Equity Bank account top-up (account = your 13-digit Equity account number).
Eazzy Loan repayment (account = your loan reference).
Equitel airtime top-up (account = your Equitel phone number).
Equity insurance premium payments.

And dozens of third-party merchants who bank with Equity use 247247 as their settlement rail. The exact list isn't publicly enumerated; if a business asks you to pay via paybill 247247 and gives you an account number, that's your route. Common examples include schools, hospitals, SACCOs, and small-to-medium businesses that banked with Equity and didn't want to provision their own paybill.

How to use 247247 without paying the wrong recipient

Get the account number from the merchant directly. If a school sent you a fee statement, the account number is on it. If a vendor invoices you, it's on the invoice. Do not guess; the account-number format varies by merchant.
Triple-check the format. Equity's native account numbers are 13-digit. Eazzy accounts are 10-digit. Equitel airtime accounts are 10-digit phone numbers. Third-party merchants have their own formats — sometimes admission numbers, patient IDs, employee numbers.
Pay a small test amount first if you're unsure. Send KES 50, wait for the merchant to confirm receipt, then send the full amount.
Keep the M-PESA SMS transaction code. If the merchant doesn't see the payment after 30 minutes, lead with the transaction code when contacting their accounts team — that lets them search Equity's aggregator portal.

Other aggregator paybills you'll encounter

222222 (eCitizen) — routes to dozens of government services. Account number determines whether you're paying KRA, NTSA, KEBS, KPLC prepaid, GDC, or a county service. See our eCitizen paybill page.
888880 (KPLC postpaid) — single-merchant, not an aggregator (account = your account number). Common confusion vector because the name resembles 888888.
980200 (KCB Group) — aggregator for KCB and KCB-aligned merchants.

An aggregator paybill is not a scam

Worth saying clearly: aggregator paybills are legitimate financial infrastructure. They are not used for fraud (scams typically use stolen paybills or fake business names). The confusion they generate is structural, not deceptive. If you pay via 247247 and the M-PESA SMS says "EQUITY BANK", the payment did go to the correct settlement institution; the merchant credit happens downstream.

When to escalate

If you've paid via 247247, the M-PESA SMS shows "EQUITY BANK", and the merchant hasn't credited you after 24 hours, contact the merchant's accounts team first (with your M-PESA transaction code). Their team can search the Equity aggregator portal and re-allocate if the account number was slightly off. If they confirm they've received nothing for your transaction code, the funds may have routed to a different merchant — at that point contact Equity directly on 0763 000 000 or via their customer support channels.

Resources

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