MANILA, Philippines– Online loan sharks have trapped thousands of Filipinos into a vicious debt cycle with their high interest rates and short payment terms.

Those who can’t pay up receive threats, get a deluge of texts and calls, and are shamed and maligned online. Some predatory lending apps even go as far as contacting the borrowers’ friends and relatives to pressure them to pay up.

Times are hard, no thanks to inflation, but you may want to think twice before downloading that lending app.

Rappler compiled a list of online lending companies from the database and issuances of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC). The database contains the name, registration status, and red flags of each app.

If the lending app and operating company are registered with the SEC, the database will reflect its SEC registration number.

Check out the database below.

Note, however, that the SEC and NPC’s lists are primarily focused on data privacy-related concerns, unfair collection practices, and acts of harassment made in the form of threats to ruin the borrowers’ reputation and to cause physical harm to their persons and their families.

This list does not fully reflect, or only partially reflects, possible violations of the rules set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on interest rate limits.

The BSP has fixed the maximum nominal interest rate at 6% per month, or about 0.2% per day, and the effective interest rate at 15% month, or about 0.5% per day for covered loans which are unsecured, general purpose loans that do not exceed the amount of P10,000 and with a loan tenor of up to four months. (READ: Digital lending apps see growth, increased time spent by PH users in 2022 – analysis)

To file a formal complaint against a lending or financing company, click this link. – Rappler.com

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