Nigerian Government to shut online banks pestering debtors.
The Federal Trade Commission has stated that it will delist any loan application that harasses customers and has asked Google to remove such apps from its app store permanently.
This was in response to the continued harassment and defamation meted out by these digital lenders to Nigerians. It was also the Federal Government’s most recent measure to protect Nigerians from the activities of these digital lenders.
The FCCPC required loan apps to register with it earlier this year. So far, the commission has granted full or conditional permission to 180 apps to operate in the country. Google also recently announced that without regulatory approval, loan apps would be barred from its app store.
Google announced in April that loan apps on the Play Store would no longer be able to access users’ contacts or photos after May 31, 2023.
Regardless, loan apps continued to harass customers.
The FCCPC’s Chief Executive Officer, Babatunde Irukera, stated that the commission was prepared to halt the activities of these apps permanently.
He told The PUNCH, “We have read the stories. But we have to investigate to make sure that the evidence truly exists.
The consequence of this, they know it, is that if any of these defamatory messages or harassments goes out again, they will be delisted, and we will ask Google to take them down permanently. But we can’t take that kind of step without knowing for sure because what we’ve found is that the loan apps that are still doing those things are not on Google.
He explained that many apps harassing customers had names like registered ones. He noted, “Most of the complaints we’ve received about these things show that the companies are not on our list/ Google. They are the ones who are using WhatsApp, APK, and other softer, below-the-radar channels to engage consumers.”
Irukera advised consumers only to take loans from approved online banks or loan apps since they were easier to find and sanction.
