Nigeria is a country that has little penetration of Credit facilities and credit cards,with high debit cards flying around, commercial banks are confused on what to do to deepen the access to credit for Nigerians ! Having noticed this vacuum, some smart alecs with little or no decorum opened a loan app where one can download and get loans without encumberances associates with the commercial banks.
Just like the popular saying that goes that cheap things aren’t cheap, these cheap loan apps that one can easily download via Google play store has shown to be a nightmare and a fly that perches on the scrotum of their customers. Akin to the merchant of Venice and loan shark guys of New York, these loan apps have a mafiaso approach to retrieving their money ,their approach would make Don Coleono and Pippi take a crash lecture on extortion , these loan apps can do a free crash course for the Japanese Mafia and make the Columbian drug cartel look like a Pius monk! in short these loan apps in Nigeria have zero chills, Zero Joy, Zero Mercy they would blackmail you until you pay up , failure to do so,they would ensure that zero integrity is left of you the debtor!
A very close friend of mine just tried commuting suicide due to these gangsters that run these loan apps masquerading as Fintech Gurus. These apps have crossed the Rubicon, they don’t know the fine line between defamation and default in payment. They would send your picture to all the contacts in your phone describing you as either a fraudsters or a criminal for failure to pay up in time….these blackmail work most times because Nigerians are tired of going to court or do not know how to sue the hell out of these loan apps.
Loan default shouldn’t be a criminal case but should be seen as civil, A lot of things can cause one to default but sending the pictures of customers to friends and relatives describing one as fraudster is a criminal act and the loan app firm should be treated as blackmailer and we know what the law states.
Regulators like CBN , NITDA are standing aloof and watch while these loan app firms some of them have Asians as the founders messing up the integrity of Nigerians , though a lot of Nigerians have to be blamed here due to their nature of not repaying debts , just like the Igbo adage goes , if a bird has refused to perch, the hunter would refuse to miss the target…. as these loan apps employ gangster approach to recuoping and retrieving their money, Nigerians are calling the regulatory agencies to wade in and clear the mess…. it is best to go to banks and get decent loan because they would offer advisory services and guide you unlike these loan sharks that front as Fintech but they are blackmailers.
Anthony Emeka Nwosu
 Digital Banking Awards 2024){kind=link}
Nice post, these guys are carzy
I totally agree wityh the post, we need to do something towards these fintech loan apps