By Wilson Adekumola
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has admonished digital lenders not to lend money to those who failed to back their loans, describing them as chronic borrowers.
The Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, made this disclosure while featuring on an Arise Television on Tuesday, in reaction to the allegation of some digital lenders, popularly known as ‘Loan Sharks’, slandering, pestering and harassing customers in the name of loan recovery.
He urged the digital lenders do their due diligence by checking their customers’ credibility and creditworthiness before lending.
He stated that the digital lenders should devise more humane means to loan recovery rather than harassing their customers.
“Most people who fail to pay back these loans are chronic borrowers. So, if you have a problem paying back your obligation, you should not have the opportunity to borrow again”, he said.
Irukera stressed further that customers with genuine problems who have failed to make a payment or do not fail to make a payment should not be subjected to the inconvenience, aggravation and frustration that comes with these defamatory messages.
He stated further that those digital lenders on Google Playstore found guilty of pestering customers would be permanently deleted.
“Our concern is if these lenders we’ve approved are still doing it (harassing customers), even if they do it just for once, we will permanently delete them from the Google Play Store. As we discover them, we go after them,” Irukera said.
