How to stop loan app harassment? It is no news that the Nigerian economy is taking a hit. Businesses are collapsing around us, industries are closing down and the unemployment rate is increasing in the country. As a result, many Nigerians find it difficult to meet their immediate needs, which has led some to seek cheap credit from loan applications.
Sadly, many Nigerians have fallen prey to borrowing money from unscrupulous loan apps, digital platforms, and lending institutions that end up harassing them, their families, and their contact list when they default (for some, even before the loan is due). In this article, we will be giving tips on how to stop loan app harassment in Nigeria.
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How to Stop Loan App Harassment?
How to stop loan app harassment in Nigeria will be discussed below, but before I proceed let’s take a look at what a loan app is and how it works.
What is a loan app and how do they work?
Loan apps are loan applications, digital platforms, and lending institutions that put a front in offering instant cash online to people without the need for collateral and documentation. However, borrowers from unscrupulous loan companies may not know in advance about the extremely high-interest rates, unethical methods of loan recovery, and various harassment strategies directed at borrowers.
There are many strategies that these sharks use to harass those who value emergency funds from their platforms. Borrowers may start receiving threats of imminent defamation letters from loan sharks even before the loan is due. In the event that a borrower defaults, these loan sharks defy the basic rules of lending by harassing their customers by sending them blackmail, defamation, and threats.
In addition to the text messages sent to borrowers, the staff of these loan applications, digital platforms, and lending institutions will also call their defaulted customers, usually speaking to them in an inhuman manner.
Apart from harassing the borrower by sending them defamatory threats and messages, the sharks go further by endangering the privacy of their customers’ data by sending shameful and defamatory messages to the family members and contact list of the borrowers. In most letters sent to family members and borrowers’ contact lists, borrowers are commonly referred to as “criminals”. What’s more, these loan sharks go on to release personal details and photos of their customers who default on social media.
Here are some ways to identify loan app harassment statics in Nigeria:
- Borrower sharks may want to access the contact list and photos saved on borrowers’ cell phones.
- Borrowing sharks have been known to harass their stuttering customers on social media and other online media.
- Borrower Sharks endanger the privacy of their customers (borrowers) by misusing contact numbers and photos saved on their mobile phones.
- Pseudonym sharks will send defamatory and threatening messages to borrowers’ families and friends by invading customer data privacy.
- Another telltale sign of sharks is the extremely high-interest rate and harsh penalties.
- Rigorous and unethical methods of loan recovery.
- Sharks usually deduct the processing and/or security deposit before the loan is processed.
Loan application clerks are fond of talking to customers who default in an inhumane manner.
How To Stop Loan App Harassment?
How to stop loan app harassment? The best way to avoid being exposed to any kind of loan inconvenience is to not borrow money from any loan person. Instead, ask your family members or friends, or use reputable loan apps. Earlier in this article, we gave tips on how to distinguish between a loan shark and a reputable loan application. So, be sure to use the guidelines.
If you have downloaded a loan app and already borrowed money from any lending app then your best bet to stop loan shark harassment is to pay back the loan you owe. Once done, uninstall and delete the loan application from your mobile phone. Then never borrow from loan sharks again.
In the event of default and fear that the loan shark will send defamatory messages to your contact list, you can go to the permissions section of the loan app, and deny the app from accessing your contacts, SMS, and mobile. phone memory. However, you should know that before you can get any money from any loan, you must have given permission to the loan application to obtain a copy of your contact list because you would not have been able to obtain the loan without doing so. Therefore, you must pay off the loan you owe to prevent loan sharks from contacting your contacts.
The horrific situation of loan shark harassment in Nigeria has become so alarming that you may have come across a defamatory letter and photo of someone you know because they defaulted on a loan taken from a loan shark. The weakness of the Central Bank of Nigeria (along with other regulatory bodies) in effectively regulating online lenders across the country has continued to hurt and hurt Nigerians on a daily basis. Apart from Nigerians heeding the advice in this article, it is expected that there will be more regulatory bodies involved if this ugly situation of ugly shark harassment is to stop.
Tips To Follow To Protect Yourself from Falling Prey to Loan Sharks
How To Stop Loan App Harassment? There are a few ways you can differentiate reputable loan apps from the unscrupulous sharks that harass and scam Nigerian citizens. In this section of this article, we are going to give some practical tips to use to protect yourself or fight loan apps in Nigeria.
Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind when finding a lending app:
- To ensure the legitimacy of your lending application, check important information such as phone number, email address, and physical address location.
- Check and verify reviews written by previous customers of the loan application on their website and/or social media page, as well as online reviews on the Google Play Store and App Store.
- Look for professional reviews that have been made about the lending app to get a real assessment of their services.
- Ensure that the lending application is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. So, look out for CBN certification for these lending apps.
- Always review the permissions requested by any loan application so that you allow only those permissions requested by the loan you are applying for.
Ways to Prevent Loan Apps from Accessing Your Contacts
How To Stop Loan App Harassment? Online loan applications get access to your contacts when you give them access to read it.
These loan applications reach your phone contacts at the first stage of your application.
These are the best ways to stop loan apps from calling and sending messages to your contacts.
· Block access
When you download an app, your first time using the app may request certain permissions from your phone. These permissions can be access to your contacts, messages, camera, etc.
Many people give these permissions to use the services offered by the app.
Now, for borrowed apps, once you’ve granted these permissions and got the loan, go to your phone’s settings and disable Remove these permissions.
Only when you default, loan companies go to the app to retrieve your phone contacts if the permissions are still granted.
But once you turn it off and don’t open the app again, they won’t have it.
They will threaten to send letters, but believe me, they cannot
To stop a borrowed app from sending messages to your contacts, don’t give them access.
Do not agree to allow them to read your contacts.
And if they do, just follow these steps on how to stop loan app harassment:
Step 1: Go to your Settings on your Android or iOS device.
Step 2: Go to Application Manager.
Step 3: Click Apps permission.
Step 4: Select the respective loan application.
Step 5: Now, deny or allow them access.
· Use trusted loan apps
Only use loan apps that are known to be reliable in the industry to avoid extortion.
Conclusion – How To Stop Loan App Harassment?
Once you give permission for the first time to any loan app, all the information they need about you is stored. If you are in debt to any of these illegal loan platforms, and you are afraid of defamatory messages to your contacts, go to settings in your phone, tap on the app, and notifications.
Scroll down to access the app’s permission and deny them access to your contacts, SMS, photo gallery, and storage on your phone. They will no longer be able to access your contacts or post your photos.
They will only have your number and only you will have to deal with it. Finally, make sure you only borrow what you can afford.