Written by Anthony Ogbonna• January 24, 2023• 2:17 pm• Business, Features, How-tos, Mobile, News, Tech • Views: 6

Loan Apps In Nigeria: List Of Govt Only Approved Ones

There are only 94 government approved loan apps in Nigeria right now! Therefore, avoid being scammed; Do yourself a favour by checking the list below to see if that digital money lender you want to give your detail and borrow money from is registered.

Why FG Ordered Flutterwave, Paystack, Opay, Monify, Telcos Block Online Lenders

Countless Nigerians have fallen victims to loan sharks and they are still living with the bruises (Financial, emotional and otherwise) they got from doing business with such money lenders.

There are many, thousands of loan sharks in Nigeria right now and many unsuspecting Nigerians, especially the youths, have fallen victims to them. Ask yourselves this question: That loan app you have downloaded onto your phone, are you sure its not stealing your private data like ATM PIN, date of birth, contact names and other private information?

Recently, many loan sharks, especially those unregistered who have promised Nigerians good value, have turned out to be sharks going not only after their customers but also after the contacts in their phones.

And many Nigerians have many tales to tell about their experience with loan sharks.

It was a surprise for Mr Usman, one morning, when one of the customers to a particular popular digital money lenders began getting calls from all his family members and friends, trying to know what was happening with him. It happened that the ;loan company he had dealings wit had been calling all contacts on his phone, threatening them for being either family members or friends with Mr Usman. Usman’s father had just finished calling him when his childhood friend and class mate called him too to complain that some reps of a loan company called them and said he was a fraudster and a thief. The loan company also told his sisters that he was a kidnapper and all other unprintable names. All for what? That, although he had paid the N20,000 he borrowed from them with part of the interest accrued, he had not finished paying the interest.

This is one case among many others. Such developments have caused emotional, psychological and other traumatic experience to both the loan companies’ customers and their friends and family members.

But the question remains: How did the loan app get hold of his contact list? Its all from the very first registration steps on the app.

They apps forces customers to agree to unethical terms and conditions that includes granting access to customers’ contact lists.

With unethical promises of unrealistic returns, the unsuspecting customers agree to the terms.

Soon after the registration, the loan sharks resort to unethical methods.

The companies would harass the relatives and loved ones of their customers all in the bid to recover loans.

They would also abuse and shame them and their acquaintances just to recover their loans.

In our previous report, FG Shuts Down GoCash, Okash, EasyCredit, Other Illegal Loan Companies, Techuncode had reported how the federal government had shut down Okash and other loan companies for such unethical practices.

However, despite the crank down on them, many of them are still sprouting up and thousands of Nigerians are still falling victims.

Consequently, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has approved the operations of 94 of the loan companies as digital money lenders in Nigeria.

So, if the one you are using is not in the list, then you may be in the net of one of the loan sharks and you need to get out!

Also, although the FCCPC recognises 94 of them, it gave only 49 of them full license to operate as digital money lenders.

The other 45 companies only have recognition licenses.

Eligibility Criteria For The Loan Companies:

According to FCCPC, registration to be a legal Digital money lender in Nigeria requires the companies to register and complete two forms, viz: Form DLG 001 and Form DLG 002.

ALSO READ: Google To Boot out Loan Banks Maxi Credit, Here4U, ChaCha, SoftPay

While form DLG OO1 is the registration form where the company provides identification and operational information to the FCCPC, in Form DLG 002, the applicant provides information regarding data protection laws, lawful sources of funds; compliance to anti-money laundering laws and others.