SHILLONG, Jan 4: In the wake of reports about individuals falling prey to growing number of unauthorised digital lending platforms/mobile apps that are promising quick and hassle-free loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned the public against such unscrupulous activities and advised them to verify the antecedents of the company/firm offering loans online or through apps.
In a statement, the RBI said, “These reports refer to excessive rates of interest and additional hidden charges being demanded from borrowers; adoption of unacceptable and high-handed recovery methods; and misuse of agreements to access data on the mobile phones of the borrowers”.
Legitimate public lending activities can be undertaken by banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) registered with RBI and other entities who are regulated by the state governments under statutory provisions, such as the money lending acts of the concerned states, it added.
The apex bank, in the statement, advised consumers to refrain from sharing copies of KYC documents with unidentified persons, unverified/unauthorised apps and to report such requests associated with the apps or other sources to concerned law enforcement agencies or use Sachet portal (https://sachet.rbi.org.in) to file an online complaint.
The Reserve Bank has also mandated that digital lending platforms, which are used on behalf of banks and NBFCs, should disclose the name of the bank(s) or NBFC(s) upfront to the customers. The names and addresses of the NBFCs registered with the Reserve Bank and the portal for filing complaints against the entities regulated by the RBI can be accessed through https://cms.rbi.org.in.
