FCCPC to Shut down Illegal Money Lending Apps, Platforms
The joint committee tackling violation of consumer rights in the money lending industry will shut down illegal businesses at the commencement of its enforcement, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says.
MarketForces Africa had reported that a large number of instant credit providers have no traces but just their apps, charging steep interest rates on short term loans.
When defaulted, these instant loan providers would intrude into third party privacy that wasn’t part of the loan agreement with calls and text messages, asking the third party to advise the person that collected money from them to pay.
Some known names in the industry are doing well and expanding, though the interest rate on these unregulated loan providers beats economic imagination, however, customers accept the easy access.
Speaking with the news agency, Mr Babatunde Irukera, the Chief Executive Officer of FCCPC, said that the enforcement would commence soon.
The joint committee was made up of representatives from FCCPC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Other agencies involved in the committee are the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Irukera said that the committee would also be writing interim regulations which money lending companies must comply with.
“The joint committee is meeting and agreeing on how to proceed but I can say that two of the entities of the joint committee will be going on the field and doing enforcement work now, very shortly.
“They will be closing down businesses and engaging App stores to shut down certain applications that are infringing and abusive.
`We are also going to be writing interim regulations and some basic information for all these money lenders to provide information so that people will know who they are.
“Some of them are just Apps that we do not even know who the promoters are. So we are going to provide certain frameworks for them to comply with before doing business, ‘’ he explained.
On the increasing number of consumer complaints about services by insurance companies, Irukera said that the commission was progressing in their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
“We anticipate that as we conclude that MoU early next year, we will have more industry-wide interventions in that space”.
“We get a lot more complaints about the insured who have paid their premium and are not been settled and so, we are engaging NAICOM on that’’. #FCCPC to Shut down Illegal Money Lending Apps, Platforms
Read Also: FCCPC Urges Consumers to Examine Fruits Before Purchase
