Kampala, (UG):- A concerned Ugandan has lodged a complaint against GoldCredit, an instant online money-lending application, accusing it of harassment through intrusive and irritating messages sent to borrowers and their guarantors.
In one of the contentious messages shared with DailyExpress by a victim (whose name and identity we’ve withheld for sensitivity purposes), the company, using both USSD and WhatsApp text messaging service threatens a guarantor that money will be deducted from their mobile account due to a borrower’s default on a loan of 20,000 UGX.
“Kindly urge 07******** to promptly settle their outstanding loan of 20,000. Your assistance as their emergency contact is…” one of the messages read.
Another message reads, “Hello guarantor to….the system has been configured to deduct some money from your phone. This is done to cover the costs and damages brought about by defaulting on his loan of 340,000 UGX. Please inform him before anything happens because he is not picking our calls.”
The tone and content of such messages have sparked frustration to the user, who feels the communication methods are aggressive and violate their privacy. “It is humiliating and stressful to receive such messages threatening to deduct money from my account for someone else’s loan. I feel like my personal information is being exploited,” the aggrieved guarantor expressed in frustration.
Borrowers on the GoldCredit app have also raised concerns, alleging that the app accesses their contact lists to send similar messages to friends and family members. This practice has reportedly caused embarrassment and strained relationships for many. DailyExpress could not independently verify if these claims were too by the time this story was filed.
Call for Regulation
In the wake of this development, advocates for financial consumer protection have urged concerned regulatory authorities to tighten control over digital lenders. They argue that while digital lending fills a gap in financial accessibility, the lack of clear guidelines has enabled unethical practices like these to often surface with no control.
We are unable to get a comment from the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority (UMRA) about the customer complaint but a staff who preferred anonymity because they are not the official mouthpiece of the body said “It is true, UMRA is investigating reports of harassment by some digital lenders.”
“Ideally, consumers should not be subjected to intimidation, and their data must be handled responsibly,” the staff added.
GoldCredit was yet to release an official statement regarding the allegations but similar digital lenders in Uganda have previously defended their practices, citing the high risk of defaults as justification for stringent recovery measures.
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