TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) opened a complaint center for financial technology (fintech) consumers harmed by peer-to-peer lending or online-based lending firm. LBH Jakarta attorney Jeanny Silvia Sari Sirait said many complaints were sent to her agency since the opening of the center.

There were over 300 complaints recorded from Sunday, November 4 up to November 7 at 12 pm. “But we have not categorized it yet, it is possibly double complaints,” said Jeanny in a phone call with Tempo on Wednesday, November 7.

Based on the Instagram account of LBH Jakarta, the agency had received reports from 283 victims of law and human rights violations from fintech since May 2018. There were eight violations that app-based lending firm frequently do.

1. Billing process uses various humiliating ways such as cursing, threatening, defamatory, even sexual harassment;

2. Billing is made through all contacts listed in customers’ smartphone (supervisor at work, parents in law, friends, and others);

3. High and unlimited interest;

4. Collecting personal data (contacts, SMS, calls, memory card, and others) from debtors’ phone.

5. Billing starts before due and at any time;

6. Complaint number listed by the lending firm is not always available;

7. Address of the firm is not clear;

8. Online-based company changes its name for days without giving notice to the consumer but the loan interest keep rising.

DIAS PRASONGKO