Late Payment; Fintech Customers Terrorized on Social Media

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A number of fintech customers filed reports to the police, saying they were intimidated and defamed by debt collectors via social media. The debt collectors are said to be working for both local and foreign fintech companies offering lending services.

Lawyer Effendi Saman who represents the customers said they were terrorized online for not paying their loan installments in due time. 

According to Effendi, his clients borrowed a small amount of money, between Rp500,000 and Rp1 million. They were one day late in paying back the loan, then the debt collectors started sending messages to people in their contacts; saying bad things about the customers.

"What the debt collectors did was uncalled for and it is an inappropriate conduct. We have reported them to the police, and they will be prosecuted for violating the customers' private area," Effendi said on Wednesday, October 17. 

The fintechs' debt collectors, he said, contacted customers friends via SMS and WhatsApp chat, as most fintechs have access to customers' contacts' numbers.

"Some even created a WhatsApp chat group [consisting of these contacts] and used the group to deliver threats," he said. 

As a result, Effendi added, his clients suffered from numerous types of effect. Some were fired from their jobs, others were divorced by their spouses.

"The debt collectors contacted one of my client's boss, and said the client of stealing money from the fintech company. My client was fired," he said. 

Effendi stressed that the government should tighten fintech rules as their "way of collecting money is brutal, and violating personal lives".

Bisnis.com