Afeez Ayinde SaheedFintech startups rarely become the subject of viral memes and TikTok videos, but Palmpay, a Chinese-backed digital wallet product, is the subject of plenty of social media ridicule.
Most of the joke formats have the same theme: Palmpay agents will do anything to collect loans from defaulting borrowers.
In some videos, agents can be seen chasing, dragging and even verbally and physically abusing defaulters.
These types of jokes have become so popular that social media users have created fictional scenarios around these debt collection methods.
The social media saga cannot be ignored and two weeks ago PalmPay issued a statement denying claims that their collection agents had harassed people.
PalmPay reiterated this in a statement shared with our source via email. Part of the statement read: “We are aware of defamatory internet memes in recent weeks and would like to reiterate that they are not based on reality and that the so-called PalmPay agents depicted are in no way associated with our company.”
PalmPay has grown in popularity since its launch in 2019, and the fintech is popular for its fast payment processing.
According to Semaphore, Palmpay is one of the biggest beneficiaries of Nigeria’s controversial currency conversion policy.
But Palmpay’s digital lending business is very popular, with rates ranging from 15 to 30% for payday loans.
Like most digital lenders, Palmpay loans are instant and users only need to download the app. But as many digital lenders understand, getting the loans is the easy part, getting people to pay back is the hard part.
There have been reported cases of unethical practices used by the Palmpay’s agent in attempt to recover the loan when the borrower defaults.
Most of the tactics involved public shaming, calling and texting the borrower’s contacts to force them to repay the money.
Our source confirmed to have received a call from a PalmPay agent to say that “someone on my contact list has defaulted on a 10,700 loan.
“They also sent me a picture of the said contact on Whatsapp with the contact’s name, phone number, BVN and date of birth. “Wanted” was also written on the picture.
Meanwhile, PalmPay insisted that the calls could not have been from their customer service representatives.
In a statement, PalmPay said the company does not share customers’ BVN information. “We have strict guidelines regarding collection practices. Sharing is not our policy
“User data such as BVN, photos or phone contact lists. We want to assure our users that we have policies in place, and if we find that these policies are not being followed, we will take immediate action to enforce them.
“We are conducting a full audit of Flexi and its lending process and have put in place stronger monitoring systems.
Despite the company’s insistence, hundreds of comments on PalmPay’s Facebook and Instagram accounts complain of harassment by agents or customer service representatives. It has become so common that the company is now known more for its brutal debt collection methods on social media than for actual loans. Many debt collection methods raise serious privacy and ethical concerns.
Original texts supply: TechCabal
