NPC orders takedown of 4 lending apps due to unauthorized use of personal data, harassment

By TED CORDERO, GMA News, 25 Aug 2021

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) said Wednesday it has ordered the immediate takedown of four online lending apps in a bid to protect the data privacy rights of borrowers.

In a statement, the NPC said it issued four separate orders directing Wefund Lending Corporation, Joywin Lending Investor Inc., Cash8 Lending Corporation, and Populus Lending Corporation, the respective of operators of Juan Hand, Lemon Loan, CashJeep, and Pesopop to halt the processing of their borrowers’ personal data.

The Privacy body added that it also furnished copies of the orders to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to take down the four apps from the internet and to Google LLC to remove them from the Google Play Store.

The NPC said it issued the orders based on the findings of the agency’s Complaints and Investigation Division (CID) which examined the apps and found that these violated the principles of transparency, legitimate purpose, and proportionality in the Data Privacy Act of 2012 and the NPC issuance on the Processing of Personal Data for Loan- Related Transactions (NPC Circular No. 20-01).

These apps have been the subject of various complaints of unauthorized use of personal data that resulted in harassment and shaming of borrowers and are currently being investigated for violations of the Data Privacy Act and other NPC issuances, the Privacy body said.

The NPC said the apps have gained access to a trove of information in the borrowers’ mobile devices, including contacts and social media data, that are excessive and may be weaponized to harass and shame delinquent borrowers before persons in their mobile devices’ contact list to collect debts.

The agency said the apps can process information ranging from a borrower’s sensitive personal data, location, photos, media files, emails, contact lists, and data from social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google +.

Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro, for his part, said the orders banning the four apps “are crucial to prevent serious privacy risks and protect and preserve the privacy rights of data subjects.”

“These online lending apps raised many red flags and the companies operating these apps demonstrate problematic data actions that expose borrowers to serious privacy risks and harms,” Liboro added.

The NPC said the companies operating the apps were provided the opportunity to reply to its findings.

However, two of the apps did not file position papers, while the other two failed to convince the Privacy commission why it should not impose the ban.

The agency did not identify which of the four companies did not submit position papers and which were not able to convince the commission to not impose the order.

The ban shall remain in effect until lifted by the NPC, it said.

Meanwhile, the NPC said it continues to investigate the possible criminal liabilities of the online lending apps operators’ directors, officers, and agents.

The commission said the apps were engaged in “irrelevant, unnecessary, and excessive” harvesting of personal and sensitive information without borrowers’ free and informed consent.

Citing Google’s statistics, the NPC said JuanHand has been downloaded more than one million times; Lemon Loan and Pesopop, more than 500,000 times each; and CashJeep, over 100,000 times.

The NPC is currently studying and investigating more than 200 online lending apps available for download and will issue orders and other actions according to the investigation results.

This is not the first time that the commission is cracking down on online lending apps.

In October 2019, the Commission issued a ban against 26 online lending apps for failing to appear before it and answer allegations, such as the use of personal data to shame delinquent borrowers.

Through NPC’s coordination with the NTC and Google LLC, the 26 online lending apps were taken down, and the apps are no longer publicly available for download, installation, or use.

The Privacy body said it has recently opened a channel with Google’s Regional Office for the immediate execution of its orders.—AOL, GMA News