How to Document and Report Loan App Abuse

• A complaint without evidence is an opinion. Regulators act on files — organised, dated, specific. Building that file takes about thirty minutes and multiplies your chances of getting results many times over.

What to put in your evidence file

• Identity of the app: exact app name, the developer name shown on the store page, and the lender’s registered business name if you can find it.
• Loan facts: amount received, amount “approved”, the repayment amount, disbursement date, and due date.
• The abuse: screenshots of threatening or insulting messages; the defamatory texts sent to your contacts; dates and times of calls; names of any staff who spoke to you.
• Your attempts to resolve: copies of any repayment receipts and your written repayment message to them.
• Impact: short statements from contacts who received shame messages, and a note of any distress or losses.

Where to report

Digital-lending abuse in Nigeria sits mainly with two regulators: the consumer-protection commission (for unfair treatment, misleading terms and harassment) and the data-protection commission (for unlawful use of your contacts and personal data). File with both if your contacts were messaged — the misuse of their data is a separate wrong from the harassment of you.

How to write the complaint itself

One page, in this order: who you are, which app, what loan, what happened (dates!), what evidence is attached, and what you want done (investigation, sanction, correction of your record). Attach your screenshots as clear images, not inside a document. Keep the tone cold and factual.

After you file

Note your complaint reference number and follow up in writing every two weeks. If the regulator closes the file without action, ask for the reason in writing — that letter is useful if you later escalate to a lawyer or the press. Our FCCPC step-by-step guide walks through the portal process in detail.