Alliance of lending firms addresses privacy concerns
Credit to Author: THE MANILA TIMES| Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 08:24:10 +0000
With the recent crackdown on online lending firms on issues regarding their user’s privacy concerns, a group of various lending corporations formed an alliance to address data privacy issues and the illegal use of personal information as leverage.
The Lenders Alliance Inc. (LAI), with Royal Yohoo Lending Investors Corp. (Happy Pera), King ABC Lending Corp. (Pondo Loan), Fcash Global Lending Inc. (FastCash) and U-peso.PH Lending Corp. (UPESO) as its members, worked on guidelines to address the various privacy concerns of customers.
According to Michael Bréjean, a LAI representative, the rules set by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Privacy Commission helped the lending industry venture unto the “right direction.”
“We are reviewing and implementing changes in handling loans payment, in order to get closer to the highest international standards,” he said.
“This was strictly enforced and monitored by each member paving the way for a much-improved process for clients to repay their loans,” Brejean added, noting that the changes resulted in a decline in costumer complaints and encouraged the alliance to formalize a unified code of ethics.
Last September, close to 30 online lending firms were shut down by the NPC after receiving an alarming rate of privacy complaints.
“We respect the law and the customers. We are independently checked,” Bréjean said.
Armand Bengco, a financial literacy expert, lauded the alliance’s initiative to “police themselves” and said by doing so, it is keeping the industry’s integrity intact.