Misconduct in online lending: survey of borrowers
The Bank of Russia invites individuals who raised an online loan or microloan in 2022 or 2023 to take part in a brief survey. The answers will help assess the scope of unfair practices and violations of borrowers’ rights, associated with the specifics of using mobile applications or Internet banking.
Online channels are easy-to-use: they save time for customers and reduce costs for banks and microfinance organisations. However, such an easy way of lending could create potential problems for a borrower. For example, a lender might focus a borrower’s attention only on the lowest possible interest rate, play various tricks for hard selling of extra paid services, or make it more difficult to find important information online.
The survey findings will be taken into consideration both for future supervision and for improving regulation to protect consumers’ rights.