Top Fake Loan Apps In Nigeria

The proliferation of fake loan apps in Nigeria is increasingly becoming unbecoming. Have you ever opened your phone and kept seeing ads of loan apps popping on your screen every time? What has been your experience with loan apps in Nigeria? Google removed over 30 lending apps from the Play Store for failing to prove their compliance with relevant local financial laws.

In this article, I want to talk about fake loan apps in Nigeria that you should run from when you come across them. Now when I say fake loan apps, it doesn’t necessarily mean no one would reply to you at first but it just means you might have to regret dealing with such apps in the first place.

Most of these apps will only waste your time, some of them will just interact with you to have your private data to resell to third parties and some of them want to milk the money that you still have. One thing for sure is none of them has your good interest at heart.

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The goal of a bad loan app is to steal, kill, and destroy like a thief in the night. Fake loan apps may camouflage themselves under different pretenses but their major aim is either to steal your money by defrauding you, steal your data and expose it to third parties or destroy your reputation with families and friends and kill you financially with an exorbitantly high-interest rate as high as 60 percent in 7 days or kill your trust in other good online platforms. But first, let’s talk about loan sharks.

What Is A Loan App?

Online Loan apps are mobile apps or lending companies that enable you to apply for a loan without ever setting foot in a bank. A loan app provides instant cash or emergency funds to help consolidate debt, pay an outstanding bill or finance a big project.

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Most loan apps provide collateral-free personal loans with zero convenience fees. Now how do you identify bad loan apps in Nigeria, what are the red flags to notice before you run?

How to identify fake loan apps

The interest rate for an average commercial bank loan in Nigeria is 24 percent per annum. However, fake loan apps’ interest rates are between 75 percent and 400 percent. These are a few red flags you should look out to identify a fake loan app.

• Small loan amount
• Crazily High-interest rate
• Fake office address
• The loan company is unregistered
• Short loan Repayment time
• The loan company pressures you to act immediately
• Fake or insecure Lender’s website
• Card verification fee
• The false promise of giving out loan
• Check reviews online

List of fake loan apps in Nigeria

• LCredit 
• 9ja cash
• NairaPlus
• Sokoloan
• 9credit
• Cash Wallet
• GGMoney
• PalmCash
• ForNaira
• PalmCredit
• EasyMoni
• BorrowNow
• LionCash
• Nkash
• CycleCash
• Cashrain
• Mikoloan
• Supercash
• Xcredit
• CashLion 
• GoCash
• Icoin
• EasyCredit
• Speedy Choice 

Top bad loan apps in Nigeria

Surprisingly, with the extremely high-interest rate and short repayment time by many of these apps, they have also turned themselves into predators,  harassing and threatening the unlucky users and their contacts with malicious and defamatory words even before the due date.

These are some of the apps you should run from in case you come across them.

1. LCredit
   LCredit is one of the bad loan apps in Nigeria hosted on the Google play store with thousands of users and downloads before it was apprehended by Google. The platform does not have any online presence or a physical office address as a lending service company. LCredit has been removed by Google from its play store. The fake loan app has been considered to have violated any of Google’s operational policies. 
   
   Google’s play protects also discovered that the app was involved in some malicious activities spying on phone contacts, photos, recordings, messages, and other personal details of its users. This is outrightly against Google privacy policy. Many of LCredit users have said that scam activity is not only typical with LCredit, there are still many loan apps that do so, such as Sokoloan, Credit9ja, True Naira, Naira Plus, KashKash, Easycredit. Sokoloan for example will tell you to sell your property to repay them, even though you are on a sickbed it doesn’t concern them.
   
2. 9ja Cash
   9ja cash is another bad loan app you should run away from. The app is owned and managed by Sokoloan, a lending app that has been proscribed by regulators in Nigeria. 
   
   9ja cash has all the tell-tales of a fake loan app written all over it. The platform charges an excessive interest rate on each loan and limits loan tenure to 7 days instead of the 60 days minimum duration. They also slander their borrowers with threats and defamatory messages which also extend to the contacts on your phone. An act that is against user privacy
   
3. NairaPlus 
   NairaPlus is probably the number one loan app everyone should stay clear of. It is one of the quick loan apps that always pop up on advertisements promising mouthwatering loans until you give them a try. Once you decide to deal with them, you should know that they have no regard for the data privacy of their users and you should expect blackmailing and threatening messages if you default in repaying even for just a day. 
   
4. Sokoloan 
   Sokoloan is one of the most popular quick loan apps in Nigeria and it is one of the worst apps to borrow from. Based on our research, we discovered that Sokoloan has about three other mobile loan apps offering the same service under different names. Sokoloan has a bad reputation that precedes them, it is one of the most unprofessional platforms out there. The platform does not declare its charges until they give you a loan and they only give you 7 days to repay your loan. Actually, it’s more or less 6 days long. Sokoloan was fined by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) when a significant number of customers reported them for invading their privacy and sending threats and curses even without an outstanding debt. 
   
   A major decision was taken against bad loan apps in Nigeria in August 2021, when NITDA fined Soko Lending Company the sum of N10 million for invading the privacy of their users and for sending threatening messages to borrowers, a practice regarded as a privacy invasion.
   
5. 9Credit
   9Credit is one of the bad loan apps in Nigeria that you should never collect money from. Besides the fact that they give 7 days to repay, they go to the extreme to recover their money. Imagine your boss or your family member telling you they got a message like the one below. 
   
   URGENTLY TREAT!!!
   
   This is to notify you that name; temitope victor obembe Phone: 081650-**** / 08147-3**** is an INCONSIDERATE PERSON, THIS PERSON has PROVEN to be a CRUEL/HARD HEARTED DEBTOR, also we DISCOVERED that this PERSON IS A PERPETUAL/UNREMORSEFUL DEBTOR known ALL OVER THE FINTECH COMPANY IN NIGERIA, This DEBTOR goes around COLLECTING MONEY from different fund COMPANY without repaying. 
   
   This person has CURRENTLY REFUSED to REPAY the company’s money(NC)and has refused to pick up our calls. Please contact us if you have any information about this person as soon as possible, or else the company will be FORCED to take LEGAL ACTION to RECOVER THIS fund, Kindly be INFORMED that this person provided us with all your details STATING that YOU both AGREE to COLLECT this fund from the US… 
   
   If you are not aware of this fund you can as well call the person to delete your information on the APP NOW, because SHORTLY the person’s DETAILS alongside yours will be PUBLISHED in a DRASTIC MANNER.
   
6. Cash Wallet
   Cash Wallet is another bad app that finds its way to our list. It’s a loan app that claims to give out loans but actually illegally extorts loan seekers. 
   
   We’ve seen reviews of people who allegedly claim Cash Wallet only takes your data and puts a charge on your card without giving you any loan.
   
7. Palmcash 
   PalmCash is another loan app in Nigeria that flaunts its advert all over the internet. The platform claims to give out loans to help people in need of emergency funds but makes use of crude means to recover their funds. 
   
   You should know that PalmCash does not have a traceable office address and it is run as a faceless company. The platform also does not have a customer care representative you can talk to if you have any issues. Fortunately, Google has done its part to blacklist this app from the play store. 
   
8. ForNaira 
   ForNaira is one of the loan apps in Nigeria that has gone rogue. The platform claims to give out fast and easy loans without collateral to people but all it does is to gather their data and information and use it to defame them. ForNaira is one of the fake apps that has been removed and permanently blacklisted from the play store. 
   
9. EasyMoni / EasyCash
   EasyMoni is one of the worst apps on this list. The lending platform is known for threatening and shaming loan seekers if there’s a disagreement. 
   
   The platform has also repeatedly been in violation of user data privacy. Customers have complained to Google and the platform has been removed from the play store. Funnily enough, EasyMoni has now repacked itself as EasyCash in order to find its way back to the play store. Easy Cash is owned and operated by a faceless company from China and Hong Kong with no physical address in Nigeria. 
   
10. GoToCash 
    GotoCash is another fake loan app that uses illegal tactics to deal with its customers. GotoCash charges illegal service fees from customers applying for a loan and also has an excessive interest rate. 
    
    Just like every other app on this list, GotoCash is also fond of sending threats to customers and also violating their user privacy, which is why Google also took action against the platform. The app is one of the fake loan apps that was kicked out of the play store on November 28, 2021, by Google. 

Also read: List of Buy now, pay later platforms in Nigeria. 

List of Legit loan apps in Nigeria

As much as there are lots of bad loan apps out there that are only interested in disgracing you or stealing your data and money there are a few good ones that we should recommend in this article. 

These apps give you a longer loan duration and the lowest interest rate you can ever get in Nigeria. They are designed to truly help you when it matters most and they are not greedy compared to the ones listed above.

Best mobile loan Providers in Nigeria

• Kuda Overdraft
• Branch
• Fairmoney
• Aella credit
• Carbon
• Migo Money
• Quick check

Regulation for Money Lending Services in Nigeria

Most States in Nigeria have different laws regulating money lending services but most importantly it is required that money lenders be licensed before operating in their state.

However, Nigeria as a country has laws guiding money lending services which include the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act ( BOFIA) and state lending laws. Apart from these two guidelines, only the Central Bank of Nigeria has the power to approve or license a startup or a company to undertake financial operations. 

Google’s requirements to operate a loan app

Loan apps listed on the Google Play Store offering short-term loans are mandated by Google policy rules to give borrowers no fewer than 60 days from the date of issue to repay any loan.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Consumer Protection Regulation does not permit a financial institution to contact friends, employers, or relatives of a loan defaulter unless consent is granted.

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