No, online loan apps in Nigeria are no longer allowed to access or call users' contacts as of May 31, 2023. This is due to a Google and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) policies update to protect users' privacy.
OKash is a legit, approved and licensed online lending platform in Nigeria. The online loan app is among the FCCPC and CBN's approved 284 loan app companies in Nigeria. OKash is also available in Kenya offering lending services to Kenyans.
While OKash’s calling of contact list and harassment has been stopped by the Nigerian authorities, many OKash users in Kenya are still publicly shamed when they are late on loan repayment, as per the interview Rest of World had with David Kiragu.
Although, OKash may not call your contacts but there are other consequences for defaulting OKash Loans. Note that OLash will neither tarnish your image nor defame rumors about you.
However, OKash will definitely report you to the appropriate authorities and place continual interest rate on the overdue outstanding loan. You should keep in mind that OKash's overdue interest rates fluctuate between 2% and 5% per day. This can potentially leads to a cycle of increasing debt.
Meanwhile, OKash has a fair overdue interest in the sense that once you’ve paid off the original loan and the initial interest, you don’t need to pay the overdue charges if you choose not to. And avoid borrowing money from other online loan apps just to repay Okash.
It’s better to pay them back when you can afford it. You can even spread the payments out over several months—just stick to your plan and pay them back as promised.
More so, if you’d rather not deal with their excessive calls, you can download Truecaller app from Google Play Store on your phone. It will help you identify and block their numbers manually and automatically.
In a nutshell, no loan app (be it OKash, Easemoni, FairMoney, SwiftKash, Branch, Carbon, and others) is permitted under the Nigeria Law to call your contact. If OKash or any of the loan app calls your contacts, you can report the loan app to FCCPC with prove. FCCPC is a government agency that fight consumer right violations in Nigeria.
