PH government gets tough on abusive online lending applications
In April 2025, the Supreme Court warned the public against fake issuances and documents circulating online that are supposedly linked to the high court, other courts and judicial offices. The use of fake court orders has also been observed in reported “harassment” tactics by online lending apps, demanding borrowers to settle their debts.
According to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), an initial crackdown enforced in February, has already resulted in the banning of 27 OLAs (online lending applications) administrators and 89 online scam loan pages. However, a study conducted in May 2025 by digital lender Digido shows, the number of “unique users” of lending apps rose from 47.46 million to 67.84 million, while active users increased from 7.7 million to 11.78 million.
On June 16, the government launched a formal campaign to crack down on online lending applications that take advantage of Filipino users, following a sharp rise in complaints over harassment, fake court orders and exploitative lending practices. In a statement, the PAOCC reported receiving more than 13,000 complaints in April and May alone.
These lending apps have caused “financial, psychological, and reputational injury to thousands of Filipinos through their threats and harassment,” the commission said. PAOCC Chief Gilberto Cruz said: “These abusive online lending operators have caused serious harm to thousands of Filipinos.” He added: “Under the President’s directive, we are going after these groups to protect our people and ensure they are held accountable.”
The campaign’s official launch was attended by officials from the Philippine National Police–Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the National Telecommunications Commission, and the PAOCC itself. About 100 OLA victims were present to give sworn statements and testimonies to the PNP-CIDG.
The SEC, meanwhile, reminded the public not to engage with online lenders operating without proper registration or licensing. It warned that doing so could expose borrowers to abusive collection tactics, data privacy breaches, and excessive fees. The SEC said it had already ordered the removal and blocking of several OLAs found to be operating illegally.
In a related story, consumer credit service Digido reported that 76.2% of Filipino adults (63.1 million users) adopted fintech services through mobile apps from September 2018 to June 2024, with fintech app downloads totaling 617 million. In the first half of 2024, Digido found that digital lending saw the highest growth with 25.4 million downloads, followed by digital commerce at 13.5 million, and digital wallets at 12.2 million.
Reference: Crackdown on abusive online lending apps launched
