What to do when a loan app is harassing you

Being chased for money is frightening, especially when the messages reach your family, colleagues or friends. If this is happening to you, you're far from alone: in EFInA's 2026 national survey, 45.8% of formal-credit users report some or serious repayment stress.^[1] This page covers what the rules say, what to do today, and how to plan repayments so the cycle ends. The wider picture is on how to stop borrowing money every month.

You still have rights when you owe money

Owing money doesn't remove your protections. The FCCPC's 2025 regulations for digital lenders say:^[2]

1. Lenders must tell you the interest rate, repayment terms and fees before you borrow.
2. Automatic or pre-authorised lending is prohibited. A loan should never land in your account without you asking for it.
3. Complaints must be resolved within 24 hours.
4. Lenders applying for approval must confirm their apps won't access your contacts, call logs or photos.
5. You can report a lender to the FCCPC's lenders taskforce at lenderstaskforce@fccpc.gov.ng, or through the complaint window on the FCCPC's website.

The FCCPC also publishes a register of digital lenders, showing which are approved, conditionally approved, on its watchlist or delisted.^[3]

What to do today

1. Save the evidence. Screenshot every message, including ones sent to your contacts if they share them. Save call logs with dates, times and numbers. Note the app's name and the loan's terms as shown to you.
2. Check the lender on the FCCPC register. Whether it's approved, on the watchlist or delisted, that's useful to know before you complain.
3. Complain to the lender in writing. Say what's happening, ask them to stop, and ask for your full balance and a repayment plan. Note the time you sent it: the regulations expect complaints to be resolved within 24 hours.
4. Report to the FCCPC if it continues. Email lenderstaskforce@fccpc.gov.ng or use File a Complaint on the FCCPC website, and attach your evidence.
5. Tell the people who've been contacted, briefly: that you're dealing with it, and that they can ignore or report the messages.
6. Keep paying through official channels only: the app's repayment option or the lender's official account. Keep every receipt.
7. Avoid a new loan to pay this one. Late repayment of digital loans is common, and in one study of borrowers in Kenya and Tanzania, up to 20% cut back on food to repay.^[4] A new loan moves the pressure to next month. In a study of payday borrowers, showing people how fees add up over repeated loans cut their later borrowing by 11%.^[5] Look at the total you'd repay before you take another.

Plan the repayment so the loop ends

Harassment is the lender's responsibility. The debt is still yours to settle, and the calmest way is a plan that doesn't depend on a new loan.

1. List every lender: the total you owe (as the lender states it), the due date, and how to pay.
2. Create a Repayment budget in Delight and put it at the top of Funding priority, with Auto-fund enabled, so repayments are funded on payday before anything else.
3. Automate the repayment if the lender gives you an account number: an automation from Repayment on the due date. About 30 minutes before, Delight tells you if the budget won't cover it. Bank transfers carry the standard bank charge.
4. Protect the rest of the month. Put drip mode on your everyday budget so the last week has money, and the next loan isn't needed. The full setup is on how to stop borrowing money every month.
5. Expect one tight month. The month you clear a loan without borrowing again is the hardest. The month after is the first one without it.