Check the app against RBI’s Digital Lending Apps directory first. RBI has run that list on its own website since 1 July 2025. It names every app used by a lender RBI regulates. If the app is missing, no regulated lender stands behind it. Its threats carry no legal force.
That one check settles most cases. The rest of this page is what to do next.
What must a legal lending app do?
| Rule | What a compliant lender does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Listed with RBI | Appears in the Digital Lending Apps directory on the RBI website | RBI directory, live 1 July 2025 |
| Key Fact Statement | Gives you a KFS with the all-in APR before you borrow | Digital Lending Directions, 2025 |
| Where the money goes | Pays into your own bank account, with no pass-through or pool account | Digital Lending Directions, 2025 |
| Where repayment goes | You repay into the lender’s account directly, not to an agent | Digital Lending Directions, 2025 |
| Cooling-off period | Lets you exit by repaying principal and proportionate APR, no penalty, minimum one day | Digital Lending Directions, 2025 |
| Phone permissions | Does not read your contacts, call logs, files or media | Digital Lending Directions, 2025 |
| Grievance officer | Displays a named nodal officer with contact details | Digital Lending Directions, 2025 |
| Escalation | Complaint unresolved in 30 days goes to the RBI Ombudsman | RBI Complaint Management System |
Rules as of 6 September 2026, from the Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025, issued on 8 May 2025.
How do I tell an illegal app from a legal one?
The permission screen gives it away. A legal app cannot ask for your contact list, call logs or photo gallery. Those permissions have one use, which is to shame you later. If the app demands them before it releases money, stop there.
The second signal is the money trail. A legal loan reaches your bank account from the lender. Money from a personal account, a wallet or a third party means a pass-through account. The Directions ban that.
The third is the cut. Illegal apps take a large fee upfront and lend for seven or fourteen days. You borrow ₹10,000, get ₹7,000, and owe ₹10,000 in a week. That is not a fee. It is the business model.
What do I do once the harassment starts?
- Do not pay a rolling settlement. Paying a collector to stop calls usually increases contact, because it proves you respond.
- Take screenshots of every message, call log and social media post. Timestamps matter later.
- Tell your contacts what is happening, before the app does. It removes the leverage entirely.
- Revoke the app’s permissions in your phone settings, then uninstall it.
- Change the password on the email and cloud account linked to the phone.
- File the complaints below, in writing, and keep the reference numbers.
Uninstalling does not undo the harvest. Your contact list was copied at install. Warning your contacts is the step that works. It is also the step people skip, out of shame.
Where do I report an illegal loan app?
Use more than one channel. They do different jobs. For a cyber offence, file at cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930. Extortion and morphed images belong there. That route can freeze money and lead to arrests.
For an unregulated outfit taking money, use RBI’s Sachet portal at sachet.rbi.org.in. It exists for exactly that complaint. If the lender is regulated but behaving badly, write to its nodal officer first. Escalate to the RBI Ombudsman after 30 days, through the Complaint Management System.
File a local police complaint too. MeitY has blocked illegal lending apps under section 69A of the IT Act, 2000. Blocking follows from cases people report.
Do I still owe the money?
You owe what you actually received. That much is a debt. You do not owe a rate and a penalty invented later by an unregulated lender.
No collector may threaten you, call your employer, or message your family. Those are offences whoever the lender is. Regulated lenders have conduct rules of their own. We cover them in borrower rights.
The real cost is longer term. Illegal apps do not report to bureaus. So repaying them builds nothing. Meanwhile the panic borrowing wrecks your file with lenders that do report. Read personal loans for a low CIBIL score and how to improve a credit score instead.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check whether a loan app is RBI approved?
RBI does not approve apps. It regulates lenders. Since 1 July 2025 it publishes a directory of Digital Lending Apps used by the entities it regulates. Search the app name there. If it is absent, no regulated lender has claimed it.
Can a loan app legally access my contacts?
No. The Digital Lending Directions, 2025 stop apps from reading your contact list, call logs, files or media. One-time access to the camera, microphone or location needs your clear consent. An app demanding your contacts is breaking the rule.
What is the cooling-off period on a digital loan?
It is a window in which you can exit the loan by repaying the principal and the proportionate APR, with no penalty. The lender’s board sets the length, but it cannot be less than one day. If a lender refuses an exit inside that window, that is a reportable breach.
Will reporting the app hurt my credit score?
No. A complaint is not a credit event. Unregulated apps do not report to credit bureaus at all, so neither the loan nor the complaint appears on your report. If something wrong has appeared, use the credit report dispute process.
Sources
- Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025, dated 8 May 2025 — rbi.org.in.
- Digital Lending Apps directory operational from 1 July 2025, and blocking of illegal lending apps under section 69A of the IT Act — Press Information Bureau, pib.gov.in.
- Sachet portal for complaints against entities collecting money illegally — sachet.rbi.org.in. National Cybercrime Reporting Portal — cybercrime.gov.in, helpline 1930.
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