Loan apps pushing people into debt traps, suicides

NEW DELHI: The lockdown had left P Sunil devastated. The 28-year-old in Telangana lost his job, took a loan and fell into a debt trap. To repay this, he took loans from different apps offering quick loans. Soon, recovery agents were after him, sending messages and calling everyone on his call list. Humiliated, Sunil died by suicide last week.

A woman in Indore, who had taken a loan of Rs 20,000 from an app, was harassed because she missed an EMI by a day. “They started sharing my photos, calling me a fraud. They threatened me and said they would tell police and send collection agents to my home. They harassed people on my contacts list.”

It’s a lure for many in times of distress. But the tap-and-get-a-loan “solution” is pushing a large number of people into a trap far deeper than the financial condition they are in. Hounded and humiliated by recovery agents hired by loan providing apps, many are dying by suicide while others are approaching police for help even as agencies try to figure out legal loopholes and ways to curb this menace.