PRESS RELEASE: Tech giant Google has taken down online lending apps on the order of the NPC

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) announced on Wednesday, September 1, that tech giant Google has taken down four online lending apps (OLAs) from the Google Play Store.

The following OLAs JuanHand, Pesopop, CashJeep, and Lemon Loan no longer appear and are unavailable for download.

In a statement, NPC said it furnished copies to Google LLC to remove them (the said OLAs) from Google Play Store for posing serious privacy risks to individuals who download the apps.

Privacy Commissioner Raymund Enriquez Liboro welcomed the National Telecommunications Commissions and Google’s action and urged other OLAs to use lawful and reasonable methods when processing data of loan applicants.

“For other OLAs, the NPC strongly urges you to employ know-your-customer (KYC) and debt collection practices that are aligned with NPC Circular No. 20-01, where we laid out guidelines on the processing of personal data for loan-related transactions,” Liboro added.

In four separate orders, the NPC directed Wefund Lending Corp., Joywin Lending Investor Inc., Cash8 Lending Corp., and Populus Lending Corp. – operators of Juan Hand, Lemon Loan, CashJeep, and Pesopop, respectively – to stop the processing of their borrowers’ personal data.

JuanHand, Lemon Loan, CashJeep, and Pesopop’s processing of their borrowers’ information such as contacts, location, photos, media files, email, and social media data, pose serious privacy concerns that expose borrowers to privacy risks and harms.

In total, these OLAs mentioned above has a cumulative total of more than 2.1 million times from the Google Play Store.

Source: National Privacy Commission

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