Digital lending rules, agent and app fees paid by the lender Digital lending rules
When you borrow through an app or online platform, the lender must pay the platform's fees itself, send the money straight to your bank account, and give you a Key Facts Statement and a cooling-off period.
Last updated on
- Status
- Open
- Run by
- Reserve Bank of India
What you get
- Any fee due to a lending service provider, the agent or app working for the lender, is paid directly by the lender and not collected from you
- The loan goes straight into your own bank account and repayments go straight to the lender, with no pass-through account run by the app or agent
- A Key Facts Statement, and signed loan documents sent to your verified email or by SMS
- A cooling-off period of at least one day to exit the loan by repaying the principal and the proportionate cost, with no penalty. A one-time processing fee disclosed in the Key Facts Statement may be kept
- Lenders must publish on their own website the agents and apps they work with
- Lenders and their agents must have a grievance officer, and if the lender does not resolve your complaint within 30 days you can go to the RBI Ombudsman
- RBI publishes a directory of the digital lending apps that lenders have reported to it
Who can apply
- Applies to commercial banks, co-operative banks, NBFCs and all India financial institutions
- Covers all their digital lending. Business loans are not excluded
How to apply
- Before borrowing through an app, check that it is named on the lender's own website or in RBI's directory of digital lending apps
- Do not pay any fee to the app or agent. Fees for their service are the lender's to pay
- Read the Key Facts Statement before you accept
- If something goes wrong, complain to the lender's grievance officer, then to the RBI Ombudsman after 30 days
In Kerala, applies to any bank, co-operative bank or NBFC lending to you through an app or website.
Where we found this
An independent guide by The Company of Four, not a government website. Schemes change often, so check every detail on the official website before you apply. Links marked ↗ open external websites that we do not run, and we are not responsible for their content. Seen something out of date? Tell us and we will look into it.