As aggressive loan recovery by digital lenders increases in intensity, so too have complaints by borrowers. Many tell stories of harassment, threats, and the reputation-damaging tactic of loan app agents contacting friends, relatives, and colleagues when repayments fall behind.
Every loan app user understands that these apps simply harvest the borrower’s contact list during the installation process, when users are asked to grant permission to access their phone contacts.
Once granted, the app can download the entire list of numbers saved on the device. Those numbers can then become tools of pressure if repayment problems arise. A borrower who delays payment may suddenly find that friends, bosses, or distant acquaintances are receiving calls or messages accusing them of owing money. 
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The Trick Borrowers Use to Protect Themselves from Loan Apps
To avoid this, some smartphone users have begun experimenting with a simple defensive move: not saving contacts on their SIM cards. It is a straightforward approach, as many loan apps first scan the SIM card storage for contacts.
If the SIM card contains no numbers, the app may have no contacts to scrape. In such cases, the borrower’s circle of friends becomes more difficult for the digital lender to identify and bombard with messages or calls.
However, that strategy does not provide comprehensive protection. Technology experts explained that the modern smartphone stores contacts in many places, including on the SIM card, in the phone’s internal memory, or in cloud accounts such as Google.
If an app has permission to access the phone’s contacts generally, it may still retrieve numbers from those other locations. While not saving contacts on the SIM card can make things more difficult for predatory lenders, it does not necessarily stop them.
The more effective defence, explained experts, lies in controlling app permissions. App users are advised to deny permission when they are prompted before installation to allow access to contacts, call logs, storage, and other personal data. In this way, they can significantly reduce the information an app can collect. Consumer rights advocates also recommend downloading only from regulated lenders and reading reviews carefully, as complaints about harassment frequently appear in public app ratings.
While refusing to store contacts on a SIM card may not defeat loan apps entirely, borrowers who do not want their privacy weaponised can make it a little harder for the apps to embarrass them.
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