How to check if a lending company is registered with the SEC

Anyone can build a lending app. Not everyone is allowed to operate one. In the Philippines, lending companies are regulated, and the rules exist precisely because unregistered operators have caused real harm to borrowers.

Checking registration takes a few minutes and is the most useful thing you can do before signing anything. This guide explains what to verify and where.

Why registration matters

Lending companies operate under the Lending Company Regulation Act of 2007 (Republic Act No. 9474), which requires them to obtain a Certificate of Authority from the Securities and Exchange Commission before doing business. Financing companies are covered by a separate law with a similar requirement.

A registered lender is accountable: it can be sanctioned, its authority can be revoked, and you have a regulator to complain to. An unregistered operator has none of that above it — and in practice, that is where abusive collection and hidden charges concentrate.

Two things to verify

Registration is not one check but two, and this trips up many borrowers:

1. The company must be registered with the SEC and hold a Certificate of Authority to operate as a lending or financing company. Ordinary SEC company registration is not enough on its own.
2. The online lending platform — the app or website itself — must be reported and registered with the SEC. A company may be legitimate while an app it operates is not disclosed.

So the fact that a business name appears in SEC records does not by itself mean the app on your phone is authorised.

How to check

1. Find the lender's full corporate name and SEC registration number. They must appear in the app listing, on the website, and in the loan documents. If you cannot find the corporate name anywhere, treat that as the answer.
2. Verify the company and its Certificate of Authority through the SEC's public company records.
3. Check the SEC's published advisories. The Commission regularly names entities operating without authority and lending apps whose authority has been revoked.
4. Confirm that the app's name is the one associated with that company. Many apps use a brand name that differs from the corporate name — the loan agreement should connect the two.

Do this before you install, not after. Some apps request permissions during installation that are difficult to withdraw later.

Warning signs

• No corporate name, SEC number or office address anywhere in the app or website.
• Approval promised with no assessment of your ability to repay.
• Any payment demanded before the loan is released — processing fees, insurance, or a deposit. Legitimate charges are deducted from proceeds or billed after release.
• The app requires access to your contacts, photos or files as a condition of borrowing. Access to a contact list is not necessary to assess a loan.
• Loan terms sent only through chat, with no written agreement or disclosure statement.
• Pressure to decide immediately.

If the lender is not registered

Do not borrow, and remove the app. If you have already borrowed, keep every record: the agreement, the disclosure statement, screenshots of the app listing, proof of the amount received and of each payment made.

Complaints about lending and financing companies go to the Securities and Exchange Commission. If the app has harvested your contacts or photos, or used them to pressure you, that is separately a data privacy matter and can be raised with the National Privacy Commission.

Borrowing from an unregistered lender does not put you in the wrong. Keep your records and file the complaint — the regulators have acted on exactly this pattern before.