Debt collection harassment: what is prohibited and how to report it

Falling behind on a loan is a civil matter. It does not remove your right to be treated lawfully, and it does not give anyone permission to contact your family, employer or colleagues about it.

Many borrowers endure abusive collection because they assume it is normal, or that being in arrears puts them in the wrong. Neither is true.

The rules that apply

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued rules on unfair debt collection practices for lending and financing companies and their agents — Memorandum Circular No. 18, Series of 2019. They bind not only the lender but also any third-party collection agency it hires.

Separately, the Data Privacy Act of 2012 governs how your personal data may be used, and the Financial Consumer Protection Act strengthened the protection of financial consumers generally.

What collectors may not do

• Use threats of violence or harm to person, reputation or property.
• Use obscene, insulting or profane language.
• Falsely represent themselves as lawyers, court personnel, police or government officials.
• Falsely claim that you have committed a crime, or threaten criminal prosecution to force payment. Failing to repay a loan is not, by itself, a crime.
• Publish or threaten to publish lists of borrowers who have not paid.
• Contact you at unreasonable hours.
• Communicate the debt to people who have no legal connection to it.

Messaging people in your phonebook

This is the most common abuse involving lending apps, and it is expressly covered: collectors may not contact persons in a borrower's contact list other than those the borrower named as a co-maker or guarantor.

Sending messages to your officemates, relatives or old classmates about your loan is not a grey area. It is prohibited by the SEC rules, and the underlying harvesting of your contact list raises a separate issue under data privacy law.

If it happens, the people contacted are witnesses. Ask them to screenshot what they received, including the sender's number or account name.

How to document it

Complaints succeed on evidence. Collect it as it happens:

1. Screenshot every message with the sender's number or profile visible, and with the date and time in frame.
2. Record call logs — number, date, time, duration.
3. Keep the loan agreement, the disclosure statement and proof of all payments you made.
4. Note the app or company name and the collector's name if given.
5. Ask third parties who were contacted for their own screenshots.

Do not delete the app before capturing what you need. Back up the screenshots somewhere outside the phone.

Where to report

• Securities and Exchange Commission — for lending and financing companies and their collection agents. This is the main channel for abusive collection.
• National Privacy Commission — where your contacts, photos or files were accessed or used, or where your data was disclosed to third parties.
• Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas — where the lender is a bank or another BSP-supervised institution.
• The police — where there are threats of violence or extortion.

Complaints are free to file. Include your documentation and a clear timeline of events.

Meanwhile, on the debt itself

Reporting harassment does not cancel a valid debt, and the two matters should be kept separate. Continue to deal with the balance on the record: request a written statement of account, ask for the breakdown of principal, interest, penalties and charges, and propose a repayment schedule in writing.

Keeping your side documented strengthens your position on both fronts. If the amount demanded does not match what the disclosure statement said, say so in writing and ask for a reconciliation.