On Data, Privacy and Security..
In Nigeria, online services are still quite a new and evolving innovation. Due to certain well-known cultural factors, services such as ours that require little or no human interaction are often initially viewed with suspicion and distrust, especially when providing personal information is required in the process.
There is no doubt that personal data is sensitive and, if found in the wrong hands, exposure can have serious financial implications. At Paylater, we are very aware of this and so invested heavily in building secure systems throughout our platform, even before we disbursed a single loan.
Protecting the trust that our users have placed in us is of the highest importance and so we ensure that anytime you use our service, you are never put at risk.
We receive a lot of questions from new users who voice (legitimate) concerns about some of the information requested during the loan application process. We’ll address a few common ones below:
“Why is my Bank Verification Number (BVN) required? Doesn’t it give you access to all my bank accounts?”
We request BVN as this is used to verify that the individual applying for a Paylater loan is the same as the owner of the provided bank account. This is to ensure that a user’s details cannot be used to apply for a loan without your authorization in the event a 3rd party has access to your account details.
Please note: Your BVN does not provide access to your account(s). If in doubt, we encourage confirming this from your bank before using our service.
“Why do you require my debit/ATM card details?”
We ask for card details in order to automatically deduct your loan repayments on your due date. This is to facilitate ease of repayments and eliminate delays with account updates due to the reconciliation issues that can come with cash payments. Our system only processes one debit for a repayment and never charges a kobo over the due amount.
We understand that this is extremely sensitive information, so have taken all available precautions by ensuring that any platform used to process your card is fully PCI-DSS compliant and more importantly, does not store your card details without the right encryption implemented to prevent any 3rd party from accessing it.
“Who has access to the data I provide to you?”
All data provided on our platform is treated as confidential. Paylater never shares your personal details with third parties, unless it is for dedicated business purposes, such as reporting of loan defaulters to authorized Credit Bureaus.
It is therefore important to ensure that you repay your loan on time so your credit history is not negatively affected. If you make timely repayments, this increases your chances of accessing credit from financial institutions in future.
“What happens if I lose my device or someone steals it?”
You’re safe! Your data provided in the app is secured by a 4 digit PIN created by and only accessible to you. This PIN is requested each time you open the app. Once you get a new device, just login to your account and your data will be right where you left it.
Paylater is a service provided by One Finance & Investments Ltd, a licensed and regulated finance company. The Paylater app is available for download here.
We’re always happy to listen to any comments, feedback or questions you may have regarding our service. You can reach us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
