THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed a P50,000 administrative fine on Myloan Lending Investors Inc. and ordered the company to stop using abusive collection practices.
The regulator’s Financing and Lending Companies Department (FLCD) found the firm administratively liable for breaching Memorandum Circular (MC) 18, Series of 2019, in relation to Republic Act 11765, or the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act, and its implementing rules under MC 5, Series of 2023.
The commission, in an order dated Feb. 18, 2026, imposed the administrative fine and warned that another violation could lead to stiffer sanctions, including the suspension or revocation of its certificate of authority to operate.
MC 18 prohibits abusive and unscrupulous collection practices such as threats, intimidation or coercion, contacting individuals in a borrower’s contact list other than guarantors or co-makers, and the use of obscene or insulting language.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed by a borrower who alleged that Myloan Lending’s collection agents sent messages containing shaming language and threats to get in touch with his emergency contacts and employer due to delayed payments.
The FLCD said these were deemed as persistent third-party contact and reputational pressure.
“These are not neutral reminders. They are coercive communications designed to pressure payment through humiliation and reputational exposure,” the order read.
“Even assuming [the borrower’s] delinquency, such a circumstance does not vest [the company] with a license to employ humiliation, harassment, or the specter of third-party exposure as instruments of coercion. Delinquency may justify reasonable collection efforts; it does not justify abuse."
While penalizing the lender, the FLCD also directed the borrower to settle his outstanding loan obligation in accordance with their agreement, without prejudice to any lawful restructuring or settlement arrangement that may be reached by the parties.
