On December 1, 2022, the NPC issued NPC Circular No. 2022-02 entitled "Amending Certain Provisions of NPC Circular No. 20-01 on the Guidelines on the Processing of Personal Data for Loan-Related Transactions" (Amended Loan Transaction Guidelines). The Amended Loan Transaction Guidelines amended NPC Circular No. 2020-01, which provided for the guidelines on the processing of personal data for loan-related transactions.
Lending companies, financing companies, and other persons acting as such (collectively, Lenders) must reassess their loan processing activities to ensure compliance with the Amended Loan Transaction Guidelines. This is particularly important for Lenders that operate online through online lending platforms and access clients' contact list, camera roll, location, and storage, among others.
In addition to providing increased protection to borrowers, the Amended Loan Transaction Guidelines also offers greater protection to the character references and guarantors of the borrowers.
Key provisions
- Just-in-Time Notices. Before securing the consent of borrowers for the processing of personal data, Lenders are required to provide just-in-time notices which informs the data subject how a piece of information he or she is being asked to provide will be processed. This notice must be provided at the point in time where the Lenders are about to process or processes the personal data of the data subject.
- Processing of Contact Lists. While lenders may process the contact lists of borrowers, the processing shall not be unbridled. Processing is unbridled when it leads to harassment or the collection of debt outside of the guarantors provided by the borrower, or when it results in unfair collection practices.
- Character References and Guarantors. Online lending applications shall have separate interfaces where borrowers can provide character references and guarantors. Lenders may only have limited access to and only to the minimum extent necessary to allow the borrowers to choose from their phone contact list their character references or guarantors. Lenders are prohibited from contacting character references for purposes other than for the verification of identity and veracity of the information provided by the borrower.
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