Loan recovery agent or loan app harassment? RBI rules (no calls before 8 am / after 7 pm), Digital Lending Directions 2025, RBI complaint & Sachet, cyber complaint, BNS 351 / 308 / 356 (old IPC 506 / 384 / 500) (2026)
Plain map for borrowers — and their family and friends — facing abusive recovery calls, home visits, threats, or a loan app messaging their contacts and sharing morphed photos: what RBI’s rules on recovery agents and digital lending say, how to check whether a loan app is linked to a regulated lender, where to complain (lender, RBI CMS, Sachet, cyber police), which BNS and IT Act provisions apply, State laws such as Karnataka’s and Tamil Nadu’s 2025 coercive-recovery Acts, and what to do if you genuinely cannot repay. Educational only — not legal advice; Adhiwakta does not negotiate with lenders or file complaints.
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Owing money does not take away your rights
A lender may recover dues by lawful means — reminders, notices, a civil suit or arbitration, SARFAESI action for secured loans, Lok Adalat or settlement. It may not use threats, abuse, public humiliation or harassment of you, your family or your contacts. Equally, harassment does not cancel a genuine loan; the debt is dealt with separately through lawful channels.
RBI’s rules on recovery agents
RBI’s circular of 12 August 2022 on recovery agents applies to banks (other than payments banks), co-operative banks, NBFCs including housing finance companies, asset reconstruction companies and all-India financial institutions. They must ensure that they and their agents do not intimidate or harass any person, verbally or physically; do not publicly humiliate borrowers or intrude on the privacy of their family, referees or friends; do not send inappropriate messages on mobile or social media or make threatening or anonymous calls; do not call persistently, or before 8:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m., for recovery of overdue loans; and do not make false or misleading representations. The lender remains responsible for its agents. Under RBI’s digital lending rules, when a recovery agent is assigned or changed, the lender must send you the agent’s particulars by email or SMS before the agent contacts you.
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Write in Hindi or English · general guidance, not legal advice
Loan apps — legal or illegal?
Under the Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025 (8 May 2025), a digital loan must be given by an RBI-regulated entity (bank or NBFC), disbursed directly into your bank account and repaid directly to the lender, with a Key Fact Statement showing the annual percentage rate and charges, and a cooling-off period of at least one day to exit by paying the principal and proportionate interest. Apps must not access your files and media, contact list, call logs or telephony functions; one-time access to camera, microphone or location is allowed only for KYC with your consent. The app and lender’s website must show a grievance redressal officer and links to RBI’s complaint portal and Sachet. RBI publishes on its website a directory of digital lending apps reported by regulated lenders — inclusion is not an RBI endorsement, but an app not linked to any regulated lender is a warning sign.
Step 1 — Preserve evidence
Take screenshots of threatening messages, posts and messages sent to your contacts; save call logs and the numbers used; save any recordings you have lawfully made; note the app name, download link and the lender named in the loan agreement or Key Fact Statement; keep your repayment records. Take screenshots before uninstalling an app. Ask family and contacts not to pay anyone who calls them and to share screenshots with you.
Step 2 — Complain to the lender, then RBI
Write to the lender’s grievance redressal officer (details must be on the app, website and Key Fact Statement), describing the calls or messages with dates and numbers. If the lender rejects the complaint, you are not satisfied, or there is no reply within 30 days, you can complain to RBI on cms.rbi.org.in under the RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme. For apps or entities that are not regulated by RBI, or that are collecting money illegally, report on RBI’s Sachet portal (sachet.rbi.org.in).
Step 3 — Police and cyber complaint
Threats and abuse can amount to offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023: criminal intimidation, Section 351 (old IPC 506); intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, Section 352 (old 504); extortion — getting money by putting someone in fear of injury, which includes harm to reputation — Section 308 (old 383–384); defamation, Section 356 (old 499–500), for example messages to your contacts calling you a fraud; words or gestures insulting a woman’s modesty, Section 79 (old 509); and stalking, Section 78 (old 354D). The Information Technology Act, 2000 adds Sections 66E (privacy), 67 and 67A (obscene or sexually explicit content, including morphed images) and 66C / 66D (identity theft, cheating by personation). Complain on cybercrime.gov.in or at the police station; call 112 if anyone threatens violence or comes to your home.
Morphed photos and messages to your contacts
Report the content on cybercrime.gov.in (there is a dedicated option for women and children) and to the platform’s grievance officer. Under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, platforms must act within 24 hours on a complaint about content showing a person in nudity or sexual acts or impersonating them, including artificially morphed images. Tell your contacts briefly that the messages are fake and part of a harassment campaign.
State laws on coercive recovery
Karnataka’s Micro Loan and Small Loan (Prevention of Coercive Actions) Act, 2025 (in force from 12 February 2025) applies to micro-finance institutions, money lenders and digital lending platforms that are not RBI-regulated banks, NBFCs or co-operatives; coercive recovery — intimidation, violence, persistent following, frequenting the borrower’s home or workplace, or using outside agents — is punishable with imprisonment up to ten years and fine up to ₹5 lakh, and is cognizable and non-bailable. Tamil Nadu’s Money Lending Entities (Prevention of Coercive Actions) Act, 2025 similarly penalises coercive recovery. Other States regulate private money lenders through Money-Lenders Acts (for example Maharashtra’s Money-Lending (Regulation) Act, 2014). Check the law in your State.
If you genuinely cannot repay
Write to the lender asking for restructuring, a payment plan or a one-time settlement, and get any settlement in writing on the lender’s letterhead before paying. Pay only into the lender’s own account, never to an agent’s personal UPI. Do not take a new app loan to repay an old one. Watch for legal notices, arbitration notices or court summons and respond in time — lawful recovery proceedings continue even if you have complained about harassment. Check your credit report and raise a dispute if entries are wrong. If you gave cheques, read about cheque bounce rules.
Look after yourself
Harassment campaigns are designed to cause panic. Talk to family or a friend. If you are feeling overwhelmed, the government’s Tele-MANAS mental-health helpline 14416 is free and available round the clock.
Papers to gather
Loan agreement / Key Fact Statement and sanction SMS or email; app name and screenshots of its store page; bank statements showing disbursal and repayments; screenshots and call logs of harassment; messages received by contacts; complaint numbers (lender, RBI, Sachet, cyber portal, police) and replies.
What this guide is not
It is not advice on how much you owe, not a promise that any complaint will stop calls or reduce dues, and not a substitute for the current RBI directions, which are consolidated and updated from time to time.
How Adhiwakta can help
We do not negotiate with lenders or agents, contact anyone on your behalf, or file complaints. Adhiwakta is a facilitation platform, not a law firm. We do not file cases, appear before any authority, or promise any result. Use Ask Adhiwakta to describe your situation for general guidance from an independent advocate, or start with the AI helper to organise your facts and papers. Educational only — not formal legal advice.
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Frequently asked questions
- Can recovery agents call me at night or call my family and friends?
- RBI’s 2022 circular bars regulated lenders’ agents from calling before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m. for overdue loans, persistent or threatening calls, public humiliation, and intruding on the privacy of family, referees and friends.
- A loan app is sending morphed photos and messages to my contacts — what do I do?
- Save screenshots, report on cybercrime.gov.in and at the police station, report the app on RBI’s Sachet portal, and ask the platform to remove the content — under the IT Rules 2021, platforms must act within 24 hours on morphed or intimate images.
- How can I check whether a loan app is legal?
- The loan must come from an RBI-regulated bank or NBFC named in the Key Fact Statement and on the app. Check RBI’s directory of digital lending apps reported by regulated lenders, and be wary of apps that demand contacts or gallery access.
- Where do I complain against a bank or NBFC recovery agent?
- First to the lender’s grievance redressal officer. If there is no reply within 30 days or you are not satisfied, complain to RBI on cms.rbi.org.in. File a police or cyber complaint for threats, extortion or defamation.
- Does Adhiwakta deal with lenders for me?
- No. We do not negotiate with lenders or file complaints. Use Ask Adhiwakta or the AI helper for general educational guidance only.
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