The unwary borrowers from online loan apps have fallen into an inextricable debt trap as a result of inducements of the telecallers.
When a loan account turns into default (seven days after taking the loan), the recovery telecallers phone the borrower and remind the outstanding liability and also scare them. The call centres in Hyderabad were used for sending out gentle reminders, while telecallers in Gurugram were abusive and defaming till the loan amount was paid.
However, when a distressed customer expresses his or her inability to repay the loan amount, the caller opens up a raft of options which include where he or she could borrow top-up loans to repay the existing loan.
“While probing how the victims ended up taking multiple loans to clear one, we came to know that it was telecallers who suggested to the borrowers to obtain money from another app and pay off the existing loan and avoid public humiliation,” Hyderabad Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes and SIT) Shikha Goel told The Hindu .
This is how the hapless victim gets into a debt trap, she said.
According to her, the ‘abusive’ telecallers were motivated to make more calls per day to recover the loan amount. Targets and special incentives and rewards were given to callers who achieved maximum number of calls. “If recovery calls were converted into receiving payments, then the telecallers were rewarded with extra incentives. This reward system had made the telecallers go the extra mile and effect recovery,” Ms. Goel said.
The high performers in the staffing system were rewarded from top to bottom based on their team performances. In effect, the entire workforce is on high adrenaline and performance of each employee was meticulously recorded.
Each telecaller had a target of 45 % recovery. For instance one telecaller was provided with the details of 10 defaulters, he or she has to get money back from at least four or five borrowers to be eligible for an incentive, and if one gets more than the given target he or she would get greater incentive, and even if they get 1% less, they were ineligible, the officer explained.
“Probably the extra money was the reason behind the changing behaviour of the telecallers after stage-I and further became more abusive,” the Hyderabad Additional Commissioner of Police said adding that whether it was telecallers, team leader or assistant manager everyone’s incentives were linked to performance.
