Google is taking steps to fight exploitative behaviors. It has now banned apps that offer personal loans with astronomical interest rates in a bid to address predatory lending practices.
Google Bans Apps That Offer Predatory Personal Loans
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the tech company now bars apps that offer predatory personal loans with an annual percentage rate of 36 percent or higher in the Play Store.
A Google spokesperson said that the expanded financial policy, which was implemented in August, aims to protect users against exploitative terms.
Affected lenders are not happy with the search engine company's recent move. For one, this forces them to offer lower rates.
Some also argue that these practices are allowed and the ban can also hurt legitimate operators and consumers who are looking for legal loans.
Google already banned adverts promoting predatory lending and other dubious financial products.
David Graff, Google's director of policy wrote in a blog post that this blacklist policy will cover loans with repayment terms of less than 60 days, as well as financial products with an annual percentage rate of 36 percent or higher.
Graff said that these loans can lead to unaffordable payment and high default rates. He added that Google wants to protect users from these deceptive or harmful financial products.
"When reviewing our policies, research has shown that these loans can result in unaffordable payment and high default rates for users so we will be updating our policies globally to reflect that," he wrote.
Restricted Content On Google Play Store
The personal loan apps now join the growing list of content that are restricted from Google Play Store. The company already banned other financial apps, including those that allow users to mine cryptocurrency and trade binary options. Google also prohibits certain types of gambling apps.
