[jamil7]

> If the principle is agreed between the people giving and receiving money... why not ? (I guess that the people giving the money is the one requiring the USER to download the app... Am I right

I think your misunderstanding the model. You borrow money from this company using this app that harvests your contacts without explicitly stating why. If you don't repay the loan this company starts spamming and harassing your contacts forcing them to pressure you into repaying your loan.

[heroic]

We do give a clear label before asking for user's contacts as to why we need your contacts. See here: https://imgur.com/a/gHP8BDR

[robjan]

From the wording it's not at all clear that you plan to message their contacts telling them to remind the customer/victim about their outstanding loan. Furthermore, do you get the consent of the people in their contact list in the first place?

[true_religion]

I am curious. As a thought experiment, how else can having the contacts of your friend and family be use to remind you of your bills, without contacting them to remind you?

Personally I can see no other way to read it.

[hluska]

I’m sorry but their warning really is not very clear. They write:

“I understand that my contacts will be uploaded and saved on GalaxyCard, and that they will be used to calculate my eligibility and remind me of my bills.”

Note the use of ‘remind me of my bills’ at the end of that sentence. If this company truly wanted to be clear, they could have written that:

“I understand that my contacts will be uploaded and saved to GalaxyCard, where they will be used for two major reasons. First, they will be used to verify that I am eligible for this service. Second, if I am late to pay my bills, I understand that GalaxyCard will contact my contacts to tell them that I have not paid my bills.”

That is significantly more clear as it specifically states they will contact your contacts if you are late.

[true_religion]

Or they will contact them to look for you... like every debt collection service in the world. That you aren’t paying your bills, might be inferred by your friends but they aren’t forced to come right out and say you are delinquent from the get go.

[ccmcarey]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22840880

They pointed to another app that does this as an example of what they do. The reviews from that app indicate that coming out and saying they are delinquent is exactly what they do.

[hluska]

Here’s how OP describes their collection process:

“We first contact the user if they don't pay despite calls/emails/push notification/sms for 45 days. Then we warn them for 15 days that their contacts will be asked to remind them of the bill, as per the terms. Finally we contact the contacts.“

This company specifically contacts the contacts to remind the delinquent person of their bill. I don’t think that warning is very good in light of this practice. Do you?