TheJakartaPost
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Debt trap: Millions of Jakartans owe trillions to online lending platforms
Jakarta is in the second spot among provinces with the greatest personal debt via online lending platforms, most of which are illegal and thus preventing growth in P2P lending, according to the country's top financial authority.
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Concept image of P2P and online lending. (Shutterstock/Zapp2Photo)
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early a quarter of Jakarta’s 10.5 million residents owe money to online lending platforms, due in large part to ease of access, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) revealed recently, putting the nation’s capital among the top two regions with the highest personal debts.
Around 2.3 million Jakartans owed a combined total of more than Rp 10.3 trillion (US$678.6 million) to various online lenders as of April this year, according to recently published data from the OJK.
The figure is Rp 410 billion more than that recorded in April 2022.
Jakarta ranks second on the list of provinces with the greatest number of individual debtors, after West Java with 4.6 million active borrowers and personal debt totaling Rp 13.5 trillion.
Read also: Debts to illegal online lenders: To pay or not to pay?
Jakartan borrowers cited convenience among their top reasons for using online lending platforms.
One such borrower is Nis, a 24-year-old marketing manager who lives in East Jakarta.
