Whitepath, a local mobile lender has been fined Sh250,000 in compensation to Dennis Caleb Owuor.
Owuor lodged a complaint against the company in November 2024, citing harassment through numerous calls by Whitepath agents, regarding a loan he was unknowingly and unwillingly listed as a guarantor for.
Upon inquiry as to how Whitepath acquired his name, personal information and why he was not informed during the application process, the agent turned a deaf ear, instead urging him to contact the borrower and figure out how they would facilitate the loan repayment through Whitepath’s product, Zuri Cash.
Owuor later received a flurry of frustrating phone calls from the lender’s agents despite cautioning that he would file a formal complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner
Two years ago, Whitepath had been penalized for a similar offence. Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait stated that the firm failed to respond to the levelled claims, leaving her no choice but to conclude the complaint was valid.
“The respondents (Whitepath) were non-responsive and did not submit a response to the notification of complaint. Therefore, the allegations made in the complaint remain undisputed,” wrote Ms Kassait in her ruling.
She found that the lender had violated Section 26(a) of the Data Protection Act, which requires individuals to be informed about how their data is being used.
“The respondent failed to establish any lawful basis for processing the complainant’s data as he had not consented to be a guarantor, making the whole processing unlawful,” asserted Kassait.
“The respondent is hereby ordered to pay the complainant Sh250,000 as compensation.”
In April 2023, Whitepath was hit with a Sh5 million fine for mining customer phone contacts, a clear data breach. The lender would access contacts and send unsolicited messages. The ODPC received nearly 150 complaints from its customers.
