You might have borrowed or you’re indebted to one of the top 10 loan sharks to avoid in Nigeria in 2025 without knowing. You haven’t? then you’re very lucky.
Loan sharks are simply these loan apps littered around Google play store, and it’s very likely you must have come across their ads (advertisement) whenever you want to watch a YouTube video or scroll through social media platforms.
These apps offer loans without collateral, and many Nigerians patronize them in order to meet up with their emergency money needs. However, i call this a Greek Gift because the method they (the loan apps) employ to recover their money if you default payment is scary as f*ck.
They are called loan sharks because they can be very aggressive and greedy just like the cartilaginous fish’s species, “Shark” when you fail to meet-up with the agreed repayment date.
Without further ado, here is the list of the top 10 loan sharks in Nigeria to avoid.
Top 10 loan sharks in Nigeria to avoid 2025
Soko loan
Go cash
Lcredit
Kash Kash
Imoney
Okash
9jacash
Aje loan
Branch
Fairmoney
Fairmoney is a Nigerian loan app that was launched in 2018, and currently boasts of disbursing total loans of 1500 daily to her customers.
Fairmoney isn’t strict like other loan sharks when you default payment. However, you shouldn’t take my words for it as they would come after you if you refuse to pay back after the loan period elapses.
What if I don’t pay back a loan shark?
If you don’t pay back a loan shark, you would be reported to the credit bureau, and this could jeopardize your credit score thereby making it possible for you to access loans in the future.
These loan sharks might be threatening to prosecute and arrest you if you fail to repay, but they can do no such thing as this is only a bait or one of the numerous tricks they (loan sharks) use to recover their money from defaulting customers.
Can I go to jail for not paying online loans or loan sharks?
Being a debtor doesn’t make you a criminal. So, you can never go to jail for not paying online loan sharks or loan sharks.
According to nairametrics ; loan defaulting isn’t a criminal offense but a civil case, and this means that a loan defaulter can never go to jail provided you didn’t defraud the loan company.
How to stop loan sharks from accessing your contacts?
Like I said in the early paragraph of this article, these loan sharks give you with their right hand and collect it back from you with their left hand (Greek Gift).
You might be thinking you have collected, let’s say urgent 50k or 100k from the comfort of your home without having to drop any collateral. What you didn’t know is that you gave them access to your phone’s contact list, storage, photos and other vital information contained in the phone, and this is more than enough collateral for them.