Complaints and Dispute Resolution
If you have a complaint about FatCat Loans, a lender or partner you were matched with through our platform, suspected fraud, or the way your personal information was handled, we want to hear about it. A clear complaints process helps protect borrowers, identify problems, and improve the quality of our loan-matching service.
FatCat Loans is a South African loan-matching and referral platform, not a direct lender or credit provider. This means some complaints should come to us directly, while others must ultimately be handled by the lender, broker, credit provider or financial service provider responsible for the loan offer, credit agreement, repayment account, debit order, fees, collections, or credit bureau reporting.
This page explains what you can complain about, what information to include, how we review complaints, expected response times, and where South African consumers may be able to escalate unresolved issues.
Last reviewed: April 2026
What You Can Complain About
You can contact FatCat Loans about issues involving our website, our application process, our communications, your personal information, suspected fraud, or a lender interaction that started through our service.
Common complaint categories include:
- Difficulty submitting or completing an application through FatCat Loans
- Concerns about unclear or misleading wording on our website, forms, emails, SMSes or other communications
- A lender or partner contacting you in a way you believe was inappropriate, unclear, excessive or misleading
- A concern that a lender did not clearly explain rates, fees, repayment terms, affordability checks or the total cost of credit
- A concern about whether a lender or partner is operating responsibly or should remain in our network
- A privacy concern about how your personal information was collected, shared, stored, used, retained or deleted
- A suspected scam, phishing attempt, impersonation or fraudulent communication using the FatCat Loans name
- A dispute about whether a lender interaction that started through our service should be reviewed internally
If your issue relates to a loan agreement after you accepted an offer, such as repayment schedules, debit orders, settlement amounts, arrears, credit bureau listings, collections or account servicing, the lender is usually the first party responsible for resolving the matter. We can still review the complaint and track patterns, but the lender controls the credit agreement and loan account administration.
Before You Submit a Complaint
To help us investigate efficiently, please gather as much of the following information as possible before contacting us:
- Your full name
- The email address and phone number used on your application
- The date you applied or the date of the issue
- The name of the lender, broker or partner involved, if known
- A short summary of what happened
- Copies of relevant emails, SMSes, WhatsApp messages, screenshots, call records or documents
- The loan amount, offer amount or repayment amount involved, if relevant
- Whether you accepted a loan offer or only submitted an enquiry
- The resolution you are requesting
The more specific your complaint is, the faster we can review it. For example, it is more helpful to say, “I was told there would be no upfront payment, but someone later asked me to pay an admin fee before funds could be released,” than to say only, “the process was suspicious.”
Please do not send unnecessary sensitive information, such as full bank card details, online banking passwords, one-time PINs, or login credentials.
How to Submit a Complaint
You can submit a complaint to FatCat Loans through our website contact form.
Contact page: Contact Us
Recommended subject line: Complaint
If you create a dedicated complaints email address, add it here. Recommended format:
Email: [email protected]
When submitting your complaint, please include:
- Your name and preferred contact information
- Whether your complaint is about FatCat Loans, a lender, a partner, or all of these
- The page, product, application or communication involved, if known
- The date or timeframe of the issue
- A detailed description of what happened
- Any documents, screenshots or messages that support your complaint
- The outcome you would like us to consider
What Happens After You Submit a Complaint
Step 1: Acknowledgement
We aim to acknowledge complaints within 2 business days. The acknowledgement confirms that we received your message and may ask for additional information if important details are missing.
Step 2: Internal review
A member of our team reviews the complaint, available application history, relevant communications, and supporting documents you provide. If the complaint relates to a lender or partner in our network, we may contact that lender or partner for clarification.
Step 3: Response
We aim to provide a substantive response within 10 business days after receiving enough information to investigate. If the complaint is more complex and requires more time, we will explain why and provide an updated expected response date.
Step 4: Resolution or escalation guidance
Our response will outline what we found, whether we believe corrective action is appropriate, and what next steps may be available. Where relevant, we may explain whether the issue should be escalated to the lender, credit provider, regulator, ombud, tribunal, privacy authority or consumer protection body.
Our Response Time Commitments
FatCat Loans aims to meet the following service standards:
- Acknowledgement: within 2 business days
- Request for more information: usually within 5 business days if required
- Substantive response: within 10 business days after receiving enough information to investigate
- Complex cases: updated timeline provided if the matter requires lender input, privacy review, fraud review or third-party information
These are target response times, not guarantees. Some matters take longer where third parties must be contacted or where the complaint concerns account activity controlled by the lender rather than by FatCat Loans.
When the Lender Must Handle the Complaint First
If you accepted a loan offer, the lender or credit provider is typically responsible for issues relating to the credit agreement and account administration.
This may include:
- The final loan amount, interest rate, fees and repayment schedule in your agreement
- Affordability assessment outcomes
- Pre-agreement statements, quotations and credit agreement disclosures
- Debit order disputes and payment processing
- Outstanding balances, settlement requests or paid-up letters
- Late fees, arrears, collections or legal enforcement
- Credit bureau listings or updates submitted by the lender
- Changes to repayment dates, hardship arrangements or settlement terms
In those cases, you should contact the lender directly first. If you believe the lender was misleading, failed to disclose important terms, acted unfairly, requested unlawful upfront fees, or behaved in a way that raises broader consumer concerns, you can also notify FatCat Loans so we can review whether the lender continues to meet our network standards.
Credit Information and Credit Bureau Complaints
If your complaint relates to incorrect, outdated, incomplete or disputed credit information, you may need to raise the dispute with the relevant credit bureau and/or credit provider. The National Credit Regulator provides guidance for complaints relating to disputed consumer credit information.
You should keep copies of your credit report, dispute reference numbers, correspondence with the credit bureau, and any documents showing why the listing may be incorrect.
FatCat Loans does not control credit bureau records or lender reporting. However, if the issue started through a lender or partner you were matched with via FatCat Loans, you may notify us so we can record the complaint and review the matter internally.
Privacy and Data-Handling Complaints
If your complaint relates to privacy or personal information, please say so clearly in your message. FatCat Loans processes personal information in line with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
Privacy complaints may include:
- You believe your information was collected without a clear purpose
- You do not understand how your information was shared with lenders or partners
- You believe your information was retained longer than necessary
- You received marketing communications you did not consent to receive
- You asked to access, correct or delete information and were not satisfied with the response
- You believe someone used the FatCat Loans name to obtain your information fraudulently
Please include the words Privacy Complaint or POPIA Complaint in the subject line if your issue concerns personal information.
If a privacy complaint cannot be resolved, you may be able to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa.
Information Regulator: https://inforegulator.org.za/complaints/
Suspected Fraud, Impersonation or Scam Reports
If you believe someone is impersonating FatCat Loans or one of our partners, contact us immediately.
Signs of a scam may include:
- A request for upfront payment before funds are released
- Requests for “admin fees”, “release fees”, “insurance fees”, deposits, vouchers or cryptocurrency
- Pressure to send money immediately
- An email from a misspelled domain, free email account or suspicious address
- A message promising guaranteed approval without affordability checks
- A request for sensitive information through an unverified channel
- A fake contract or approval letter using the FatCat Loans name or logo
If you receive a suspicious message, do not click links, do not send money, and do not share banking passwords, OTPs or login details.
Please keep screenshots, phone numbers, email addresses, bank details used by the suspected scammer, and copies of any fake documents. Submit these details through our contact page:
You can also read our fraud guidance here:
If You Are Not Satisfied with the Outcome
If you are dissatisfied with our response, reply to our complaint decision and ask for the matter to be reviewed again. Please explain why you believe the issue remains unresolved and provide any new information not included in your original submission.
If the matter still cannot be resolved, external escalation options may be available depending on whether the complaint relates to a credit provider, credit bureau, consumer protection issue, financial services provider, or personal information handling.
External Escalation Options in South Africa
National Credit Regulator (NCR)
The NCR is the regulator for South Africa’s consumer credit industry. If your complaint concerns a credit provider, credit bureau, debt counsellor, affordability assessment, reckless lending concern, credit information dispute, or possible breach of the National Credit Act, the NCR may be a relevant escalation route.
National Consumer Tribunal (NCT)
The National Consumer Tribunal hears and decides cases involving consumers, service providers, credit providers, debt counsellors and credit bureaux. It may be relevant where a matter falls within its jurisdiction or follows a regulatory process.
National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa (NFO)
The NFO is an independent dispute-resolution body that resolves qualifying complaints brought by consumers against participating South African financial institutions. It may be relevant for certain unresolved financial-services complaints.
Information Regulator of South Africa
If your complaint concerns POPIA, direct marketing, personal information handling, access to personal information, correction, deletion, objection or other privacy rights, you may be able to complain to the Information Regulator.
https://inforegulator.org.za/complaints/
National Consumer Commission (NCC)
If your complaint involves general consumer protection issues, unfair business practices, misleading conduct, or consumer rights outside the credit-provider complaints route, the National Consumer Commission may be relevant.
https://thencc.org.za/complaints/
South African Police Service (SAPS)
If you have lost money to a scam, believe your identity has been stolen, or have received fraudulent banking details, you may also need to report the matter to SAPS and your bank as soon as possible.
Important: External bodies have their own rules, jurisdiction and processes. Some may require you to first complain directly to the lender, credit provider or company involved before they will consider the matter.
How Complaints Affect Our Lender Network
Complaints help us evaluate whether lenders and partners continue to meet our network standards. A single complaint does not automatically mean a lender did something wrong, but repeated patterns matter.
We review complaint trends involving:
- Unclear or inconsistent cost disclosure
- Repeated reports of misleading approval claims
- Requests for upfront payments or suspicious fees
- Unexplained repayment differences
- Poor communication after matching
- Concerns about affordability, responsible lending or consumer treatment
- Behaviour that may create risk for borrowers
Where appropriate, complaint patterns may lead to additional review, a request for clarification or corrective action, temporary suspension, or removal from our network.
Good-Faith Complaint Standard
We review complaints in good faith and expect complainants to do the same. Please provide accurate information to the best of your knowledge. We may be unable to act on anonymous, abusive, threatening, incomplete or deliberately misleading submissions, although we may still use them to identify possible fraud patterns or service issues.
Contact Details for Complaints
FatCat Loans Complaints Team
Contact form: Contact Us
Suggested email: [email protected]
Address: Manhattan Corner, Century Way, Century City, Cape Town, 7441, South Africa
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