Roughly 16 Calls in Nine Minutes: What PaisaInTime's Recovery Looks Like on One Borrower's Phone

PaisaInTime, an app operated by Sawalsha Leasing & Finance Pvt Ltd, rang one borrower's phone roughly 16 times in nine minutes. The borrower's call log records every one of them as missed. Nine minutes is shorter than a tea break. Sixteen calls inside it works out at roughly one every thirty-four seconds - a phone that does not stop ringing long enough to be answered.

Nobody dials sixteen times to have a conversation

A lender that wants to reach a borrower calls, waits, and calls again later. A caller who dials again the second the last call drops is not trying to make contact. The first ring is a request. By the fourth, the borrower has understood the request. By the sixteenth, the only message left in the calling is the calling itself.

Think about where a person is when that happens. On a shop floor. In a lift. In an interview. Sitting opposite a manager, watching the same number light up the screen again and again while trying to keep a face straight. A call log like this one does not stay private for nine minutes; a phone buzzing sixteen times in a row is visible to everyone in the room, and the borrower has to explain it or pretend not to notice it.

Then there is what it does to the person holding the phone. Someone behind on a loan is usually already not sleeping well. A burst of calls like this teaches them that their phone is now an instrument the lender controls. Many people respond the only way that seems to work: they pay. Not because the demand is correct, not because they have checked the figure, but because the ringing stops when they do. That is the point of calling sixteen times. It is a way of collecting money without having to justify the amount.

The borrower who kept this log did the more difficult thing. They let the calls go unanswered and let the record build. That record - the timestamps, the repeated number, the nine-minute window - is now evidence, and it is evidence the borrower already holds without asking anyone for it.

What the rules actually say about recovery calls

Recovery conduct in India is not left to the lender's discretion. Two sets of RBI rules bear directly on a burst of calls like this one.

• The RBI Fair Practices Code. It restricts recovery contact with a borrower to between 8 am and 7 pm, and it requires lenders and anyone recovering on their behalf not to resort to undue harassment - the Code names persistently bothering the borrower as an example of exactly that. Repetition is the thing the rule is aimed at. Sixteen calls in nine minutes is the pattern in its clearest form.
• The RBI's digital lending rules, in Chapter III of the Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies – Credit Facilities) Directions, 2025. Every loan sourced through an app must sit on the books of a regulated entity, and that regulated entity stays answerable for how recovery is carried out - including by a lending service provider or a recovery agent acting for it. Outsourcing the dialling does not outsource the responsibility. The Directions also require the regulated entity to tell the borrower who is authorised to approach them for recovery, and to publish a grievance redressal officer for its digital lending complaints.

The practical consequence matters more than the citation. A borrower who complains is not asking for a favour. They are pointing at a rule the lender is bound by, with a regulator that takes complaints directly and free of charge, and a call log that is difficult to argue with.

What to do today if your phone looks like this

None of the following costs anything, and none of it needs a lawyer.

• Preserve the call log before you touch anything. Screenshot the log showing the number, the date and the individual call times. Many phones let you export the full history - do that too. Do not clear the log to tidy your phone, and if you block the number, screenshot first. Blocking hides future calls; it does not preserve the ones already made.
• Keep everything else the same way. Save the messages, the emails and the app notifications, with their timestamps intact. A single burst is strong. A burst plus a written demand is stronger, because together they show a sequence rather than an accident.
• Do not pay to make the ringing stop. Paying an amount you have not verified does two things: it settles nothing you can later dispute, and it confirms that calling works. Ask for the figure in writing, with the breakdown of principal, interest and every charge, and pay against a document rather than against pressure.
• Complain in writing, to the lender first. Send a dated written complaint to the grievance redressal officer named in the app or in your loan agreement, attach the call log, and keep a copy of what you sent. That copy is what starts the clock for the next step.
• Take it to the RBI. If the lender does not resolve it within 30 days, or rejects it, file free of charge at cms.rbi.org.in. Attach the log. Describe the conduct plainly and by the numbers - the count, the window, the date.
• Check who actually lent you the money. An app is not a lender. Find the entity named in your loan agreement and look it up on the RBI's portal at sachet.rbi.org.in. If your paperwork names no regulated entity at all, that alone is worth reporting there.
• If the calls turn into threats, or reach people who never signed anything. Should the pressure move on to threatening you, or to contacting your employer, your family or names from your contacts, report it at cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930, and keep doing everything above as well.

Why we are naming the company

The figure in this piece comes from one place: a borrower's own call log, showing roughly 16 missed calls from PaisaInTime inside nine minutes. We are not describing a state of mind or a motive. We are describing a count and a clock, both of which can be checked. We name Sawalsha Leasing & Finance Pvt Ltd because somebody typing "PaisaInTime" into a search box at two in the morning, deciding whether to borrow, deserves to see what the recovery side of that decision has looked like for at least one person. We do not link to the app and we will not. Putting a reader who is already short of money one click from the download would defeat the only purpose this article has.

Right of reply: Sawalsha Leasing & Finance Pvt Ltd has a standing invitation to respond. Any correction, any explanation of these calls, or any statement of its recovery policy will be published in full and unedited alongside this piece. Write to editor@oquilia.com.

Your rights, and how to report

The lenders in this series are RBI-registered NBFCs, bound by the RBI's Fair Practices Code and recovery rules: no recovery calls before 8 am or after 7 pm, no intimidation or harassment of anyone to make you pay, no public humiliation or intrusion on the privacy of your family, referees or friends, no abuse or threats, and the all-in APR must be disclosed in the Key Facts Statement. Read the full plain-English guide on Oquilia's loan-harassment help page.

To report a lender: complain in writing to its grievance redressal officer first, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman (CMS) if there is no reply or no resolution within 30 days, check the lender's registration (and report an unregistered app) on RBI Sachet, and report threats, harassment or data misuse at the National Cyber Crime portal or on 1930. Keep every screenshot, email and call log - that record is your evidence.

More from this investigation

• Chinmay Finlease's Lenditt: a 36.5% 'flat' rate and a 3-day rollover
• Ram Fincorp: Rs 26,901 lent, Rs 42,622 demanded - a 173% APR by its own KFS
• Zayloloan: 1% a day and a 458% APR - one firm, four apps

Frequently asked questions

How many times can a recovery agent call me?

There is no permitted number of calls, but there is a limit on what calling may be used for. The RBI Fair Practices Code restricts recovery contact to between 8 am and 7 pm and requires a lender, and anyone recovering on its behalf, not to resort to undue harassment - the Code names persistently bothering the borrower as an example. A burst like roughly 16 missed calls in nine minutes, which is what one borrower's call log records from PaisaInTime, an app operated by Sawalsha Leasing & Finance Pvt Ltd, is that pattern in its clearest form: about one call every thirty-four seconds. Under the RBI's digital lending rules, now in Chapter III of the Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies – Credit Facilities) Directions, 2025, the regulated entity behind the app remains answerable for recovery carried out by a lending service provider or agent, so outsourcing the dialling does not shift the responsibility. Practically: screenshot the call log with the number, date and individual call times before you clear or block anything; do not pay an unverified figure just to stop the ringing; complain in writing to the lender's grievance redressal officer and keep a copy; and if it is not resolved in 30 days, or is rejected, file free of charge at cms.rbi.org.in. If the calls become threats or reach your employer, family or contacts, report that at cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.

Can a loan app call my office or family?

Not to pressure you. The RBI's recovery rules do not name employers, but they bar recovery agents from intimidating or harassing anyone, from acts meant to humiliate you publicly or to intrude on the privacy of your family, referees and friends, from calling before 8 am or after 7 pm, and from abuse or threats. Approaching your workplace or contacts to shame you over a loan falls outside lawful recovery, whatever an app's agreement says.

How do I report a loan app to the RBI?

Complain in writing to the NBFC's grievance redressal officer first. If it does not resolve your complaint within 30 days, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman through the Complaint Management System (cms.rbi.org.in). Use RBI Sachet (sachet.rbi.org.in) to check that the lender is registered and to report an app run by an unregistered entity. For threats or data misuse, use the National Cyber Crime portal (cybercrime.gov.in) or call 1930, and keep all screenshots and statements.