Zayloloan Lent Rs 74,970 but Charges 1% a Day on Rs 85,000. Its Own KFS Says 458.59% APR.

Zayloloan sanctioned a salaried borrower in Bengaluru Rs 85,000. What arrived in his bank account was Rs 74,970. The missing Rs 10,030 was taken in upfront deductions before he had spent a rupee. The interest is then charged on the full Rs 85,000 - at 1% a day. The app is operated by Naman Finlease Pvt Ltd, an RBI-registered NBFC listed at Sl. No. 5115, and none of this is our estimate. The company's own Key Facts Statement puts the Annual Percentage Rate at 458.59%.

The Rs 10,030 he paid for but never received

Two numbers govern this loan and they are not the same number. The sanctioned amount is Rs 85,000. The disbursed amount is Rs 74,970. The gap of Rs 10,030 never reached the borrower. He could not spend it, could not put it towards the repayment, and could not use it for whatever he took the loan out to cover. He is charged for it every day of the term.

That is the mechanism worth understanding. The lender's exposure is Rs 74,970. The borrower's interest bill is calculated on Rs 85,000. The gap is not a rounding artefact - it is money withheld at the moment of disbursal that goes on earning interest.

What 1% a day means on a 39-day loan

Zayloloan is structured as a 39-day single-repayment loan. There are no instalments to smooth the shock. The whole amount falls due at once, roughly one salary cycle after the money lands.

Take the disclosed rate at face value and do the arithmetic. One per cent a day on Rs 85,000 is Rs 850 a day. Across a 39-day term that is Rs 33,150 in interest, on a loan that put Rs 74,970 into the borrower's hands. On a simple reading of the disclosed terms, a man who received under seventy-five thousand rupees is looking at a single repayment well above one lakh, and he has thirty-nine days to find it.

Then there is the penalty. The Key Facts Statement puts the penal charge at 2% per day - twice the ordinary rate. On Rs 85,000 that is Rs 1,700 for each day of lateness. A single week past the due date, on that arithmetic, adds Rs 11,900. For most salaried borrowers in an Indian city that is a month's rent, accrued in seven days, on a debt they were already unable to clear.

Missing day 39 does not produce a manageable arrears balance. It produces a figure that grows faster than a salary can catch it, and the natural response - borrow again to cover it - leads where the next section describes.

One company, four apps

Naman Finlease Pvt Ltd does not operate a single app. Per the RBI register, the same company sits behind Zayloloan, Qualoan, Funds Bull and Zepto Finance. Four brands. Four listings. One lender.

For a borrower this matters more than it sounds. Uninstalling Zayloloan and taking a fresh loan from what looks like a different, unconnected app can mean borrowing from the same balance sheet to repay the same balance sheet. The branding changes; the counterparty does not. Anyone with a Zayloloan repayment they cannot meet should check the name of the NBFC in the paperwork of every other loan app on their phone before assuming they are dealing with someone new.

What the rules actually require

A high disclosed rate is not, by itself, unlawful. The RBI does not fix a single ceiling on what an NBFC may charge. What the regulator does require is that the price be fully and honestly stated, and that the borrower be able to see how it was arrived at.

• RBI Digital Lending Guidelines (September 2022). Lending through an app must run through a regulated entity, and every charge the borrower bears must appear in the Key Facts Statement. The APR disclosed there is meant to be the all-inclusive cost of the credit, not the headline interest rate with the fees left out. A borrower is entitled to ask how the 458.59% was computed and whether it was computed on the sum actually disbursed.
• Disbursal and fees. Under the same guidelines, loan money is to be credited directly to the borrower's own bank account, and fees payable to a lending service provider are to be borne by the regulated entity rather than recovered from the borrower. Where roughly Rs 10,030 has been withheld at source, the borrower can demand an itemised statement of exactly what each rupee of that deduction was for.
• The cooling-off period. The guidelines require digital loans to carry a look-up or cooling-off window in which a borrower may exit by repaying the principal and the proportionate cost, without a penalty. The length of that window should be stated in the Key Facts Statement. Anyone still inside it should read that clause today, before the 39 days run.
• Penal charges. RBI's rules on penal charges in loan accounts require them to be reasonable, commensurate with the default, separately disclosed, and not capitalised into further interest. A penal charge running at 2% a day is a term a borrower is entitled to put squarely to the lender's grievance officer and, after that, to the RBI.
• The Fair Practices Code. Whatever the rate on paper, recovery may not humiliate or intimidate. Calls outside 8 am to 7 pm, approaches to an employer, family or phone contacts, abuse or threats are outside lawful recovery regardless of how much is owed.

If this is your loan, do this today

None of the following costs anything, and none of it requires a lawyer. Evidence first.

• Secure the paperwork before you do anything else. Download the Key Facts Statement and the sanction letter from the app and save them outside it. Screenshot the sanctioned amount, the 1% daily rate, the 2% penal charge and the 458.59% APR. Save the bank statement line showing the exact credit that arrived. An app can change what it shows you; your bank statement cannot be edited.
• Ask, in writing, for two things. An itemised breakdown of every deduction between the sanctioned amount and the amount credited, and the computation behind the disclosed APR. Send it by email to the lender's grievance officer, named in the loan agreement, and keep the sent copy. A written request that goes unanswered is itself a fact you can put before the regulator.
• Check the cooling-off clause now. If your Key Facts Statement gives a look-up period and you are still inside it, exiting on those terms is far cheaper than reaching day 39.
• Confirm who the lender is. The app is not the lender. Look up Naman Finlease Pvt Ltd - and the NBFC named in every other loan app you hold - on the RBI's register at sachet.rbi.org.in. If your paperwork names no registered entity at all, that alone is worth reporting.
• Complain, and then escalate. Put the complaint to the NBFC's grievance officer first. If it is not resolved within 30 days, take it to the RBI Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in. Attach the Key Facts Statement and the bank statement. The documents do the arguing.
• Report harassment separately and immediately. If recovery involves threats, abuse, calls to your employer or contacts, or use of your phone data, file at cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930. Do not wait for the loan dispute to conclude first.
• Do not borrow from a second app to clear this one. It is the single most expensive move available, and given that one company runs four of these brands, it may not even change who you owe.

Why we are naming the company

Every figure above comes from the lender's own Key Facts Statement, from the borrower's bank record, and from the RBI's public register. Nothing here rests on an allegation we cannot show. We name Naman Finlease Pvt Ltd because someone typing "Zayloloan" into a search box at eleven at night, minutes from tapping accept, deserves to find the 458.59% before they find the download button. We do not link to the app, and we will not. Putting a reader who is already short of money one click closer to the loan would defeat the only purpose this article has.

Right of reply: Naman Finlease Pvt Ltd has a standing invitation to respond. Any correction, clarification, or documentation of how the disclosed APR and the upfront deductions were computed will be published in full and unedited alongside this piece. Write to editor@oquilia.com.

Evidence · redacted copy to be published

Zayloloan Key Facts Statement showing a 39-day single-repayment loan at 1% per day and a 458.59% APR

Your rights, and how to report

The lenders in this series are RBI-registered NBFCs, bound by the RBI's Fair Practices Code: no recovery calls before 8 am or after 7 pm, no contacting your employer, family or references to pressure you, 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: start at RBI Sachet, escalate unresolved complaints to the RBI Ombudsman (CMS) after 30 days, 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

• Rupee On Time: an effective rate of about 635% a year
• Toofan Loan: 269 borrowers exposed in one email
• Subhlakshmi Finance: ~190 borrowers exposed in CC

Frequently asked questions

Is a Zayloloan loan legal in India?

Zayloloan is operated by Naman Finlease Pvt Ltd, an RBI-registered NBFC at Sl. No. 5115, so the lending itself is legal. Registration is not the same as a licence to price and structure a loan any way the lender likes, and two things here are open to challenge. First, the maths: Rs 85,000 was sanctioned but Rs 74,970 was disbursed, and interest at 1% a day runs on the full Rs 85,000 rather than on the money that actually reached the borrower. Second, the disclosure: the company's own Key Facts Statement puts the Annual Percentage Rate at 458.59% and the penal charge at 2% a day. The RBI does not cap NBFC rates outright, but under the Digital Lending Guidelines of September 2022 every charge must appear in the Key Facts Statement and the APR is meant to be the all-inclusive cost of the credit. You are entitled to ask, in writing, for an itemised breakdown of the roughly Rs 10,030 withheld and for the computation behind the 458.59%. If the grievance officer does not resolve it within 30 days, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in. Note also that the same company is listed behind Zayloloan, Qualoan, Funds Bull and Zepto Finance, so borrowing from a second app to clear the first may not change who you owe. Any harassment in recovery is a separate matter and is never lawful - report it at cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.

Can a loan app call my office or family?

No. Under the RBI Fair Practices Code, recovery agents may not contact your employer, family or references to pressure you, may not call before 8 am or after 7 pm, and may not use 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?

Start at RBI Sachet (sachet.rbi.org.in). If the NBFC does not resolve your complaint within 30 days, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman through the Complaint Management System. For threats or data misuse, use the National Cyber Crime portal (cybercrime.gov.in) or call 1930, and keep all screenshots and statements.