Speaker: Kristjan Pulk, Chair of Management, University of TARTU (Finland)
The speaker will talk about a study based on semi-structured interviews with twelve lendees and five lenders from an Estonian social media loan market in Facebook, and five debt councillors experienced in assisting clients with such loans. The study also included observations of post history in the loan groups.
The results indicate that the market publicly and openly offers illegal, high-interest loans to otherwise financially excluded individuals. Consumers are unaware that they are not under a legal obligation to pay the exorbitant fees, but they do so due to the use of various punishment and intimidation methods applied by the lenders. The study informs national institutions and policymakers about new digital developments in lending and guides regulation efforts to protect vulnerable borrowers.
To register to the workshop write to : emanuela.rinaldi@unimib.it