About LigtasLoan: Who We Are and How We Work
Contents
LigtasLoan is an independent comparison site for online lending in the Philippines. About LigtasLoan in one line: we are the safe borrowing companion for Filipinos who want numbers before they apply. We check loan apps against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registry, compute what lenders really charge, and publish the result in plain language.
What LigtasLoan is, and what it is not
LigtasLoan is a publisher of comparisons, not a lender. We do not process loan applications, move money, set interest rates, or make credit decisions. No one on this site can approve you or reject you. Frankly, that boundary is the product, because every promise and every limit on this page follows from it.
Our work sits in three buckets:
- Registry checks. Every app is matched against the SEC registry of lending and financing companies before it appears in any table. Each entry carries a status and a check date.
- Real cost math. For a standard ₱5,000 loan over 30 days, we total interest, processing, and disbursement fees, annualize the sum, and publish it as our estimate of the effective annual percentage rate (APR).
- Public verdicts. Unregistered, banned, or delisted apps get no offer links at all, only a status page explaining what happened and what to do next.
The table below draws the line.
| What LigtasLoan does | What LigtasLoan never does |
|---|---|
| Checks apps against the SEC registry | Lends money or processes applications |
| Computes effective APR with all fees | Makes or influences credit decisions |
| Publishes complaint and collection records | Guarantees approval or any specific rate |
| Removes banned-app links the day we verify | Charges readers anything |
The scoring system behind every table is documented in our rating methodology.
Why this site exists
The short version is personal. Friends of our editor borrowed from unregistered loan apps, and the collections tactics followed. Messages to contacts. Pressure. Shame. I have read enough complaint threads to know how those stories go. The apps advertised low rates, but the real cost showed up later, in fees nobody quoted upfront.
That pattern repeats across borrower stories in the Philippines, and it is why the name fits. "Ligtas" is the Filipino word for safe.
How we check every app
Before any app enters a ranking, it passes one gate. We manually check the SEC registry for a lending company or a financing company with a valid Certificate of Authority. We record the check date, and we re-check after every SEC advisory.
Registration is the floor, not the ceiling. Two laws frame the work. RA 9474, the Lending Company Regulation Act, governs who may operate as a lending company. RA 3765, the Truth in Lending Act, requires creditors to disclose the true cost of credit. We test what apps claim against both standards, in public.
The full sequence of checks lives on how we review loan apps.
Who writes and checks this site
Every page on this site carries one byline: Marco Villanueva. He covers consumer lending in the Philippines: loan apps, digital banks, and the government loan programs Filipinos actually use. Six years in finance desk reporting shaped that beat. The last three covered consumer credit and fintech. He holds a BA in Communication Research from the University of the Philippines Diliman. That mix shows on every page.
Marco built the effective APR method this site applies to every app. He also keeps a public tracker of SEC advisories. He started checking lending apps against the SEC registry after watching friends get burned by illegal loan apps, and never stopped.
How we make money from this site
LigtasLoan is free for readers. We earn a commission when you apply through links on this site. It costs you nothing extra. Commissions never change which apps we list, their order in our ratings, or our SEC status checks. Two rules hold this together. We only link to apps with a current Certificate of Authority, and applying through our link costs the same as applying directly.
The full rules are in our affiliate disclosure. Editorial decisions follow a separate editorial policy that keeps the commercial side out of ratings.
What you will not find here
Honest limits, listed plainly.
- No "100% approval" claims. Approval odds depend on the lender and on you.
- No instant verdicts on unchecked apps. If it is not in our tables, we say so.
- No invented testimonials or fake reviews. We summarize public complaints only.
- No promises about rates. Lenders change prices. That is why every list page carries a check date. (That date line is the product as much as the tables.)
Where to go next on this site
Comparing options before you borrow? Start with the rankings on our homepage and the SEC registered lending apps list. Checking one specific app? Look for its review or status page in our reviews section. Already hurt by an app that harassed you or read your contacts? File it with the bodies that can act: the SEC, the National Privacy Commission, or the police. We point the way and publish the evidence, but we are not a regulator.
One last test you can run anywhere. If a lender claims legitimacy, ask which registry entry backs it up. Legit ba? Real ones have a Certificate of Authority number. The others do not.