The number of digital apps offering instant credit, even to people with negative records on the Informconf list, is growing rapidly in Paraguay. With minimal requirements — just an ID number and being of legal age — these services attract consumers who cannot make ends meet at the end of the month, but hide exorbitant financial costs.
The interest rates charged by these platforms often exceed 60% per year, double the legal limit for a loan to be considered usurious. Additionally, companies charge "administrative" fees that, in some cases, reach 30% of the amount released. The Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) states that current regulations — Resolution No. 1, Minutes No. 36, of September 2, 2025 — set limits for these commissions, but the rule does not differentiate the type of lending, whether in-person or digital. The agency emphasizes that, in a specific case, it can conduct a verification to analyze whether the operation falls within legal parameters, provided the consumer presents a detailed settlement of the loan.
The phenomenon, known as "shadow banking," also manifests in appliance retail chains. These stores effectively function as disguised financial institutions: the final price of a financed product can triple the cash price. To avoid openly violating Law No. 2,339, which punishes usury, companies adopt three main strategies: artificial inflation of the product's base price, charging mandatory insurance and fees not declared as interest, and requiring a blank promissory note, which allows aggressive collections and legal action in case of default.
The Paraguayan Banking Association (Asoban) did not respond to requests for comment on unfair competition in the credit market. Behind the scenes of the financial sector, it is speculated that several of these digital companies are capitalized by senior executives from the formal financial system, but this information has not been independently corroborated.
The BCP publishes monthly the maximum interest rates considered usurious for consumer credit. However, the contractual engineering of retailers and apps allows these limits to be circumvented, while the country's deep financial exclusion — where a large part of the population works informally — fuels demand for these services.