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Legit Loan Apps in the Philippines (2026 SEC List)

We checked the loan apps Filipinos search for most against the SEC's list of recorded online lending platforms dated 12 October 2026 — the first full edition compiled under this year's new rules. Here is who is on it, who is not, and how to read it before you borrow.

Published October 25, 2026

"Legit" gets used loosely. Loan pages call themselves legit, Facebook groups vouch for apps, and screenshots of registration lists from 2023 keep circulating long after they stopped being accurate.

For lending and financing companies, one document settles the question: the Securities and Exchange Commission's List of Recorded Online Lending Platforms. The current edition is dated 12 October 2026 and was compiled under SEC Memorandum Circular No. 20, Series of 2026, the rules for online lenders that took effect on 1 August 2026. It names 133 lending and financing companies and 203 numbered platform entries — apps, websites and a handful of Facebook pages.

This guide works from that list, line by line, rather than from anyone's reputation. Nothing here is an endorsement of a lender, including the partners featured on this site.

What "legit" actually means for a loan app

For an app run by a lending or financing company, three things must be true at the same time:

1. The company is registered with the SEC as a corporation.
2. It holds a Certificate of Authority to operate as a lending or financing company. Registration alone is not permission to lend.
3. The exact app or website you are using is on the SEC's list of recorded online lending platforms, under that company's name.

The third check is the one most people skip, and it is the one that catches most problems. A real company's name on a copycat app, or a real brand pasted onto a Facebook page, passes the first two checks and fails the third. Our guide on how to check if a lender is registered walks through the documents themselves.

Legit is a floor, not a recommendation. Being on the list means a company may lend online and has told the regulator which platforms it uses. It says nothing about whether the loan is cheap or whether its collectors behave.

The big names, checked against the list

Below are the brands Filipino borrowers search for most, matched to the company recorded for them on the 12 October 2026 list. The SEC number is copied as printed — useful when a page claims to be one of these companies and you want to verify it.

Cash loan apps and websites

Pay-later, installment and credit-line apps

Loans inside apps you already use

The GCash row shows why matching names takes care. The list records the lender's platform as "Fuse", not "GLoan", and notes that the platform was formerly called GCredit — while today's GCredit is a separate credit line from CIMB Bank. Products inside a bigger app often sit under the lender's own name. Our guide to GLoan, GGives and GCredit untangles who lends what inside GCash.

Names you will not find — and what each absence means

An app missing from the list is not automatically a scam, and an app on it is not automatically safe. What matters is why it is missing.

Banks and digital banks. Maya, CIMB, Tonik, UNO, GoTyme and the large universal banks are supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, not the SEC, so they will never appear on this list. Check them against the BSP's directory of supervised institutions instead.

GCash itself. G-Xchange, Inc., the company behind GCash, is a BSP-regulated e-money issuer. It does not lend. The loans inside the app come from Fuse, which is on the list, and from CIMB, which is a bank.

Matching and comparison services. Some websites do not lend at all: they take one application and pass it to lenders. Several services featured on comparison sites, ours included, work this way. A matching service has no reason to be on the list because it is not the lender; the company that signs your loan agreement does. Read the lender's name on the disclosure statement, not the name of the website where you started.

Digido. One of the best-known online lenders in the country is not on the October 2026 list. The SEC revoked Digido Finance Corp.'s corporate registration and its Certificate of Authority in an order dated 9 May 2025. In an order dated 18 February 2026, the SEC's Financing and Lending Companies Department found that the company had kept lending after that revocation, directed it to permanently cease financing operations, and imposed fines totalling ₱600,000 on the company and five of its officers. Digido has said it disagrees with the findings and has appealed. If you already have a Digido loan, do not assume the debt has disappeared: ask for a written statement of account, pay only through channels you can verify, keep every receipt, and if you are unsure who is entitled to collect, ask the SEC before you pay.

Old names. Lenders rebrand and companies get renamed, and the list records many of these changes in its remarks column. Lendpinoy, for example, is now listed as Etomo. If the app on your phone does not match any current entry, search the list for the company name printed in the app's terms and conditions.

The list changes — and so does the answer

Two things make screenshots of old lists unreliable.

Revocations get reversed. The October 2026 edition includes companies whose revocation or suspension orders were later lifted or modified — Cash Mart Asia Lending, Cashbee Lending Services, Hi-Fin Lending, Kayamo Atlas Lending, Lucky Shell Fintech Lending, Surity Cash Lending Investors and Sumulong Financing among them. A company revoked in 2025 can be lawfully operating in 2026, and the reverse happens just as easily.

New apps are arriving. MC 20 lifted the moratorium on new online lending platforms that had been in place since 2021, so the list is growing again. Entries dated September and October 2026 include Mabait Pera (Tanglaw Lending), Kcash Lending (Finloan Lending), PeraBuddy and Perafy (Pondomo Lending), and Livaya, Alago and Sulivo (Flashbit Financing). A fresh listing means the platform has been properly disclosed — it does not give the lender a track record. Be more careful, not less, with a lender nobody you know has used.

What else changed for borrowers in 2026

• New rules for online lenders. Under MC 20, effective 1 August 2026, each company holds a single Certificate of Authority, may run no more than five online platforms, needs more paid-up capital the more platforms it operates, and must register with the Credit Information Corporation. Platforms a company fails to disclose are delisted.
• Lower cost ceilings on small loans. Since 1 April 2026, unsecured loans of ₱10,000 or less with terms of up to four months are capped at a 12% monthly effective interest rate, and total charges can never exceed 100% of the amount borrowed. Details in the 2026 interest rate cap explained.
• Impostors are being chased. In October 2026 the SEC ordered the operators of a Facebook page called "Cash-Express Payday Loan" to stop lending and to stop using the name and credentials of Cash-Express Philippines Financing Inc., a listed company. The real company is on the list; that page never was.

How to check any app in two minutes

1. Copy the exact app or website name from your phone or browser — not the name used in an ad.
2. Open the SEC's list at sec.gov.ph, under Lending Companies and Financing Companies → List of Recorded Online Lending Platforms. Find the platform name, then the company it sits under.
3. Match the company to your loan documents. The disclosure statement and the loan agreement must name the same company. If the app says one thing and the contract another, stop.
4. Check the developer name on Google Play or the App Store. It should be the listed company or an obvious affiliate — not a personal name or an unrelated firm.
5. Treat Facebook and Messenger applications as unverified. Several companies note on the list that their Facebook pages are used for marketing purposes only — so a page asking you to apply or pay through Messenger deserves suspicion, whatever name it uses.
6. Never pay to get a loan. Legitimate lenders deduct fees from the loan or add them to the repayment. A request to send money first is the classic loan scam pattern.

Legit is not the same as good

Once an app passes the checks above, the comparison that actually saves money begins.

• Compare the total repayment, not the advertised rate. Two listed lenders can charge very different amounts for the same ₱5,000. Our explainer on how online loan interest rates work shows how to put offers side by side.
• Look at collection behaviour. Registration does not guarantee polite collectors. Read recent reviews for mentions of messages to contact lists or threats — both are prohibited, and your rights if you miss a payment apply to every lender on this list.
• Question the permissions. A lending app needs your camera to verify your ID and notifications for reminders. It does not need your contacts or your photo gallery to decide on a loan.
• Match the product to the need. Pay-later apps suit planned purchases, cash loan apps suit short gaps, and banks suit larger amounts over longer terms. Loan apps vs banks vs pawnshops covers the trade-offs.

Quick answers

Is Tala legit? Tala Financing Philippines Inc. (SEC No. CS201710582) is on the 12 October 2026 list with the platform "Tala". That makes it a registered lender allowed to lend online; whether it is the right loan for you depends on the offer you receive.

Is GLoan legit? GLoan is lent inside GCash by Fuse Financing Inc. (SEC No. CS201617622), which appears on the list as "Fuse". GCash itself is regulated by the BSP.

Is BillEase legit? First Digital Finance Corporation (SEC No. CS201516347) is on the list with three platforms: Billease, Balikbayad and FDFC.

Is Digido still legit in 2026? Digido Finance Corp. is not on the October 2026 list. The SEC revoked its registration and Certificate of Authority and later ordered it to permanently cease financing operations; the company has appealed.

Is it illegal to borrow from an app that is not on the list? The rules bind the lender, not the borrower — an online platform run by a lending or financing company must be disclosed to the SEC. But borrowing from an undisclosed app means giving up most of the protections that make a complaint worth filing.

How often does the SEC update the list? Periodically, without a fixed schedule. Check the "as of" date printed at the top of the SEC page before relying on any version, including the one used here.

How we use this list

Some partners featured on this site may pay us a referral fee. That is exactly why this page relies on the regulator's list rather than on anyone's marketing, ours included. When you are ready to compare, start with the offers we list — and run every name through the checks above before you sign anything.

Sources: Securities and Exchange Commission, List of Financing and Lending Companies Recorded with the SEC and their Online Lending Platforms (SEC MC No. 20, s. 2026), as of 12 October 2026; SEC Memorandum Circular No. 20, Series of 2026, as reported by Fintech News Philippines (July 2026); SEC Memorandum Circular No. 14, Series of 2025; SEC orders on Digido Finance Corp. as reported by Manila Bulletin and BusinessWorld (March 2026); the SEC cease-and-desist order on the "Cash-Express Payday Loan" page as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer (October 2026). Company names and SEC numbers are copied as printed on the SEC list. This article is general information, not legal or financial advice — confirm a lender's current status on sec.gov.ph before borrowing.

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