Debt collector harassing you at work or family home? Start with one worked example

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

Rohit, a Bengaluru sales executive, fell two months behind on a personal loan from an NBFC. Within a week an agent rang his office landline, told the receptionist he was “absconding with company money”, and called his mother to say he would be “picked up by police”. Rohit owed the money, but none of this was allowed. Here is what he did, and it is the template this guide follows. He started a dated log of every call and saved the screenshots. He found the registered lender from his loan agreement, not the app. He wrote to the lender's grievance officer citing the RBI Fair Practices Code, demanding the calls to his office and family stop. When they continued, he escalated to the RBI and filed a police complaint over the threat to his mother. The harassment stopped within three weeks, while his repayment talks carried on separately.

Owing money is a civil matter. Threats, abuse, odd-hour calls, and public shaming are not part of lawful recovery. This guide is for any borrower being targeted at their workplace or family home over a bank, NBFC, or app loan.

Open a fresh note or spreadsheet and log every contact: date, time, phone number, the name the caller gave, and a short summary of what was said. Screenshot every collection SMS, WhatsApp message, and missed call. Save any call recordings in one folder. Note anything said to your colleagues, family, or neighbours, with the names of anyone who heard it. A single stressful call is hard to act on. A consistent log turns it into a pattern a lender, the RBI, or the police can measure.

You cannot complain effectively until you know who the registered lender is. Many borrowers complain to an app or a direct selling agent instead of the bank or NBFC that actually holds the loan. Check your loan agreement, sanction letter, and statement for the lender's exact name, your loan account number, and the official grievance contact. Confirm who received your repayments. Then identify the recovery agency or agent: the agency name, the agent's name, and the numbers used. The lender is responsible for the conduct of the agents it appoints, so linking the agent to the lender is the key to your complaint.

The RBI expects banks and NBFCs, and the agents acting for them, to follow a Fair Practices Code when recovering dues. In plain terms, agents should treat you with basic dignity. They should not call at odd or inconvenient hours. They should not threaten, intimidate, or abuse you. They should not shame you by telling your employer, colleagues, family, or neighbours about your debt. Reasonable reminders are allowed, harassment is not. You do not need to quote a clause number. Describe what was actually said and done, and let the lender and the regulator measure it against this standard.

Write to the lender's grievance redressal officer or nodal officer. State your loan account number, describe the harassment with dates, attach your log and evidence, and demand that it stop and that the agency be reined in. Send it by email so you have a timestamp, and keep the complaint reference number. The lender's grievance policy, usually on its website, states the time within which it must respond.

To: The Grievance Redressal Officer / Nodal Officer,
[Lender name], [address / email from the lender's website]

Subject: Harassment by recovery agents, Loan Account No. [number]

I am a borrower under loan account No. [number]. I am complaining about the
conduct of recovery agents acting on your behalf, which I believe breaches
the RBI Fair Practices Code on recovery.

Since [start date]:
- calls were made to my office and colleagues about my loan on [dates];
- an agent visited my home / workplace on [date] and created a scene;
- my family / neighbours were contacted to shame me on [dates];
- threatening / abusive calls came from [number] at [odd hours] on [dates].

A dated log, recordings, screenshots, and witness details are enclosed.

I request that you (1) stop all contact at my workplace and with my family,
colleagues, and neighbours; (2) direct the agency to deal with me lawfully
and respectfully; (3) give me, in writing, the appointed agency's name and
a point of contact; (4) confirm the action taken and a reference number.

I am willing to discuss repayment of any genuine dues through lawful
channels. If I do not receive a satisfactory response within your grievance
timeline, I will escalate to the RBI at cms.rbi.org.in.

[Name], [mobile], [email], [date]

If an agent threatens you or your family, abuses you, or forces entry into your home, that is potentially criminal conduct and the police can act. Go to your local station with your evidence and file a written complaint giving the dates, the numbers, the exact words used, and the witnesses. Many states have an online police complaint portal too. Do not wait for the loan dispute to settle, criminal behaviour is a separate matter that should be reported promptly.

If the lender does not resolve your complaint within its stated timeline, escalate to the RBI at cms.rbi.org.in under the Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme. Upload your evidence and the lender's response. The RBI helpline is 14448. If you suspect the lender or recovery entity is unregistered or illegal, report it on RBI Sachet. For an unregistered digital lending app that is morphing your photos or mass-messaging your contacts, the police and the cybercrime portal are usually the faster route, with Sachet used to flag the entity.

The RTI Act applies only to public authorities. If your loan is from a public-sector bank, that bank is a public authority, so you can ask its PIO which recovery agency was appointed for your account, the agency's empanelment status, and how your grievance was handled, to the extent disclosable. The RBI and the police are also public authorities, so after you complain you can ask about the action taken on your complaint, subject to exemptions that protect an ongoing investigation. RTI does not stop harassment by itself, and private banks, NBFCs, fintech and app lenders, and the agencies they hire are not public authorities, so you cannot RTI them. Filing RTI against a private lender wastes time. The action that stops the harassment comes from the lender complaint, the RBI escalation, and the police. If a public authority ignores your RTI, the first appeal route applies.

• Not keeping a dated record. Without a log, recordings, and screenshots, it becomes your word against theirs. Start documenting from the next contact.
• Complaining only by phone. A verbal complaint to customer care rarely creates the record you need. Put it in writing and keep the reference.
• Confusing the debt with the harassment. You can owe a genuine debt and still complain about abusive recovery. The two questions are separate.
• Complaining to the app, not the lender. Confirm the registered lender from your agreement and the money trail first.
• Editing recordings. Original, unedited audio is far more credible. Back everything up in a second place.

Agents are expected to follow the RBI Fair Practices Code and treat borrowers with dignity. A polite reminder is allowed, but contacting your employer or colleagues to shame you, and showing up to embarrass you, is harassment. Document it and complain to the lender, then the RBI.

Recording a call you are a party to is generally treated differently from secretly recording two others. Many borrowers record incoming collection calls on their own phone as evidence. Keep recordings of calls made to your own number, note the date, time, and number, and do not edit the audio. If unsure, take legal advice before relying on a recording.

The lender. Banks and NBFCs are responsible for the agents they appoint. Write to the grievance or nodal officer, attach evidence, and keep the reference number. Escalate to the RBI if it is not resolved within the grievance timeline. For threats, file a police complaint in parallel.

Threats, intimidation, abuse, and forced entry are matters for the police, not just the lender. File a police complaint with dates, numbers, the words used, and witnesses, carrying copies of your evidence. You do not need to wait for the loan dispute to be resolved.

Report the entity on RBI Sachet at sachet.rbi.org.in. Continue to preserve evidence and file a police or cybercrime complaint if there are threats or misuse of your photos and contacts. For unregistered apps, the police and cybercrime portal are usually faster.

Only if the lender is a public-sector bank, which is a public authority. Private banks, NBFCs, app lenders, and recovery agencies are outside RTI. You can still RTI the RBI or the police for action taken on your complaint, where disclosure is allowed.

• Cybercrime complaint disposed without action: for loan-app contact misuse.
• Cyber-police lien after a P2P crypto trade: another bank-side police action.
• Defective income tax return notice: a calm, document-led response to an official notice.
• All practical guides | How to file RTI online | First and second appeals

Download the recovery-agent harassment complaint checklist (PDF).