Libro de Reclamaciones Explained: How to File a Complaint Against a Peruvian Lender

Peruvian consumer-protection law requires nearly every business that sells to consumers — including licensed banks and fintech lenders — to maintain a Libro de Reclamaciones, a formal complaints book. It is a mechanism enforced under the framework overseen by Indecopi, Peru's general consumer-protection authority, and it exists specifically so a consumer can put a dispute on the official record with the business itself as a first step.

Because most of Peru's fast-loan sector operates entirely online, the physical complaints book most people picture has a digital counterpart: a Libro de Reclamaciones Virtual, typically accessible from the lender's website or app. A legitimate online lender operating in Peru should offer this virtual version somewhere in its digital presence, since the legal obligation to provide one does not disappear just because the business has no physical branch.

Filing a complaint here does not itself force a resolution — it creates an official, time-stamped record of the issue. A useful entry states the specific date of the problem, the exact amount involved, the product or service affected, and the outcome the consumer is requesting (a fee refund, a correction to a repayment schedule, and so on). That record becomes the evidence base if the dispute later needs to be escalated.

It is worth distinguishing the Libro de Reclamaciones route from the SBS's own complaint channel (its Plataforma de Atención al Usuario), covered in more detail in this site's guide to SBS regulation. The SBS channel applies specifically to entities under its direct supervision; some fintech lending structures fall outside that direct perimeter depending on how they are licensed, in which case Indecopi and the Libro de Reclamaciones may be the more directly applicable route for a formal complaint.

Practically, a Peruvian borrower — or a foreign resident unfamiliar with the system — should keep a screenshot or copy of the filed complaint, including its folio (reference) number, since that is the proof that the direct-resolution step was exhausted before escalating further. This right applies to every registered Peruvian lender regardless of its size or how new it is to the market.