The founder and CEO of a digital lending fintech headquartered in northern Bogotá watched as, in less than 72 hours, a viral social media post accused his platform of charging usurious interest rates to low-income users. The thread, shared thousands of times, mixed doctored screenshots with real testimonials from delinquent borrowers, and quickly jumped from social media to digital news sites and a segment on a national newscast.
The company was in the final stage of a Series B funding round with an international venture capital fund, and the investment committee had scheduled its reputational due diligence for the following week. A Google search for the fintech's name already showed, in the top three results, headlines linking it to aggressive collection practices. The risk wasn't just to its image: the Financial Superintendence of Colombia had opened a preliminary information request as a result of the controversy.
Within 48 hours, our team deployed a containment protocol: we audited every disputed rate and contract to prepare a documented, verifiable response, coordinated the formal response to the SFC with the legal team, and worked with business journalists to provide context and verified figures. In parallel, we launched a campaign of educational content and verified testimonials from satisfied customers to rebalance the conversation in search engines and on social media.
Within six weeks, the narrative had turned around: the negative results dropped off the first page of Google, the SFC closed the information request with no penalty, and the Series B round closed with the original investors, who cited the handling of the crisis as a positive sign of corporate maturity.
