Portrait of Ray Delacruz, Lending Practices Editor at compareloanapps.com
Lending Practices Editor

Ray Delacruz

Ray covers the part of the loan-app world that marketing teams would rather you not notice. Fake apps on the Play Store, fee obfuscation in the fine print, auto-renewing subscription traps, debt-collection abuses - the patterns that tend to show up right before a borrower gets hurt.

Covers: Scams, fake apps, predatory patterns, loan-doc traps, collections Based in: San Antonio, TX

About Ray

Ray spent seven years doing consumer-complaint intake for a state AG’s office before moving to editorial work. The move was gradual: he started writing plain-English explainers for complainants who did not understand what had happened to them, realized the same explainers did not exist online, and eventually decided to write them for everyone.

His editorial instinct is protective. If you have ever read a piece on this site that opens with “here is the specific sentence in the contract you need to find” - that is Ray’s house style.

Approach

Every traps-and-scams piece Ray writes includes three things: a checklist a reader can apply in under two minutes, at least one screenshot or document excerpt showing the pattern in the wild, and a clear statement of what to do next (file a complaint, request a refund, dispute a charge, contact a counselor). He does not publish a warning without an action.

He also keeps a running file of fake loan apps pulled from both stores - the names rotate weekly, so the fingerprints are what matter.

What Ray does not cover

Product reviews of legitimate apps and general personal-finance education live elsewhere on the team. Ray’s beat is specifically the harm-shaped edge of the space.

Articles by Ray

Ray’s traps-and-scams guides will appear here as they publish. Browse the full Money IQ library.

Reporting a predatory pattern?
If you’ve been hit with a collections abuse, a surprise renewed subscription, or a fake-app scam - use the contact form and put “For Ray” in the subject. Attach what you have; he’ll reply with next steps.