Donnalyn Bartolome opens up about horrible lending experience: ‘1M gone just like that’

Donnalyn Bartolome opened up about her experience of lending PHP1 million to an acquaintance who had not paid her back despite their signed agreement.

On Wednesday, the vlogger shared on Facebook that the person, who was also a content creator, had also been using her name to borrow money from others, telling them she trusted him.

“Utang na one million, gone just like that,” she wrote, saying the borrower lied to her about the reason for the loan.

In her post, she shared screenshots of what looked like a conversation between her and the unnamed borrower.

The acquaintance wanted to borrow PHP1 million for “show money” to prove he had at least PHP6 million in the bank for a car he wanted to purchase. He said he would pay it back the same day.

Donnalyn said they weren’t close and the borrower even asked to take a photo with her one time, but because they had mutual friends whom she trusted, she decided to help him.

At first, she said she was skeptical because the car he wanted to purchase was a Toyota Alphard, which started at almost PHP4 million. She called him up on video chat to confirm his identity.

She then agreed to lend him money and asked the person to sign a loan agreement stating that he would return the full amount on June 29.

At first, he returned the document unsigned, but when Donnalyn questioned it he sent back a signed copy.

On July 1, however, Donnalyn said no payment had been made and the borrower told her he got “scammed” and lost PHP4 million.

The borrower, who called her “idol,” apologized to her and told her he was ashamed of himself.

He also said the money was gone and his car was used as collateral.

The borrower offered to pay in installments, give her his monthly earnings, and let her hold his email and YouTube account.

Donnalyn, however, told him to pay in full. “I’m not playing. We're going to have a big problem if that’s not returned to me ASAP,” she said.

“If that’s not returned to me by tomorrow, you’ll hear from my lawyer,” she added.

She accused the borrower of lying about the purpose of the loan. “You weren’t supposed to touch the money I put in your bank account,” she said.

Toward the end of their conversation, the borrower promised to pay back at least PHP400,000, but even that amount had not been returned as of posting, said Donnalyn.

She then accused him of borrowing money from her and making her angry so he could create content for his vlog. “You want drama for the vlog?” she said.

Donnalyn dared him to produce content from the incident, saying she would be filing charges against him.

“To everyone I trusted, whether it’s hundreds of thousands or millions—the amount you will lose is far worth more than all the money in the world and that is my trust,” she said.

As of writing, Donnalyn’s post has received more than 279,000 reactions and 49,000 shares. – RC, GMA News