Campus loans that have killed many lives have come back, and the annualized interest rate is as high as 199%! Pro-test 7 platforms, 3 of which successfully made the next payment.

Every reporter Yi Wangqi Qijiang

Those fresh lives lost in campus loans have still failed to prevent cash loan platforms from extending their claws into the campus! Those grieving parents, tears are vaguely in front of them, but campus loans have revived.

According to a survey conducted by national business daily, platforms such as Flash Banking, Auction Loan and Loan are still quietly engaged in this business after the country banned campus loans. In the platform tested by reporters, the proportion of campus loans still exceeds 42%. Among them, the annual interest rate of the flash banking platform for granting usury to students is as high as 199.38%, and the platform also "invented" a variety of beheading interest. By borrowing from 1000 yuan, it is actually only 790 yuan!

In the one and a half years from May 2016, the former China Banking Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Education and other ministries and commissions have continuously issued documents for campus loans, and the regulatory attitude is not strict. However, campus loans have been repeatedly banned, and even "innovated" more ways to collect high interest.

Summary of credit granting and down payment of test platform ↓ ↓

Cartography: Zou Li

Before the investigation, every reporter received many complaints, all of which reflected that some cash lending platforms issued usury to students. National business daily selected five college students from different places to participate in the test of seven cash loan platforms, namely Flash Bank, Auction Loan, Heyi Loan, 51 Personality Loan, 2345 Doudou Money and Small Win Card Loan. There are leading enterprises in the industry, listed companies and large and medium-sized platforms, and the test scope covers almost all levels of the cash loan industry.

After testing one by one, the reporter found that campus loans are making a comeback!　

Not only is Aiyoumi, a platform of key listed companies in Hangzhou, illegally engaged in campus loans (national business daily has previously reported), but also American listed companies and Flash Banking platforms that have been invested by China Merchants are secretly engaged in campus loans! In the platform of sampling test, the proportion of campus loans still being issued exceeds 42%.　

In fact, although this round of "restarted" campus loans has not yet exposed major vicious incidents, before the regulatory ban, campus loans can be said to be "notorious":

● March 2016

Zheng Dexing, a student of Henan College of Animal Husbandry Economics, has borrowed nearly 600,000 yuan from several campus financial platforms, unable to repay it. After the lender used various means to collect debts, he was so devastated that he jumped from the eighth floor of a hotel in Qingdao and died.

● April 2017

A sophomore girl from Xiamen Huaxia College committed suicide by burning charcoal in a hotel in Quanzhou because she was deeply involved in campus loans.

● September 2017

Zhu Yudi, a 21-year-old sophomore in Shaanxi, borrowed more than 200,000 yuan and committed suicide by jumping into the river when she was unable to repay it. Before losing contact, he also sent a small video of self-mutilation to his classmates, in which he cut three deep wounds in his left hand.

… …

Usury, naked strip, suicide … … It is precisely because of all kinds of negative news and even vicious incidents that campus loans continue to explode that the attitude of the regulatory authorities is constantly tightening.

● May 2016

The Ministry of Education and the former China Banking Regulatory Commission jointly issued the Notice on Strengthening the Risk Prevention and Education Guidance of Bad Campus peer-to-peer lending, and also focused on the "Bad Campus peer-to-peer lending", explicitly requiring colleges and universities to establish a daily monitoring mechanism and a real-time early warning mechanism for bad campus peer-to-peer lending. The former CBRC clearly put forward the five-word policy of "stop, move, rectify, teach and introduce" to rectify the campus loan problem.

● April 2017

The former CBRC issued "Guiding Opinions on Risk Prevention and Control in Banking Industry", demanding that the focus should be on cleaning up and rectifying campus online loans: peer-to-peer lending information intermediaries should not include borrowers who are unable to repay their loans in the marketing scope, prohibit providing online loan services to college students under the age of 18, do not conduct false fraudulent propaganda and sales, and should not issue usury in disguised form through various means.

● May 2017

The Ministry of Education, together with the former China Banking Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, jointly issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Standardized Management of Campus Loans. While encouraging commercial banks and policy banks to provide financial services for college students, it is required that all online lending institutions (not only the peer-to-peer lending information intermediary institutions targeted in the previous documents, that is, P2P online lending) be suspended to carry out online lending business for college students. At the same time, institutions established without the approval of the banking regulatory authorities are not allowed to enter the campus to provide credit services for college students.

● September 6, 2017

The Ministry of Education also held a press conference to clarify that "the campus loan business is banned, and no online lending institution is allowed to issue loans to college students."

● December 2017

The Notice on Standardizing and Rectifying the Cash Loan Business (No.141 Document) issued by the Office of the Leading Group for the Special Remediation of Internet Financial Risks and P2P Online Loan Risks blocked some platforms from engaging in campus loans in the name of "helping loans". On the one hand, Circular No.141 clarifies that P2P peer-to-peer lending information intermediaries and online microfinance companies are not allowed to issue campus loans, and at the same time, it requires banking financial institutions to cooperate with third-party institutions to carry out loan business, and they are not allowed to outsource core business such as credit review and risk control. The "loan assistance" business should return to its original source. Banking financial institutions should not accept credit enhancement services provided by third-party institutions with unsecured qualifications and disguised credit enhancement services such as bottom-up commitments. They should request and ensure that third-party cooperative institutions should not charge interest fees to borrowers.

● Xiao Shihai, an industry observer and co-founder of Xiaojinshe:

The first is that the previous campus lending institutions have formed path dependence, and they will not do anything else, but will only lend on campus;

Secondly, some cash loan products are packaged into regular consumption installment products, thus infiltrating into the campus market;

Third, for formal financial institutions, ordinary students are not very high-quality borrowers. Even if they can give loan support, their quota is limited. Then students who have more capital needs and even form lending habits can only reach out to campus loans. Supply and demand have always existed, but the supervision failed to identify and effectively punish the "disguised campus loan", so it is difficult to restrain the combination of supply and demand.

● Director of the Bank of China Law Research Association Xiao Sa:

From the borrower’s point of view, the whole society advocates early consumption, and the post-00 s and post-90 s formed the habit of borrowing and spending. Under the all-round bombing of shopping festivals such as "June 18" and "Double Eleven", the pickpocket party embarked on the road of borrowing. From the perspective of lending platform, it is nothing more than "interest-driven", because in the current environment, campus loan is a good profit growth point.

● Xue Hongyan, Assistant Dean of Suning Financial Research Institute:

The principle of supervision on campus loans is to open the front door and block the side door, encourage the layout of banking financial institutions, and prohibit small loan companies and unlicensed institutions from getting their hands on them. However, in practice, banks are not enthusiastic, leaving many blank spaces, leaving a lot of room for non-licensed institutions.

There are many reasons for the low enthusiasm of banks:

The first is interest rate restrictions. The profit model of campus loan is that high interest rate covers high risks. However, as a regular army, banks are highly expected by all parties, and it is impossible to raise interest rates, which makes it difficult for banks to make profits and lack commercial sustainability.

The second is business restrictions. The campus loan market is too scattered. First of all, the local banks that cannot operate across regions are excluded, while the national banks are all big, and the campus loan market space is limited, which makes it difficult to attract strategic attention.

The third is the competitive factor. With the help of payment tools, Internet giants have achieved a high degree of penetration into campus groups and firmly grasped this market. For banking institutions, campus loans are not undeveloped virgin land, and even if they are fully committed, they may not be able to achieve good results.

The fourth is reputation risk. Campus loan business space is limited, but public opinion is very sensitive, which easily leads to reputation risk and further weakens the enthusiasm of banks.

For small loan companies and non-licensed institutions, although college students have no source of income, they have a strong sense of credit and belong to relatively high-quality customers. Under the pressure of operation, these institutions are unwilling to give up this market. At the same time, in practice, identifying the borrower’s student status requires the lending institution to take the initiative. If the lending institution intentionally fails to act, it can also prevaricate supervision and public opinion supervision to a certain extent, so many institutions are still engaged in campus loan business with luck.

In order to seize more customers, banks have no control over the number of cards issued. At that time, many college students had at least two credit cards and nearly 10 credit cards. These fledgling students overdraw on different cards with unrestrained ideas, and the abuse of personal credit line also caused the credit card market of college students to become a mess.

● June 2009

The former China Banking Regulatory Commission issued the Notice on Further Regulating Credit Card Business, which clearly required banking financial institutions to issue credit cards to students in accordance with the principle of prudence. To issue credit cards to students, two requirements must be met: first, they must be at least 18 years old, and second, the repayment source agreed in writing to assume the corresponding repayment responsibilities. In fact, college students’ credit cards were officially suspended.

● Beginning in 2014

With the entrepreneurial tide of Internet companies, represented by Fun Staging (Fun Shop Group), Music Staging (Lexin Group) and Love Learning Loan (Love Finance Group), hundreds of student staging institutions have flooded into the market. Staging companies have intervened in the campus credit market with 3C products (computers, communications and consumer electronic products) as a bridge, continuing the early banking practices, such as recruiting campus agents, zero fees and small gifts. Soon after, many vicious incidents broke out, such as student suicide with huge debts and naked college students.

● August 24, 2016

The former CBRC clearly put forward the five-word policy of "stop, move, rectify, teach and introduce" to rectify the campus loan problem. Under pressure, many companies involved in campus staging business seek transformation or withdrawal.

● 2018

With the development of bank’s consumer loan business, retail finance business, consumer finance companies and loan-assisting market, the campus market has once again become the battlefield of institutional competition. Lending agencies return to the campus loan market in the name of helping banks and other financial institutions to issue consumer loans.

Xiao Ming, a test student, said that Flash Silver held high the "beheading knife" and did not let go of the students.

According to Xiao Ming’s feedback, he borrowed money from 1000 yuan in Flash Bank, but actually only got 790 yuan, which he thought was beheaded by 210 yuan.

What is the composition of 210 yuan’s beheading interest mentioned by Xiao Ming?

Part of it is 160 yuan’s pledge certificate for newcomers — — After Xiao Ming’s loan was successful, his bill in Flash Bank was shown as two: one was the 160 yuan newcomer guarantee voucher that needed to be repaid within three days; In addition, it is the real bill for his loan.

Image source: Photo courtesy of test students

The other part is 50 yuan’s automatic deduction — — About 1 minute after the loan from 1000 yuan arrived, Xiaoming was automatically deducted from the bank account of Flash Bank.

The collection accounts of the two payments are Beijing Flash Silver Singular Technology Co., Ltd..

Image source: Photo courtesy of test students

Xiao Ming, a test student, borrows money from 1000 yuan and repays it in three installments. The first installment needs to repay 379.65 yuan, the second installment needs to repay 340.02 yuan, and the third installment also needs to repay 340.02 yuan, totaling 1059.69 yuan. It seems that the interest is not high. But after getting rid of 210 yuan’s beheading interest, he actually only got cash 790 yuan. According to IRR formula, Xiaoming’s borrowing interest rate in Flash Bank is actually 199.38% per annum!

Xiaoming’s bank flow shows that the loan funds come from the account of Jinyuntong Network Payment Co., Ltd.

Image source: Photo courtesy of test students

National business daily sent an interview question to Flash Bank on campus loan. Flash Bank said that since April 2019, Flash Bank has made specific provisions on its products and services: users under the age of 22 are prohibited from completing loans through the Flash Bank platform.

Since it has been banned, why can test students still successfully borrow money? Flash silver can’t give a reasonable explanation, and Flash silver asks to see the detailed information of the students. Obviously, for the protection of the students involved, the reporter can’t provide the detailed information of the students to Flash Bank, and the loan credentials of the test students are kept safe for the relevant regulatory agencies to call.

Regarding the question of allegedly charging beheading interest in disguise, Flash Silver replied as follows:

After the user completes the loan service on the flash banking platform, the fees other than the loan principal and interest and value-added services are related service fees provided by the third-party platform, which is not mandatory. Among them, the guarantee voucher is a kind of virtual voucher issued to users by the third-party guarantee platform (users choose to check it voluntarily, which is not required for borrowing), aiming to help users enjoy the financial services provided by financial institutions more conveniently and quickly. Value-added service fees are fees charged on the basis that users enjoy the corresponding additional services, which are voluntary for users and are not required to borrow money. In addition, when confirming the loan, the user must manually check and confirm the agreement with the above corresponding service agreement, otherwise the loan recommendation service will not be provided, and Flash Bank will record the user’s operation track and time.

Regarding the annualized interest rate as high as 199.38%, Flash Bank argued that:

The user’s loan application is recommended by the flash banking platform to the relevant funders, and after passing the risk control audit of the latter, they can enjoy the loan service provided by the latter, and the latter will collect interest. The specific interest rate is not more than 36% per annum according to the law, depending on the credit status of users. As a third-party technical support platform, Flash Bank charges technical service fees based on technical cooperation with relevant funders.

Is the fact really as argued by Flash Silver?

Regarding the so-called voluntary check of Flash Bank, according to the video of the loan process provided by Xiaoqiang (a test student), when Flash Bank applied for a loan, the purchase of a guarantee certificate was the default check, and there was a small prompt below: Buying a guarantee certificate would help to increase credit.

Image source: Photo courtesy of test students

Every time a reporter inquires about the industrial and commercial information, it is found that the business scope of Beijing Flash Silver Singular Technology Co., Ltd., the recipient of the guarantee certificate, does not provide guarantee for personal loans. The reporter interviewed Flash Silver again on "whether Flash Silver Company is suspected of illegal operation and whether it is forced to tie-in the guarantee certificate to users", and the reply it gave still repeated the previous content, actually avoiding this question. Moreover, this is not collected by the third party of Flash Bank’s reply, and it is Flash Bank’s own affiliated company that collects the guarantee voucher fee.

Image source: Photo courtesy of test students

According to official website Information of Flash Silver, Beijing Flash Silver Singular Technology Co., Ltd. was established in April 2014. According to public information, as of April 2017, Flash Bank has more than 80 million users, and has successively received a series investment of 6.6 million US dollars from IDG, a series investment of 20 million US dollars from SIG, and a series investment of 80 million US dollars from China Merchants, SIG and Guangyuan Capital, with a total financing amount of over 100 million US dollars.

● Li Lingpeng, lawyer of Sichuan Road Signs Law Firm: The E-commerce Law prohibits tying by default.

No matter how Flash Bank explains it, as long as students get loans from its platform, it has violated the campus loan ban. In addition, although Flash Bank claims that the annualized interest rate does not exceed 36%, the actual interest rate shows that it is engaged in usury and beheading in violation of laws and regulations.

Article 19 of the E-commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that tying goods or services by e-commerce operators shall draw consumers’ attention in a conspicuous way, and tying goods or services shall not be taken as an option of default consent.

Accordingly, the consequences of Flash Bank’s default check of the guarantee certificate should be borne by Flash Bank platform. Due to the consequences of this default check, the platform still constitutes the fact of charging the interest of deformation beheading.

In terms of interest rate, according to the Supreme People’s Court’s regulations on several issues concerning the application of law in the trial of private lending cases, the interest rate protected by law in China is actually divided into two grades. One is the annual interest rate of 24%, and the lender in this grade can ask the borrower to repay the interest at the interest rate of 24%; There is also a file with an annual interest rate of 36%. In this file, the lender cannot ask the borrower to repay the interest at the interest rate of 36%, but if the borrower has already repaid the interest at the interest rate of 36% or even over 36%, it does not need to be returned within the range of 36%, and the part exceeding 36% needs to be returned. The real interest rate of Flash Bank loan is as high as 199.38% per annum, which is illegal.

Article 200 of the Contract Law clearly stipulates: "The interest on the loan shall not be deducted from the principal in advance. If the interest is deducted from the principal in advance, the loan shall be returned according to the actual loan amount and the interest shall be calculated. " As for all kinds of breakthroughs or disguised breakthroughs in the legal interest rate red line with interest, liquidated damages, service fees, intermediary fees, margin and extension fees, the Supreme Law also clearly stipulates that it should not be supported according to law. By default, 160 yuan Newcomer Guarantee Certificate is checked by Flash Bank, which is actually a variant of beheading interest.

In addition, the Supreme People’s Court also stipulated in the Notice on Properly Handling Private Lending Disputes in accordance with the Law to Promote Economic Development and Maintain Social Stability that "if the lender deducts interest from the principal in advance, it shall return the loan according to the actual loan amount and calculate the interest." This judicial interpretation clarifies how to solve the problem of deducting interest from principal. Xiaoming borrowed money from 1000 yuan and got 790 yuan. Then, Xiaoming should only repay the loan according to 790 yuan, and the interest within the legal scope can only be calculated according to 790 yuan’s principal.

The auction and loan platform invested by Sequoia Capital still allows students to obtain loans regardless of the national campus loan ban.

According to feedback from Xiaoqiang, a test student, he got a credit line of 13,000 yuan in the auction loan, and he cashed out 1000 yuan.

Although the auction will specifically remind "not to provide loan services for students at school", in fact, Xiaoqiang, as a student, obtained a loan from the platform.

According to Xiaoqiang, when applying for a loan, a reminder will pop up: Pat Loan does not provide loan service for students at school. If you are a student at school, please stop borrowing. Then there are two buttons, one is the gray button to stop borrowing and the other is the light blue button to continue borrowing. Shortly after he clicked Continue to borrow, the bank card bound to Paipaidai received a 1000 yuan from Shanghai Paipaidai Financial Information Service Co., Ltd.

Image source: Photo courtesy of test students

According to the loan contract, Xiaoqiang, a test student, borrowed money from 10 lenders in 1000 yuan, with the most one being 416 yuan and the least one being 25 yuan.

Xiaoqiang’s loan is repaid in 12 installments, each installment is one month, and the monthly repayment is 88.38 yuan (including interest, the loan interest rate is 11% per year). At the same time, according to the contract, Xiaoqiang also needs to pay a listing fee of 6.66 yuan/month for the auction loan, totaling 79.92 yuan in 12 issues; And pay a monthly risk guarantee fee of 10.17 yuan, totaling 122.04 yuan in 12 periods. Together with these two expenses, Xiaoqiang actually needs to pay 105.21 yuan a month.

1000 yuan, the principal of the loan, repays 105.21 yuan in each installment. According to the IRR formula, Xiaoqiang’s actual interest rate on the loan is 45.39% per annum, which is higher than the legal interest rate of 24%.

Every time a reporter interviewed on the issue of issuing campus loans, he patted the loan and replied:

Since 2016, all student loan services have been cancelled. At present, the only student authentication system in China is not open to any internet financial platform, so it is impossible to accurately identify students’ identity directly through official channels (Xuexin.com, etc.). At present, the second identity confirmation is carried out through various third-party channels, including but not limited to the location information authorized by users and the common IP addresses when users log in to pat loans. At the same time, if you pat the loan, you will ask the user to refund the principal after learning that the borrower is a student, and immediately terminate the loan.

"Magic Mirror", a big data risk control system independently developed by Paipai Loan, will conduct differentiated risk pricing through the information that users can obtain on the Internet and the new news that they are authorized to obtain. In the case of strictly observing the relevant provisions of the state on borrowing interest rates, the borrowing costs incurred by different users, different borrowing amounts and different borrowing periods will also be different.

Is the fact really as described in the auction loan?

During the loan process, Xiaoqiang, a test student, truthfully filled in the address information of a specific school, and the contact person was also reserved for classmates, and still got the loan.

It is no problem to give different loan interest rates according to the lender’s credit status, but it also avoids the problem of usury: the actual loan interest rate is 45.39% per annum, which is higher than the legal interest rate of 24%.

Paipai Loan is a well-known leading enterprise in the industry. According to Paipai Loan official website, Paipai Loan (US stock code: PPDF) was established in June 2007. In October 2012, Paipai Loan was awarded Series A financing and invested by sequoia capital china. In April 2014, the second round of financing was completed by auctioning loans, and the investment institutions were Lightspeed China Venture Capital Fund, Sequoia China and noah wealth; In April, 2015, Paipai Loan completed the C round of financing, which was jointly led by Legend Holdings’ Junlian Capital and Heiner Asia, followed by VMS Legend Investment Fund I, Sequoia China and Lightspeed China Venture Capital Fund.

On November 10th, 2017, Paipai Loan was successfully listed on the new york Stock Exchange, and the latest market value on August 5th, 2019 was USD 1.14 billion.

By the end of September 2018, there were more than 83 million registered users.

● Li Lingpeng, lawyer of Sichuan Landmark Law Firm: Lenders cannot be allowed to audit themselves.

The annualized interest rate of 45.39% of the auction loan exceeds the legal upper limit. In the actual implementation process, if the borrower can’t repay the loan on time, the lawsuit can only be based on the annual interest rate of 24%.

In addition, although the loan was prompted on the application page, it actually failed to fulfill the audit obligation, which led to the loan being given to the students at school, which still violated the regulations prohibiting campus loans. Because the campus loan ban is aimed at the platform, then the platform has the obligation to review. The responsibility for failing to identify students lies with the platform, and lenders cannot be allowed to audit themselves. The reminder of "If you are a student at school, please stop borrowing" is tantamount to letting the lender audit himself.

In the process of borrowing from the loan platform, the test student Xiao Wang was still confused and was insured at a sky-high price, and the loan interest rate was as high as 71.56% per year!

Xiao Wang originally applied for a loan from 1000 yuan, but after the loan, it was found to be 1093 yuan, and 93 yuan’s principal needed to be repaid. The extra 93 yuan was an accident insurance product insured by Yi ‘an Insurance.

Not only are the products of Yi ‘an Insurance quietly tied up by the loan, but the premium is 100 times higher than that of similar products of Yi ‘an official website: 1000 yuan insured the accident insurance for 6 months, and the premium is as high as 93 yuan; However, the premium of similar products with a coverage of 100,000 yuan in official website and a one-year guarantee is only in 80 yuan.

How on earth was the borrower insured without knowing it before the insurance? This insurance process is extremely hidden, and no clear insurance tips are given throughout. When borrowing money, the borrower needs to click the "Borrower Protection Plan" at the bottom of the page to cancel the insurance. However, this borrower protection plan does not directly show that it is to buy insurance products, which is difficult for ordinary people to find, so it is tied to insurance in a muddle.

Image source: Photo courtesy of test students

The loan actually obtained by Xiao Wang, a test student, was 1000 yuan, which was repaid in six installments, each of which required repayment of 203.13 yuan, with a total repayment of 1,218.78 yuan. Using IRR formula, the annualized interest rate is as high as 71.56%, which is obviously higher than the legal interest rate.

National business daily interviewed the student about the loan, interest rate and sky-high insurance.

The reply to the question of allowing students to get loans is as follows:

The platform does not carry out campus loan business, and the platform strictly identifies users through technical means and manual audit, but it cannot be ruled out that users conceal their true student identity, and obtain credit by providing false information and falsifying application materials to avoid platform audit.

As for the annualized interest rate as high as 71.56%:

And the loan denied it, saying that the platform designed all the products and service models of the platform according to the limit of 36%/ year.

Regarding the issue of tying insurance, the loan explained that:

The platform and the insurance company are diversion cooperation. In order to improve the borrower’s ability to resist risks, the borrower’s accidental injury insurance is set up, and the user voluntarily purchases the insurance. The premium is priced according to the borrower’s qualification and the insurance company’s algorithm, and the insurance fee is directly charged by the insurance company, and there is no disguised beheading.

Then, according to the explanation of the loan, does it mean that it is a compliance platform?

In theory, it is impossible to exclude users from concealing their true student identity. Is this really the case? According to the video provided by the test students, the reporter also carried out the verification of Xuexin.com when registering, and the result showed that the student status information could not be found, probably because he did not graduate. Therefore, the excuse of the loan is simply untenable.

Image source: Photo courtesy of test students

In addition, according to the legal analysis of the above lawyers, the obligation to identify whether the applicant is a student lies in the platform. If the platform finally provides a loan to the lender who is a student, it is that the platform has not fulfilled its audit obligation.

However, the interest rate problem and the loan evaded the above-mentioned problem of the actual interest rate of 71.56% for student loans, and only denied usury, but did not point out that the calculation of the interest rate of 71.56% was wrong. The student’s entire loan process has video evidence, which can clearly calculate the annualized interest rate of the loan.

Regarding the tying of sky-high insurance, lawyers believe that the act of lending is suspected of violating the law, which violates the Electronic Commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Insurance Law and other laws.

● Li Lingpeng, lawyer of Sichuan Landmark Law Firm:

First of all, tying insurance services in loan services is not prohibited by law, but the premise is that consumers must be clearly informed and agreed. However, the loan not only helps consumers to check the insurance services by default, but also directly infringes on consumers’ right to choose, which violates Article 19 of the Electronic Commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China, which stipulates that tying goods or services should not be used as the default consent option.

Secondly, according to Article 131 of the Insurance Law, insurance agents, insurance brokers and their employees shall not conceal important information related to insurance contracts in handling insurance business activities. In other words, when selling products, third-party platforms need to indicate the specific underwriting subject and sales subject, as well as the product record number and product terms link.

Third, the annualized interest rate of the loan is as high as 71.56%, which is obviously higher than the provisions of the Supreme Law on the interest rate of private lending.

In addition, judging from the public cases in recent years, courts at all levels generally do not support the "beheading interest" in private lending. On May 11th, 2017, Beijing Chaoyang District People’s Court held a press conference and issued a judicial proposal to the China Banking Regulatory Commission, suggesting that the CBRC issue detailed rules prohibiting the direct deduction of intermediary fees from the loan principal.

In view of the distorted "beheading interest", in the Notice on Standardizing and Rectifying the Cash Loan Business issued on December 1, 2017, it was clearly pointed out that the comprehensive capital cost charged by various institutions to borrowers in the form of interest rates and various fees should comply with the provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on the interest rate of private lending, and it is forbidden to issue or match loans that violate the relevant interest rate provisions of the law. The comprehensive capital cost charged by various institutions to borrowers should be converted into annualized form, and information such as loan conditions and overdue treatment should be fully and publicly disclosed in advance to remind borrowers of relevant risks.

On December 8, 2017, it was also mentioned in the Implementation Plan for Special Remediation of Network Microfinance Business Risks of Microfinance Companies issued by the Office of P2P peer-to-peer lending Leading Group for Special Remediation of Risks that the ratio of all borrowing costs and loan principal charged to borrowers in the form of interest rates and various fees should be calculated as a comprehensive real interest rate and converted into an annualized form. Check whether the comprehensive real interest rate meets the provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on private lending interest rates. Whether there are behaviors such as deducting interest, handling fee, management fee and deposit from the loan principal in advance or setting high overdue interest, late payment fee and penalty interest. Whether key information such as comprehensive real interest rate, loan amount, loan term, repayment method and overdue treatment are fully and fully disclosed to the borrower in advance and relevant risks are prompted.

According to the feedback from the test student Xiao Zhang, he got a credit line of 6,000 yuan in the 51-character APP. Behind the platform are well-known enterprises and funds such as CITIC Bank, JD.COM, Xiaomi, Yintai, the new lake treasure and Harvest Investment.

Taking a loan of 3,000 yuan and a loan of 6 months as an example, the 51-character APP shows that the total repayment amount is 3,522.6 yuan, the first phase needs to be repaid by 749.6 yuan (including the audit fee of 195 yuan), and the last five phases (one month each) need to be repaid by 554.6 yuan. According to the calculation formula of IRR, if Xiaoming succeeds in borrowing money from 51 people, the real interest rate is 60.09% per annum.

However, after Xiao Zhang submitted the loan application, the review failed. At the bottom of the notice of loan refusal, there is a 1-minute entrance to inquire about the reasons for loan refusal. You need to pay a fee to inquire about the reasons for loan refusal. Every time a reporter noticed, at the bottom of the page where the loan application was submitted successfully, it showed that you can also buy a time-saving service, and you can enjoy the service of up to 10 times compensation for overtime.

51 Character related staff told every reporter that the pre-credit line is not the same as the actual loan line, and the actual loan line will be determined according to the user’s review and evaluation of the platform’s risk control system; 51 personality risk control audit refuses the student group at school, so the platform will refuse its loan application.

51 character is a product of 51 credit card. According to official website, 51 Credit Card was listed on the main board of Hongkong in 2018. In May 2012, 51 Credit Card launched an app that can intelligently manage credit card bills with one click & mdash; — "51 credit card housekeeper". Up to now, 51 Credit Card has gradually developed a dynamic and self-reinforcing ecosystem, providing users with one-stop personal financial services covering personal credit management services, credit card technology services, online loan matching and investment services. It has a variety of apps such as "51 Credit Card Manager", "51 Personality" and "51 Personality Loan", with more than 100 million active users.

On August 5, 2019, the page of 51 people showed that the accumulated transaction was 77.59 billion yuan.

Image source: 51 character official website screenshot

The list of shareholders of credit cards (shown in official website) includes: China CITIC Bank, JD.COM, Xiaomi, Yintai, the new lake treasure, Harvest Investment and other well-known enterprises and funds.

Xiao Ming, a test student, gave feedback. He immediately took out a loan to register his mobile phone number, took photos of the front and back of his ID card, and performed face recognition. After submitting relevant personal information, he soon received an audit message: Your information did not meet the conditions for opening an account, and this application failed the audit!

Test student Xiaoming’s feedback: After registering the mobile phone number in Doudou Money, verifying the real name, filling in the relevant personal information, submitting it to the mobile phone operator for authentication, and carrying out face recognition, it is necessary to carry out credit card verification or provident fund account binding. Because Xiao Ming hasn’t graduated, he doesn’t have a credit card, and he doesn’t have a provident fund account, so he didn’t get the credit line of Doudou Money.

According to official website information, Doudou Money is a new Internet financial product launched by Weixin Jinke, with a maximum loan of 200,000 yuan. On June 21, 2018, Weixin Jinke landed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the stock code of 02003.

Xiao Ming, a test student, said that Xiaoying Card Loan also needs to verify the credit card information, and it has not obtained the credit limit of the platform.

Xiaoying Card Loan official website shows that it is a product of Xiaoying Technology. Xiaoying Technology was established in March 2014 and listed on the new york Stock Exchange in September 2018 with the stock code XYF.

Tang Yue, the founder of Xiaoying Technology, is also the founder of eLong Travel Network. The shareholders of Xiaoying Technology also include: Zhu Baoguo (Chairman of Health Yuan), Chow Tai Fook Enterprise, Zhang Songqiao (20th in Hurun Real Estate Rich List in 2007), Xinhualian Group (000620), Yintai Group, Huarui Century Group, Golden Mantis Enterprise Group (parent company of Golden Mantis, a listed A-share company) and urban real estate.

Cover image source: Photo Network

Intern Zhang Ling, Yu Ling and Han Qingwei also contributed to this article.

(In order to protect the privacy of the parties, the test students in this paper are pseudonyms.)