China News Network, March 3 (Zhongxin Financial Reporter Zuo Yukun) Recently, loan intermediary Pang Ling (pseudonym) heard some rumors, some peer companies have a holiday, the salesman I know on WeChat said to take a few days off, and some companies were even directly investigated.
"Over the years, loan intermediaries have developed savagely, and some people have taken a crooked path and ruined the reputation of loan intermediaries." For the industry she is in, Pang Ling is very emotional.
"The CBIRC has made a move!" The recently issued Notice on Carrying out Special Governance Actions for Unlawful Loan Intermediaries (hereinafter referred to as the "Circular") requires the deployment of special governance actions for illegal loan intermediaries for a period of six months (March 2023, 3 to September 15, 2023).
Infographic: Property Market. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Zhongjun
The "business loan for housing loan" was named and there were great risks behind it
With the repeated reduction of first home loan interest rates in various places, many people who have "entered the market at a high level" in mortgage interest rates have started to replace business loans. The Circular emphasizes the need to "strengthen the monitoring of the flow of funds after the loan and the management of the authenticity of the purpose, and pay attention to the situation of the borrower's early repayment of the housing mortgage loan before and after the issuance of the business purpose loan"; "Strictly prevent problems such as internal and external collusion and inducing borrowers to use loans for business purposes in violation of regulations."
"Business loan" is a kind of loan issued to meet the business activities of enterprises and support the development of enterprises, and the interest rate often fluctuates between 3% and 7%. When the interest rate of the "operating loan" is lower than the housing loan, there is room for arbitrage of this capital to flow into the property market.
Pang Ling is no stranger to this operation, because it is also the most consulted demand they have received recently. According to her understanding, when the average interest rate of housing loans was above 5%, the interest rate of operating loans could be given between 3.8% and 4.5%. Now, according to central bank data, the national average interest rate for newly issued personal housing loans in December 2022 is 12.4%, and the "operating loan" interest rate of many banks has reached below 26.3%.
"People who do this kind of business will 'help' consumers apply for business loans under the pretext of having channels to apply for various documents and materials. But in fact, it is to create a shell company or fake the flow, the essence is to 'cheat loans' to the bank. Pang Ling said that this is an illegal act that everyone knows well, and formal loan intermediaries will definitely not do it. However, there are not a few who are willing to "give it a shot", and even many real estate agencies have "cross-border" to take this as their main business.
"For intermediaries, profits also look very attractive, and I heard that some illegal intermediaries can earn 300,000 or 400,000 yuan a month by relending business loans." Pang Ling said, but no matter how hidden the means are, in essence, as long as they are investigated, they will definitely be investigated.
"'Operation' is a long-term thing, and there are great risks in the next few years. Once it is found out, the intermediary has taken the money 'invisible', and the lender will be drawn loans, which may have to repay the bank principal and interest within 10 days, which will also affect the credit report. She stressed that the risk is all on the customer.
The great risks hidden behind the huge interest rate spread have also made the relevant departments repeatedly issue reminders. In December 2022, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a risk warning and emphasized that "business loans must be used for production and operation turnover"; On February 12 this year, the Liaoning Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau issued the "Risk Reminder on Prepayment or Re-lending", and the Hainan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau also issued a risk warning on the illegal use of operating loans to replace housing loans.
"The recent crackdown on some short-term use of new housing capital and new enterprise registration to obtain business loans is very powerful. The strength of this policy can curb market overheating, return business loans to its essence, help enterprise operations, and inhibit the irrational and unhealthy development of the entire property market to a certain extent. Zhang Dawei, chief analyst of Centaline Real Estate, said.
Yan Yuejin, research director of the E-House Research Institute, also believes that the current financial risk control and control efforts continue to increase, which has a strong signal significance, and is bound to create better conditions for the subsequent regulation of the real estate financial market.
Moments ads posted by loan agents. Photo courtesy of interviewee
Be wary of illegal intermediary "routine loans" and "a steady stream of people who are deceived every day"
How to distinguish between legal and illegal loan intermediaries? Pang Ling believes that a more direct way to judge is that if they know that they can't get a loan after seeing the credit report, they will not let the customer come, so as not to waste each other's time; Unscrupulous intermediaries say that they can lend regardless of your credit, even if they do not have a fixed income and do not have local provident fund social security.
The illegal intermediary behaviors mentioned in the Notice include providing business loan qualification packaging, providing entrusted payment channels, providing short-term capital advance services, and gang members applying for loans.
Meng Lin (pseudonym) strayed into an unscrupulous loan company last year. She told Zhongxin Finance that she had just quit her job and was eager to find a job, searching for sales-related jobs on recruitment software. "Job advertisements say sales, and when you open it, it's basically sales in the loan industry. With a monthly income of 3,5 to 8,9, the basic salary can even be opened to 2000 or <>,<> yuan. But then I learned that normal loan intermediaries generally only have a basic salary of about <>,<> yuan if they do not open bills. ”
"It was the easiest interview I've ever had, because no one wanted to test you, just fill out a basic information form. Recently, there are many people who need capital turnover, and there are not enough sales manpower. In order to win trust, the recruiter also showed Meng Lin the company's "business license" and various seemingly legal procedures.
On the first day of employment, the company required each newcomer to apply for two calling cards, saying that it was easy to be blocked because he had been calling, and also issued a work mobile phone. Meng Lin's job is to keep on the phone, and when she first joined the company, she asked to make 150 calls a day, for a total of 130 minutes. After the seven-day trial period, 300 calls a day and five customers a week were invited.
Where does the phone number come from? Meng Lin revealed that the data is bought by the company to distribute, and the source is mainly loan advertisements placed on various online platforms, and people with loan needs will click to fill in the information, and there will be phone calls and intentional loan amounts.
"Later, I learned that this is an online sales gang specializing in 'AB loans'. The company's phone calls were also made dozens of times by colleagues and other colleagues, and I made more than 40 calls on the first day, with a cumulative effective call time of less than 15 minutes. Meng Lin said.
AB loan is not a new method, but according to Pang Ling and Meng Lin, it is still the mainstream of "routine loans". Because it is mainly to "start" on relatives and friends around him, it is also known as "human favor loan".
Meng Lin's supervisor once told her that they must not be loaned by their own qualifications, otherwise they would not be used to pay this service fee. And their so-called method is to find a person commonly known as helping him "pass a fund", this person must have a formal job, social security provident fund, the essence is to use the qualifications of this other person to borrow.
"Our words are a new product, and now you can apply for hundreds of thousands of quotas without looking at the credit report, without interest, and take it as you go." The average person will definitely think that this is an obvious fraud, how can anyone believe it, but in fact it is very attractive to people who lack money, and there is a steady stream of people who are tricked into coming to the company every day. Meng Lin said.
"Knowing that they can't get loans, they tricked them into signing various fake contracts in the company, and then made AB loans; In order to deceive their trust, they also pretend to be bank personnel to make phone calls by means such as voice changers. Meng Lin said that she had encountered customers who were desperate to treat their children, or who urgently needed working capital in order to treat their children, or whose business went wrong, "I really couldn't stand the torment of deceitful conscience, and I stayed for less than a month and ran away." ”
"But if it is really done, the legal intermediary may charge a maximum of 3%-5% of the handling fee, and the service fee of the black intermediary can reach 13%-20% of the loan amount, and the salesman can draw two or three percent of this." Meng Lin said.
Another citizen who was deceived by "routine loans" told reporters that he had borrowed a total of 15,20 yuan, and now he has to repay a total of nearly <>,<> yuan after including the intermediary fee. "For a total of three years, I have to repay more than <>,<> yuan a month."
Pang Ling said, "We are all looking forward to leaving real compliant and legal formal intermediaries by tackling illegal intermediaries." Customers no longer have to worry about being deceived, and the loan intermediary industry can better develop and grow. (End)