The Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day are approaching, and the interest rate of bank consumer loans has "rolled" again. On September 9, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noted that recently, major banks have once again launched consumer loan interest rate preferential activities, attracting the attention of borrowers by directly reducing loan interest rates or issuing coupons, and the preferential interest rate can be as low as 26.3%. However, although the "roll" of consumer loan interest rates has become a "cabbage price", it is not available to everyone, and some bankers said that interest rate coupons are usually issued according to factors such as borrowers' ability to repay and personal credit.

Again set off interest rate "price war"

The double festival is approaching, and the "price war" of bank consumer loan interest rates has resumed. On September 9, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that a number of banks once again launched preferential interest rate activities to attract the attention of borrowers.

From September 9 to 19, the annual interest rate of China Merchants Bank flash loan pure new amount customer coupon withdrawal is as low as 28.3%.

Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank launched interest-free blessing to help consumption activities, the bank's new credit success customers have the opportunity to get 30/15/7/3 days interest-free coupons, withdrawing with coupons can enjoy 0 interest discount during the interest-free period, the first year after the discount withdrawal interest rate is as low as 3.25%, the product credit line is up to 50,5 yuan, the loan period is up to <> years, and the consumption scenarios can be used for decoration, car purchase, tourism, education, medical treatment, daily expenses and other categories.

Since the beginning of this year, the "price war" of bank consumer loan interest rates has started one after another, and loan interest rates have also fallen again and again. Li Wanfu, an analyst at Rong360 Digital Technology Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the adjustment of the interest rate of existing housing loans has officially begun, and more than ninety percent of borrowers can enjoy the policy dividend, save an interest expense, superimpose the catalyst of various consumption promotion policies, effectively improve residents' consumption capacity, and stimulate residents' willingness to consume. Coinciding with various consumption promotion activities during the Double Festival, consumer credit is the business focus of major banks this year, and major banks will naturally "spare no effort" to seize this opportunity to improve the scale of consumer credit in 2023.

Low interest rates on consumer loans have become "cabbage prices", but not everyone can apply. A person from the personal loan center of a large state-owned bank pointed out that "now banks have established a big data mechanism, which will evaluate interest rates according to various indicators such as borrowers' work units, salary levels, repayment ability, and credit reporting, and only a limited number of people can get ultra-low interest rate loans." An account manager of the above-mentioned Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank said that the bank's consumer loans are only open to borrowers in public institutions, state-owned enterprises, financial industries and other fields, and in addition, borrowers' credit reports must also meet the conditions that they cannot be overdue for three consecutive months, and the cumulative number of overdue times is as high as six times.

In the first half of the year, consumer loans increased significantly

Under the intensive stimulation of expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption policy dividends, residents' consumption demand has been gradually released, and in the first half of this year, consumer loans have also become the main force for the growth of bank personal loans. Judging from the data of the 2023 half-year report, the balance of consumer loans of many A-share listed banks has increased.

Among the large state-owned banks, as of June 6, the personal loans of the Agricultural Bank of China increased by 30.4320 billion yuan from the end of the previous year, an increase of 22.5%. Among them, personal consumption loans increased by 7.34% from the end of the previous year, mainly due to the bank's active expansion of new consumer field scenarios to improve the availability and convenience of consumer finance; China Construction Bank's personal consumption loans were 9.3688 billion yuan, an increase of 02.733 billion yuan or 59.24% over the end of the previous year, and the bank said in its semi-annual report that personal consumption loans adhere to innovation and leadership, meet the reasonable consumption financing needs of residents, and promote the development of the consumer market.

Among the joint-stock banks, personal consumption loans of China Merchants Bank, Zheshang Bank and China CITIC Bank also increased to varying degrees. As of June 6, the balance of personal consumption loans of the above three banks was 30.3 billion yuan, 2723.51 billion yuan and 1381.61 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 2774.2%, 34.68% and 12.99% over the end of the previous year.

China CITIC Bank said that in terms of personal consumption loans, it adheres to the development principle of "independent scenarios, independent risk control, and independent products" and continues to optimize the marketing capabilities of consumer loan products. While focusing on high-quality main customer groups, we will continue to strengthen the integration of product innovation and application scenarios, expand the upgrading and application of high-quality scene products such as "automobile consumption" and "settlement", and provide customers with all-round, convenient and efficient online self-service financing services.

Reasonable pricing guarantees profit margins

Promoting consumer loan welfare marketing is conducive to improving residents' willingness and ability to consume, which is expected to further promote consumption expansion and boost domestic demand, but it should also be noted that excessively low consumer loan interest rates will further reduce banks' interest margins and profit margins, while increasing risk management costs.

Li Wanfu further pointed out that the current cost of consumer loans is already at a historical low, and the interest rate spread of many banks is close to the warning line, and there is not much room for further reduction of consumer loan interest rates in the future. In this consumer loan market competition, banks still have to refer to their own capital costs to reasonably price and ensure certain profit margins.

The excessive "price war" in the consumer loan market leads to a mismatch between product risk and return, which is not conducive to banking risk management. According to Zhou Maohua, macro researcher of the financial market department of China Everbright Bank, banks need to attach great importance to business risk prevention and control and business sustainability. Excessively low consumer loan interest rates can easily lead to cross-market arbitrage, trigger excessive consumption by some borrowers, and may give rise to local asset bubble risks. From the perspective of banks, it is necessary to enhance the awareness of conducting business in accordance with laws and regulations, and strengthen the training of salesmen; Optimize business processes, consolidate the main responsibilities of each link of business, and improve the assessment mechanism; Further improve the credit investigation management system and mechanism, and strengthen the credit investigation market constraint mechanism; At the same time, regulatory authorities need to strengthen their regulatory functions and increase the cost of non-compliance.

Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of CMF, suggested that the development of consumer credit should be within a moderate and reasonable range, not blindly excessive growth, the service targets are not the sinking the better, banks should effectively prevent problems such as "should not lend" and "excessive lending", and reduce the probability of "common debt" risk. Consumers should keep their debt levels within reasonable limits, and generally speaking, should not make monthly loan payments of more than half of household income. Especially young customers, they should not blindly borrow through methods such as "using cards to maintain cards" and "repaying loans by loans".

Beijing Business Daily reporter Song Yitong