Has your credit card repayment been "automatic installment"?

　　Industry insiders say that it is impossible for banks to open this business without authorization. Experts remind cardholders to pay attention to terms such as charges, interest rates, and repayment methods.

　　Mr. Zhang has a credit card from Bank P. Recently, he inadvertently discovered that two large-sum purchases have been opened for "installation repayment", with a monthly handling fee of more than 300 yuan, but he does not remember when he activated automatic installment. business.

The Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned that there are many credit card customers like Mr. Zhang, and the bank involved is far more than P Bank.

Some customers even found out that it had been "installed" for more than 7 years, and the handling fee paid had reached 40,000 to 50,000 yuan.

　　Are these banks really opening up installment repayment services for customers without authorization?

Why didn't the customer find out in time?

Is the bank’s behavior considered a violation?

Recently, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily conducted an investigation.

　　Phenomenon

　　Customer complained that the credit card was "automatic installment"

　　On the black cat complaint platform and major bank card forums, customers claiming to be "automatically installed by banks" can be seen everywhere.

　　Mr. Zhang mentioned above has credit cards from multiple banks. This card of Bank P used to be used for small purchases, and no problems were found.

Recently, he used this card to make two large purchases, a sum of 10,000 yuan and a sum of 3,000 yuan, and soon received a bank text message, saying that both of these consumptions have successfully applied for free installment payment, which will cost more per month. Also 300 yuan handling fee.

But Mr. Zhang has no impression of the opening of "automatic installment".

　　In early August, Ms. Zhang, a customer of Bank H, made a purchase of 99,888 yuan.

She later discovered that there was an automatic instalment fee of 12 installments in the bill that month, 749.16 yuan per installment, and the amortized principal of each installment was 8324 yuan. After the 12 installments, a processing fee of nearly 9000 yuan was required, and the annualized interest rate was 9%.

Miss Zhang remembered that when she first applied for this card, the staff told her that it was a normal credit card, and did not say that the card would be automatically installed on the billing day. She herself did not apply for it later.

Miss Zhang believes that the bank opened the automatic installment service for her without authorization, just to "make more money."

　　Mr. Zhao, a customer of Bank X, applied for a credit card in September 2020. After paying the bill at the beginning of December, he did not use this card for consumption. Later, he found that there were still monthly repayments.

He checked the bill and discovered that the original banking system had carried out 12 automatic installments, but he had no impression that he had applied for this business.

　　A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily found that in addition to the three banks mentioned above, some customers of Bank G and Bank Z have also encountered some inexplicable "instalment" situations. Bank P has the most complaints.

　　survey

　　Does the bank open the business without authorization?

　　So many customers have complained that they have been "installed". Is the bank really so bold?

　　Many people in the industry told the Beiqing Daily reporter that in accordance with regulatory requirements and the bank's own internal regulations, it is definitely impossible for the bank to open this business without the customer's consent or authorization.

In practice, many customers ticked relevant options when applying for a card, or made relevant statements when they received a bank marketing call or text message, but they forgot after a long period of time; it is also possible that the customer is communicating Misunderstood the meaning of the terms or the staff's statement.

In the past few years, the credit card business management of some banks was not standardized. It is not ruled out that some salespersons deliberately conceal important information to induce customers, and even illegally checked the "automatic installment" option on the application form for customers.

　　Mr. Xu, a customer of Bank P, met such a salesperson.

At the end of 2014, the credit card clerk of Bank P went to the place where Mr. Xu worked to promote credit cards.

In recent years, Mr. Xu has repaid directly on Alipay or WeChat, never looking at the bank’s electronic bills, let alone checking the details.

Until March of this year, Mr. Xu felt that the number of repayments did not match the consumption situation. After checking the bills, he found that Bank P had collected nearly 47,000 instalment service fees from him in the past few years.

Shocked, Mr. Xu called the credit card center to request a refund, but was told that when he applied for the card in 2014, he checked the free installment function on the paper application materials, and a single consumption of more than 800 yuan will automatically be divided into 6 Repayable.

Mr. Xu said that after 7 years, he can no longer remember whether this was selected by the salesman or if he drew it in a muddled manner.

But what is certain is that I don't understand what free staging is all about.

　　According to the reporter of Beiqing Daily, from the feedback from the bank, there are still some controversial customers who have applied for automatic installment service on the App, but they all said that they did not remember having checked on the App.

　　Analysys Senior Analyst Su Xiaorui pointed out that usually credit card holders do not read the terms carefully, and bank staff do not inform the relevant business information in detail. In this case, card holders are easily "pitted". Passively chose the installment business.

In addition, some banks put key information in an inconspicuous place, and cardholders sometimes neglect to check the installment fees of monthly bills. These are also factors that trigger consumer disputes.

　　problem

　　Liquidated damages for termination of early repayment by installment

　　After customers find that they have been inexplicably activated the automatic installment service, they usually complain to the bank, requesting a refund of the collected fees, and requesting to stop the service.

However, it is not easy to cancel this business.

Many banks require that a certain fee must be paid and must be reviewed at the same time.

　　For example, Bank P stipulates that after a cardholder successfully applies for the free installment service, the number and amount of installments that have been applied for cannot be changed, and it cannot be revoked.

For cardholders who apply for early repayment, the cardholder must repay all the remaining unallocated installment principal at one time. The handling fee corresponding to the remaining unallocated installment number does not need to be paid, and the one-off handling fee charged will be refunded to the remaining The handling fee corresponding to the number of unallocated periods, at the same time, the bank will collect 3% of the cardholder's unallocated principal amount in a lump sum as liquidated damages.

The amount of liquidated damages and unallocated principal amount collected for early repayment will be fully included in the total amount of the minimum repayment of the next bill.

　　Mr. Liu, a customer of Bank X, bought a credit card a few years ago, and now he spends more than 5,000 yuan a month, the bank directly handles the 12-month installment.

He called and said that he would repay the loan in advance, and learned that he had to pay a 3% penalty.

Mr. Liu said angrily: "Don't you need to notify the customer for installment? Early repayment requires liquidated damages. Is this kind of overlord clause no one cares about?"

　　Supervision

　　Some banks were heavily fined for violations of installment business

　　The chaos that exists in the credit card installment business is of course taken care of.

Regulatory authorities have noticed the violations of some banks and have increased penalties.

　　On July 7 this year, the Consumer Insurance Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice on the infringement of consumer rights by a certain bank.

The notification pointed out that a bank had six types of violations of laws and regulations, including the default check of the automatic credit card installment starting amount.

　　According to the report, since March 2015, this bank has launched the "Lixiang Card" credit card business, and the automatic instalment starting amount is divided into three levels: 5,000 yuan, 10,000 yuan, and 20,000 yuan.

Starting from March 2019, in order to increase the income of credit card installment business, the bank has adjusted the automatic installment starting amount of the “Lixiang Card” to “default 3000 yuan”, and customers cannot choose other installment starting amounts when applying for a card.

However, according to the bank's regulations, customers can modify the automatic installment starting amount through the customer service hotline, but the customer is not prompted on the application form and online channel application page.

As of the end of June 2020, the bank has issued 45,400 "Lixiang Cards" with a starting value of 3,000 yuan, involving instalment income of 35,736,400 yuan.

　　A few days ago, the bank that was criticized by name issued the "Announcement on Suspension of Credit Card Customers' Application for Automatic Instalment Service". Starting August 31, 2021, it will continue to suspend customers' application for automatic instalment service through various channels.

　　Senior bank card expert Dong Zheng believes that installment business is an important component of bank credit card business income. It can not only stimulate consumption and ease the pressure on users' funds, but also increase the intermediate income of banks. Recently, banks have paid more and more attention.

However, the bank is a bit overstretched in the marketing of installment business, and there are still some flaws in the service level, especially in terms of communication with customers and how to guide users to handle the process, which need to be further regulated.

　　Text/Reporter Cheng Jie Co-ordinated by Yu Meiying

　　hint

　　Consumers should carefully check the card terms and monthly bills

　　A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily found in an interview that a considerable number of cardholders not only did not read the terms carefully when applying for the card, but also did not check the bills in detail every month after using the card, so that it took many years to discover that they were “instalmented”.

In response to this phenomenon, industry insiders generally believe that consumers themselves should also actively strengthen their understanding and management of credit cards, especially paying attention to terms such as charges, interest rates, and repayment methods, in order to effectively reduce the occurrence of such disputes.

　　Analysys Senior Analyst Su Xiaorui pointed out that cardholders must first understand that the credit card is truly free for full repayment only during the interest-free period, and other charging methods must be paid special attention to; at the same time, do not pay for so-called installment gifts , Instalment preferential installment, but to deal with according to their own needs.