I don't understand the terms of the contract, I am afraid of affecting my credit report, and my refund request is fruitless
Beware of the "training loan" trap targeting college students
Although he has a monthly living allowance of 2000,880 yuan, Yang Yun, a first-year student in Hefei, Anhui Province, has still had a very poor living in the past six months. Because <> yuan had to be transferred to a microloan platform, she didn't even get the loan herself.
The monthly payment of 880 yuan, 12 installments, a total of 10560 yuan, is the "tuition" of the online original painting training course that Yang Yun signed up for. After listening to a live class, Yang Yun signed a loan agreement step by step under the "encouragement" of the "teacher" of the training institution.
A few days ago, Yang Yun, who repeatedly applied for a refund without success, submitted a complaint through his lawyer to the national 12315 platform and the State Bureau of Letters and Visits, and is currently waiting for the outcome. The training provider did not respond to her complaint.
Yang Yun's experience is not unique.
An investigation by a reporter from China Youth Daily found that many college students who are not deeply involved in the world are attracted by a variety of online training courses: painting, PS, editing, dubbing, etc., zero foundation can also be easily learned, while learning while receiving orders, institutional teachers introduce resources, monthly income of more than 10,000 is very simple... For college students without savings, many training courses also advertise "learn first, pay later" and "interest-free installments", and the microloan platforms behind them are even more varied.
On March 3, the China Consumers Association and the Communist Youth League Central Committee issued a consumption warning, reminding young students and consumers to rationally consider advanced consumption, prudently choose lending institutions, and avoid falling into the trap of bad "campus loans".
Many universities have generated "leeks" that unscrupulous businesses keep an eye on and harvest. Why do they fall into the trap step by step?
"Learn first, pay later" and "interest-free installment" guide to loan step by step
In late August last year, Yang Yun, who was about to enter university, pondered looking for a side job, "after going to university, I don't have to ask my parents for money." Accidentally browsed a WeChat public account recommended the original painting course, she was attracted by the conditions of "can work part-time" and "learn first and pay later", and added the WeChat of the course leader.
After some course introduction, the person in charge invited Yang Yun to participate in the live open class that day. Yang Yun recalled that the open class introduced many different styles of original painting creation and the preferential activities registered on the day, and she was moved. But for the high "tuition fees", she as a student can not afford it herself, and parents should not agree to spend so much money to learn to draw.
In the chat record that Yang Yun provided to the reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network, the person in charge gave her a detailed introduction to the way of "earning while learning": "The tuition fees are interest-free in installments, and the first installment will only be paid next month. You can also start from a low class, and then take orders to make money and then move up. Immediately, he applied for a "100 yuan free booking fee" discount for Yang Yun, and asked her to fill in the "enrollment information", including name, highest education, QQ number, mobile phone number, ID card number, emergency contact mobile phone number, etc., and remarked that "the information is only used to register student status, and will not be used for other purposes".
He said don't worry about the cost. I said I didn't have the money to pay the deposit and he also helped me apply for a free booking fee. I really believed it at the time, and I thought there was such a good company. Yang Yun told reporters that after she decided to register, the person in charge called and taught her how to handle tuition installments.
"He helped me carry out the operation, asking me for personal information such as name, phone number, home address, etc., and also took away my bank card number and ID number. I was actually a little hesitant, but I felt that calling someone a liar on the phone was too disrespectful. I thought, what if he's not a liar? Yang Yun decided to "get it first" while going to the Internet to check the company that launched this training, Guangzhou Original Painting Animation Culture Development Co., Ltd. "I saw that in Baidu search, there were evaluations written with the word 'reliable', and I was relieved."
In the end, Yang Yun chose to pay in 12 installments. After completing the formalities, the other party sent her 4 documents: "Authorization for Entrusted Deduction", "Letter of Authorization for Withholding", "Loan Contract" and "Contract of Entrustment Guarantee", at which time she discovered that the original tuition installment payment was a loan.
Like Yang Yun, Liu Qing, a freshman in Zhaotong, Yunnan, likes to draw very much. After adding an institution's "teacher" WeChat through online advertising, she purchased a series of commercial illustration courses and applied for "tuition" installments.
Liu Qing told reporters that the "teacher" promised that "after 3 months of study, you can take orders to make money" is too tempting, "She also told me that there is one-on-one tutoring by teachers, and the class teacher supervises learning." So, under the guidance of the "teacher", she paid a deposit of 100 yuan and reserved a place for the course.
"I didn't want to apply for the class when I paid the deposit, but the 'teacher' said that the 100 yuan deposit would not be refunded, saying that the deposit could be converted into tuition, and guided me to pay the 200 yuan deposit." Liu Qing said that when he proposed that he had no money to apply for work, the other party told him that he could pay in installments, about 400 yuan a month.
"After hearing the installments, I agreed to sign up for the class, but in fact, the 400 yuan accounted for nearly half of my living expenses." She said that through the link shared by the other party, she filled in information such as name, mobile phone number, ID number and home address, and applied for 9 installment loans on a platform.
Through advertisements on social platforms, the reporter randomly added a consultant for an illustration training course to WeChat, and booked a free "popular teacher training camp" that night.
After the 2-hour live class, the staff introduced the tuition fee and said, "can support 12 installments, no additional interest, credit cards, Huabei can be", and said that "novices can participate in receiving orders in about 3 months, illustration is a necessary design skill in this society, full-time to work is a high salary, fresh graduates salary of 6000-8000 yuan are the most basic".
In the more than five months since she stopped attending classes, she is still paying off loans
After participating in the course for a month, Liu Qing felt that "the quality of the course is not good, most of it is the evaluation of works". She wanted to refund the rest of the course fee, but was refused. She confessed, "They started saying that they would not refund the deposit, and later said that they could help me stop the class, and then continue listening when I wanted to learn later." When I saw this attitude, I gradually realized that I had been deceived."
Negotiations were fruitless. Although Liu Qing has long ceased to attend lectures, the loan is still ongoing. Afraid of affecting her credit, she "can only continue to repay the loan."
Yang Yun also proposed to withdraw from the class when he felt "strenuous" in learning PS skills. The other party encouraged her to persevere. "I was also thinking, this is what I want to learn, how can I give up easily?"
So, she persevered. But the ensuing college military training and busy studies made her unable to take care of online courses. With the development of education such as anti-fraud propaganda in schools, she gradually realized that she had encountered a trap.
In November last year, she formally asked to withdraw from the course again, but the other party said that according to the signed contract, the fee could no longer be refunded. "At that time, I couldn't understand the content of those contracts, and I was afraid that overdue repayment would affect my personal credit report and affect my future life. I thought it was a big deal to pay the money back, and I thought I had suffered a loss. ”
Yang Yun showed these electronic documents to a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network. The reporter found that although the course sales company is a Guangzhou original painting animation culture development co., LTD., its loan platform is an online microcredit company in Zhejiang.
Tianyan investigation shows that in the past year, this original picture animation culture development company has been sued in five court announcements, all of which are "education and training contract disputes". On the Black Cat complaint platform, complaints against the above companies and platforms continue to occur.
On social platforms, many college student netizens also posted their experience of signing up for online training courses and being induced to take out installment loans, including many young people who recovered their "tuition fees" through complaints.
Many of the deceived college students said that these complex contract terms were their "blind spots" and became a "magic weapon" for training institutions to cut off refund claims.
Zhang Song, a senior in Xi'an, is luckier than Yang Yun and Liu Qing and has recovered his "tuition fees."
Because of his good voice condition, he enrolled in a dubbing training course at a certain institution. When registering, the other party said that the tuition fee could be paid in installments. But after the course started, he found that the quality of the course was not high, "there were only one or two practical lessons, and the subsequent courses were very watery."
When he proposed to withdraw from the course, the other party also came up with a routine, "either delay or transfer to another course." But in the end, he studied law and asked for his tuition with the help of the local police.
In the more than five months since he stopped attending classes, Yang Yun was still repaying the loan. This made her regretful, "There was no living expenses during the winter vacation, I even put in my birthday red envelope and New Year's money, but it was still not enough to repay, and I didn't dare to ask my parents for it, so I could only borrow money from my brothers and sisters, so that my sister now ignores me."
"They say that college is the first step into society, but I didn't even start my university life at that time, so I made a mistake." Yang Yun said helplessly, "If this complaint is not successful, I can only go to work to earn money and repay loans during the summer vacation."
All social forces urgently need to pay more attention to non-performing "campus loans"
The consumption warning recently issued by the China Consumer Association and the Communist Youth League Central Committee mentioned that behind the popularity of "campus loans", there are also serious hidden dangers. On the one hand, the current "campus loan" market has a series of problems such as low threshold for handling loan business, uneven qualifications of operators, ineffective identity verification, opaque contract information, and insufficient risk warnings. On the other hand, because college students' three views are not fully mature, their material needs are strong, their curiosity about unknown things is strong, but their own control ability is poor, their awareness of risk prevention is weak, coupled with their lack of social experience, they are easy to fall into the trap of lawbreakers.
Although the model of "learning first and paying later" has been widely used in the education industry, because educational institutions need to use third-party financial institutions, loan companies and other platforms to achieve "learn first and pay later", the legal risks in it need to be vigilant.
Jin Lin, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, believes that educational institutions like Yang Yun's encounter are actually luring students to take loans on microcredit platforms under the guise of "learning first and paying later", which is suspected of both false propaganda and consumer fraud. "If the personnel of education and training institutions use coercion to force consumers to purchase course services, or do not allow consumers to withdraw from courses and refund fees, and require consumers to continue to receive services, they will also be suspected of the crime of forced transactions." Jin Lin reminded that if you mistakenly sign an unfair contract with an "overlord clause" without paying attention to the contract, you can also point out the other party's violations of laws and regulations. If the other party ignores it, it is recommended to report and complain to 12315, online petitions, business administration departments, local financial supervision bureaus, etc. with relevant evidence, such as chat records, transfer records, signed contracts, etc. with the sales staff of the training institution in the early stage. In addition, they can also file a lawsuit in court to protect their rights through litigation.
In response to college students' concern about "whether non-performance of repayment will affect personal credit", Jin Lin said that small loan company lending has no impact on credit reporting, depending on whether the lender has access to the central bank's credit system, "There is no access to the credit system platform, generally does not meet the access requirements, the loan interest of such platforms is much higher than other platforms, and such platforms often appear violent collection and other vicious events, China severely cracks down on high-interest loans and violent collection, so do not use this type of loan, so as not to bring harm to yourself".
She also said that if complaints and reports to public welfare consumer complaint platforms such as consumer associations and black cat complaint platforms still cannot solve the problem, or the amount of fraud is large (such as more than 3000,<> yuan), it is recommended to protect rights through legal channels, file a lawsuit in court or report to the public security organ.
In order to cater to the consumer needs of college students, bad "campus loans" are constantly renovating their scams and traps. The China Consumer Association and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League call on all parties in society to pay more attention to non-performing "campus loans", actively build a pattern of multi-party collaborative governance, improve the industry access and operation supervision system, clarify the industry access threshold, improve the industry risk prevention and control mechanism, investigate and rectify illegal institutions, and provide college students with customized, standardized, safe and secure, true and transparent, and risk-controllable financial products and services.
(At the request of interviewees, Yang Yun, Liu Qing and Zhang Song are pseudonyms in the text)
China Youth Daily / China Youth Net reporter Meng Peipei Source: China Youth Daily