Consumer loan interest rates are still falling. On September 10, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that some banks had played a marketing card that the interest rate on consumer loans had been reduced to "1", with the lowest as 1.88%. Under the dual factors of policy calls and their own business needs, banks have increased their marketing efforts for consumer loans, attracting the attention of borrowers by directly lowering interest rates or issuing coupons, and after the discount, the interest rate has generally dropped from the prefix "3" to the prefix "2".
However, low interest rates are not available to everyone, and the "price reduction" of consumer loans is usually a phased discount for specific customer groups on the basis of considering the cost, and the profit balance and credit quality behind the "price war" are still factors that banks need to consider.
Interest rates rolled up to "1"
Recently, some banks have been involved in a "price war" on consumer loan interest rates. According to the poster of the preferential consumer loan activity launched by Bank of Jiangsu, the bank's consumer loan interest rate is as low as 1.88%, and eligible customers can enjoy a preferential annualized interest rate of up to 30 days, and the activity ends on September 30.
Specifically, during the event, customers who use the consumer loan of Bank of Jiangsu can get an interest-free coupon if the payment period reaches 6 months, and the coupon can only be used when they log in to the mobile banking to repay the loan independently. Interest will accrue at an interest rate of 1.88% for up to 30 days based on the number of interest-bearing days in the last instalment of the repayment plan.
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However, consumer loan interest rates as low as "1" are not available to everyone. On September 10, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned from the customer service staff of the Bank of Jiangsu that the 1.88% interest rate can only be enjoyed by whitelist customers, and there is a 30-day preferential interest rate period.
The loan manager of a branch of the Bank of Jiangsu also revealed that the 1.88% consumer loan interest rate is only 30 days at most and is limited to the bank's whitelist customers, with a maximum amount of 1 million yuan.
Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Zhiyan, said that there are certain restrictions on enjoying preferential interest rates, and the 1.88% interest rate is only 30 days during the enjoyment period, and the rest of the time is calculated according to the interest rate obtained by the customer when approving it.
Phased offers for specific customer groups
Under the dual factors of policy calls and their own business needs, the "price war" of bank consumer loans has started in turn, and the interest rate has fallen again and again, and the interest rate has generally dropped from the prefix "3" to the prefix "2" by directly reducing the interest rate or issuing coupons.
For example, China Merchants Bank's "flash loan" has an annual interest rate as low as 2.88
% onwards; The maximum amount of the "Pudong Flash Loan" launched by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank is 500,000 yuan, with a 1-year interest rate of 2.95% and a 3-year interest rate of 3%.
However, low-interest rate consumer loans are mostly phased preferential treatment by banks for specific customer groups. Taking Bank of Hangzhou as an example, the bank's 2.88% gemstone loan interest rate is only for new customers, and the maximum loan amount is 200,000 yuan; The maximum loan amount of Bank of Ningbo is also 200,000 yuan, and the annualized interest rate of the first loan for new customers is as low as 2.88%.
"Low interest rates are usually not for all customers", a bank insider revealed in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the preferential interest rate of bank consumer loans is a targeted and phased preferential treatment on the basis of considering the cost, and with the development of financial technology, the cost of customer acquisition of banks is reduced, and it will be appropriately oriented to new customers or high-quality customers, and make profits at special time nodes. Lowering interest rates to gain customers will also help banks accumulate financial data, promote the later development of consumer loan business and drive the development of other businesses.
Talking about the motivation behind the reduction of consumer loan interest rates, CITIC Securities Chief Economist Ming Ming said that in order to stimulate consumption and support economic growth, the policy level encourages banks to reduce loan interest rates, and at the same time, with the intensification of competition in the financial market, banks have to reduce interest rates to increase the attractiveness of their products in order to attract customers, and the reduction of capital costs enables banks to provide lower loan interest rates.
In Mingming's view, banks lowering interest rates or issuing coupons are effective marketing tools for consumer loans, which can attract customers' attention and use in the short term, but banks need to balance marketing costs and long-term customer value to ensure the sustainability of this strategy.
Seek a balance between pricing and risk
In recent years, affected by the fluctuation of the real estate market and other factors, the growth of personal housing loans has been sluggish, and personal loans such as consumer loans have gradually become the focus of banks. However, the price reduction of consumer loans is not without a bottom line, and in addition to cost, the credit quality behind the "price war" is still a factor that banks need to consider.
While the "price war" of consumer loans is in full swing, the related retail credit asset quality risks cannot be ignored. For example, the non-performing loan ratio of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank's personal business loans decreased to 1.83% from 2.04% at the end of the previous year, but the bank's non-performing loan ratio for personal consumption increased from 1.71% to 2.06% at the end of the first half of the year. The non-performing ratio of personal loans and advances of Bank of Shanghai was 1.11%, an increase of 0.22 percentage points from the end of the previous year.
Ming Ming believes that low interest rates may encourage consumers to borrow and spend, thereby stimulating consumer demand. However, the decline in lending rates will directly affect the interest income of banks, putting pressure on the profitability of banks. Banks need to pay more attention to risk management to avoid an increase in non-performing loan ratios. While lowering consumer loan interest rates, banks should strengthen the credit approval process, use big data and artificial intelligence technology to improve the accuracy of risk assessment, and diversify revenue sources, such as non-interest income, in business operations.
The development of consumer loan business is related to the overall economic trend and other loan business needs, and in the eyes of industry insiders, the consumer loan interest rate of about 3% is already a low point. Xue Hongyan, vice president of Xingtu Financial Research Institute, believes that at this stage, the consumer loan interest rate of mainstream banks has dropped to below 3.5%, and the pricing of individual preferential loans is lower, and the room for further reduction is very limited. On the one hand, the cost of bank deposits has a high rigidity, and the interest rate of consumer loans continues to fall and lacks sustainability. On the other hand, the interest rate of 3% consumer loans is significantly lower than that of housing loans, which may indirectly lead to the illegal flow of some consumer loans to real estate, investment and other fields, which is prone to new risks. Therefore, there is a high probability that the loan interest rate will continue to fall this year, but it is unlikely that the consumer loan interest rate will continue to be below 3%.
As for how consumers can prevent excessive borrowing in a low-interest rate environment, Ming Ming suggested that a low-interest rate environment may theoretically lead consumers to over-borrow, because the reduction in borrowing costs may cause consumers to ignore their own repayment ability, and consumers should pay attention to reasonably assess their financial situation and repayment ability to avoid borrowing beyond their burden.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Li Haiyan