Probably, broadband became an online loan.
On September 3rd, a Weibo published by the famous blogger "Sister Biscuit" in Weibo became a hot topic. Some netizens broke the news to him and wanted to handle the broadband renewal business in Unicom's business hall, but they were in danger of being handled by Unicom staff because of the online loan of Zhaolian Finance.
"It is estimated that many people can't think of it, but broadband renewal can be related to online loans."
This incident has turned broadband customers into the protagonists of online loan users, that is, Zhaolian Finance jointly established by China Merchants Bank and China Unicom, two fortune 500 companies.
0 1
Strong alliance between China Merchants Bank and China Unicom: making broadband business an online loan
The screenshot uploaded by Weibo shows that on September 1 day, the netizen plans to handle broadband services in a Unicom business hall, including 99 yuan and 129 yuan tariff packages to choose from. 129 yuan package can use broadband for two years for free, and you can also give 1200 yuan gifts, including mobile phones, routers, home monitors, etc. , successfully attracted netizens.
In the process of handling business, the staff of Unicom business hall said that it was necessary to inquire about the customer's Unicom credit line, and obtained the consent of the netizen, who then handed over his mobile phone to the staff of Unicom.
However, what happened afterwards exceeded the expectations of netizens. After a period of operation, Unicom's staff pointed the netizen's mobile phone camera at TA and asked him to record a nodding video.
The netizen who realized that the situation was wrong was alert to retrieve the mobile phone, only to find that the interface of "recruiting credit payment" appeared on the mobile phone. The netizen's mobile phone also received a verification code message from Zhaolian Finance.
Official website of Zhaolian Finance shows that "Zhaolian Credit Payment" is a service launched by Zhaolian Finance to enjoy products first and then repay them in installments. In essence, online loans are repaid in installments, and there will be some interest-free activities. This case is one of the interest-free products.
This "overlord" helps customers turn broadband renewal business into online loan installment business, which is obviously inconsistent with China Unicom's status as a "telecom giant". Is it an interest-free product, so Unicom customers must use it and bear the potential risks?
In her subsequent communication with Unicom's customer service, Unicom's customer service also told her that its broadband business is essentially a phased business launched by Zhaolian Finance. Customers buy this broadband product with zero down payment, and then deduct a fixed fee every month, which is actually repayment in installments.
The netizen thinks this is fraud. "If the vigilance is lower, the broadband renewal fee is related to online loans. It is estimated that many people cannot think of it. "
It seems that promoting the recruitment of financial loans through broadband services is not a case.
A Zhengzhou netizen broke the news in a related article: "Me too. Originally, I was in line. A staff member came over and called me aside, asked me what business he could handle, and then let me operate the mobile phone for a while. "
However, the staff found that the netizen's mobile phone used Zhaolian Finance, and there was a quota for Zhaolian Finance, and his attitude became bad. The netizen said, "(the staff) threw the mobile phone on the table and you continued to queue."
On July 2nd, this year, a blogger who was certified as a "TV media person and invited commentator of 3C digital radio program" in Weibo also reflected the same phenomenon. He set up a broadband annual fee wholesale and cat exchange in Dongba business hall of Beijing Unicom, and the salesperson directly requested the opening of "Zhaolian Finance" consumer loan. However, the customer service denial of 100 10 is the requirement of Unicom Group, indicating that it is the business hall's own behavior.
In addition to forcibly bundling broadband services to online lending services, there are also many problems in other businesses of Zhaolian Finance.
02
Involving licensed institutions: violent collection, campus loan, usury.
Zhaolian Finance is jointly established by China Merchants Bank and China Unicom, two fortune 500 companies. With such a strong alliance, it is difficult for both customers to distinguish between good and bad.
According to public information, Zhaolian Finance is a consumer finance company jointly established by China Merchants Bank and China Unicom. In June this year, the capital increase exceeded 6,543.80 billion yuan, and the current registered capital is 3.869 billion yuan. After the capital increase, the shareholding of China Unicom decreased to 36.95%, and China Merchants Bank and its subsidiary China Merchants Wing Lung Bank held a total of 63.05% and became the controlling shareholder.
In the Android App Store, the download page of Zhaolian Finance shows that Zhaolian Finance is a joint venture between China Merchants Bank and China Lainantong, and the consumer finance license of China Banking Regulatory Commission mainly provides cash loans, installment consumption and interest-free shopping services.
Also, because Zhaolian Finance is a licensed institution, every loan of users will be granted credit. Borrowing in such institutions is more formal than unlicensed illegal cash lending platforms, but it will also affect personal credit reporting. In the process of borrowing money, it will be overdue if you are not careful, which will have a negative impact on personal credit records.
More importantly, although Zhaolian Finance is a licensed and legal cash lending platform, many businesses are "gray".
In the loan collection business, Zhaolian Finance also has problems such as violent collection and arbitrary deduction, which are common in illegal cash lending platforms. As of September 3rd, there were 6,402 complaints 1 on the complaint gathering platform with the theme of "Financial Violence Collection by Zhilian". On the Sina Black Cat platform, Zhilian Finance also had nearly a thousand complaints.
Most of the complaint information points to violent collection of illegal cash loan platforms such as exploding address books, harassing companies and family members, and leaking personal information.
Zhaolian Finance has responded to media inquiries on this issue, saying that the company is a formal licensed consumer finance company, and all related businesses are carried out under regulatory requirements and regulations. Malicious harassment of users and contacts is resolutely prohibited, and there is no "address book explosion". All actions are legal and compliant collection operations within the specified time.
Since Zhaolian Finance is legal and compliant, do users who complain collectively lie?
Loan supermarket is a profitable business. On the one hand, it can transform users who have no loans because of risk control, on the other hand, it does not have to bear the overdue risk of borrowers. At the same time, it is also the most common hiding place for illegal cash lending platforms.
According to a survey by media reporters, some products that are good at borrowing money have previously claimed that the annualized interest rate is lower than 36%, while the actual annualized interest rate exceeds 36%, which belongs to the category of usury.
03
Campus loan and "education loan"
Zhaolian Finance seems to have set foot in campus loan business. In the brand introduction of Zhaolian Finance, the odd products of Zhaolian Finance are mainly introduced, which is an internet financial product jointly created by China Merchants Bank and China Unicom to provide micro-credit services for college students and young white-collar workers. In this regard, Zhaolian Finance explicitly mentioned that college students are listed as lending groups.
After the campus loan was banned, Zhaolian Finance turned its attention to the online education platform. Many online education companies, such as Wall Street English, Weber English, Sakura International Japanese, VIPkid, Haifeng Education, etc. We have cooperated with Zhaolian Finance in bundling loans, and there are also many complaints about this issue. The cooperation mode of recruitment of financial education institutions is exactly the same as the above-mentioned practice of converting broadband business into online loan.
Consumer Daily once reported that a Weber English trainer spent 36,000 yuan to sign up for Weber English, but the head of Weber recommended Zhaolian Finance to pay the tuition by installments. Later, he was unable to continue studying and repay the loan. When applying for a refund, Weber English will not give a refund, even if it is a refund, various fees will be deducted.
Wall Street English, on the other hand, has the same means of promoting recruitment finance as Unicom's staff. Many students of Wall Street English complained that the staff of Wall Street English used a third party to apply for a loan for him without their knowledge. He didn't handle all the loan procedures, and they didn't know that the main body of the loan was Zhaolian Finance until after the repayment.
At present, Zhaolian Financial's consumer product system has covered shopping, tourism, education, decoration and other consumer scenes, and has covered more than 30 provinces and cities.
Zhaolian Finance is actually controlled by China Merchants Bank. Telecom broadband service is the most basic service of China Unicom. However, judging from the above-mentioned way of Unicom staff promoting Zhaolian Finance in the business hall, Unicom has really made great efforts to promote Zhaolian Finance, and it also cherishes this cooperative relationship.
The reason why China Unicom is willing to turn its basic business into a diversion channel of Zhaolian Finance and turn broadband users into online loan customers of Zhaolian Finance may be because Zhaolian Finance is too strong and makes money too fast.
Zhilian Finance was officially launched on March 20 15. According to the annual report of China Merchants Bank in 20 15, by the end of 20 15, Zhaolian Company had 6,468,700 registered users, mainly small high-frequency consumer loans, with a credit scale of 49130,000 yuan and a loan balance of 2.028 billion yuan, which was not good.
In other words, after only 9 months of operation, the number of customers of Zhaolian Finance has grown to 6,468,700.
In 20 17, the financial income and net profit of Zhaopin's recruitment surged. In the first half of 20 17, the financial income of Zhaopin recruitment was 2.297 billion yuan, up 2602.35% year-on-year; The net profit was 5.465438 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 982%. In 20 17, the revenue was 4163 million yuan, and the net profit reached1189 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 253%.
These amazing growth rates of 2602.35%, 982% and 253% made Zhaolian Finance the champion of net profit among licensed consumer finance companies in that year. Although at this time, Zhaolian Finance was established less than two years ago.
China Unicom's 20 18 annual report revealed that as of the reporting period, the total assets of Zhaolian Finance reached 74.75 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 59.11%; In 20 18, the operating income was 6.956 billion yuan, up 67.09% year-on-year; The net profit was 65.438+0.253 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%.
2065438+June 2009, Zhaolian Finance realized capital increase, and the online lending platform increased its registered capital. This move can be directly understood as the company wants to expand its business scale. Relevant regulations require consumer finance companies to have a minimum registered capital of 300 million yuan and a capital adequacy ratio of not less than 65,438+00.5%. Because the business scale is limited by the capital scale, consumer finance companies that can't absorb deposits have to increase their capital if they want to expand their business scale.
For China Merchants Bank and China Unicom, Zhaolian Finance is a project with considerable benefits, strong ability to make money and enough weight to be written into the annual reports of the two Fortune 500 companies.
Although China Unicom's shareholding in Zhaolian Finance has decreased, it does not prevent it from using its own broadband renewal to guide online lending business.
Under the strong alliance of two Fortune 500 companies, what businesses can't be converted into online loans?