What Is Consumer Lending?

The so-called consumer credit means that the consumer first obtains the right to use the product based on the credit, and then returns the payment on time to purchase the product. Consumer credit has a long history. Before the liberation of our country, some stores usually sold on credit and closed their accounts on time. This is also consumer credit. Since the post-war period, due to the rapid development of production and oversupply of many commodities, consumer credit has prevailed in Western countries. Take the United States as an example. In 1980, consumer credit reached $ 1.4 trillion, with an average of $ 6,298 per person. ^[1]

Consumer credit

(1) Short-term credit sales.

For example, consumers

First, development

Analysis of Consumer Credit Status

What is credit? Finance believes that credit is a borrowing behavior between different owners that embodies a certain economic relationship. Broad credit is bank credit. It is a credit activity where creditors lend money and debtors repay on time and pay certain interest. Various asset and liability businesses such as bank deposits, loans and settlements. Credit in the narrow sense refers only to bank loans. This definition is clearly too narrow. The Concise Encyclopedia Britannica considers that credit is a transaction in which one party (creditor or lender) provides goods, currency, services, and securities to the other party, and the other party (debtor or borrower) repays as agreed. This definition more comprehensively summarizes the "credit" of "credit consumption". Therefore, credit consumption is a consumer transaction behavior in which the operator provides the consumer with currency, goods, services, or securities that are needed for the purpose of life, and the consumer delays repayment of the currency according to the agreed time and method. Therefore, it includes both consumer credit issued by financial institutions to consumers and credit sales by other operators. From the time point of view, including irregular payments and installments. In terms of the legal relationship of credit consumption, one side of the subject is the operator, including commercial banks, retailers, service providers, other commercial financial institutions, etc., and the other side is the consumer; Credit consumption has the characteristics of credit, debt, credit, state intervention, and macro-control.

Problems with consumer credit

Credit consumption, as an important measure to start consumption and stimulate economic growth, has not produced the expected results so far. The reason is that there are many problems in China's credit consumption, and consumers are afraid, unable or have no opportunity to credit consumption. Therefore, strengthen credit consumption legislation Eliminating the barriers to credit consumption legally is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.

Credit consumption has just emerged in our country. Both operators and consumers know very little about credit consumption and have almost no experience. As a result, many problems have arisen. The main problems are:

1. Consumers' lack of security in credit consumption

Consumers face a variety of risks when consuming goods or services, such as physical risks, financial risks, functional risks, and psychological risks. Consumers naturally want to minimize risk. However, because credit consumption is a new type of consumer transaction behavior, most consumers have no experience at all, so making such purchases has a greater wind. Second, the ratio of operators providing credit consumption

Consumer credit

It is more complicated. Except for state-owned commercial banks, consumers have little or no knowledge of the creditworthiness of other operators (such as retailers, etc.). Therefore, there is a distrust of the operators; again, as the economy The transformation, the deepening of reforms, some of the people's original benefits are being adjusted, and the future development situation of various reforms that involve people's immediate interests, such as medical reforms and education reforms, is uncertain, and there are too many unknown factors in expected consumption. In addition, the instability of the occupation is intensified, a certain amount of income is reduced, and payment cannot occur. Can consumers' basic rights such as the right to survival be protected? How much protection? Such issues are not clear. Finally, credit consumption contracts are generally formatted contracts prepared in advance by economically dominant operators, which may impose predetermined contract terms on consumers, thereby precluding the possibility of negotiation between the parties on the terms of the contract. It is entirely possible for operators to use format contracts to deliberately protect their rights, which may harm the interests of consumers. Many factors make consumers feel insecure about credit consumption and feel that the risk is too high. After all, consumer safety is the number one concern for consumers. "If the risk is high, consumers will not buy."

2. Credit consumption conditions are too harsh

For consumers, China's current credit consumption conditions are too harsh. First, the credit consumption payment period is short. Cars are generally one year, housing mortgages are generally 10 to 20 years, and the longest is only 30 years. This requires consumers to have a high income. Taking Beijing as an example, most of the intellectuals who can enjoy credit consumption are high-payers in the company or industry. Their monthly household income is more than 5,000 yuan. For ordinary consumers, The monthly repayment fee of nearly 2,000 yuan makes them feel helpless ?. Take Chengdu as an example. At present, the average family's monthly income is 1,200 to 1,500 yuan, and it is impossible to pay thousands or even thousands of yuan in credit loans. This condition alone excludes the vast majority of consumers from credit consumption, and it is no wonder that credit consumption is difficult to form, which drives economic development, and also has restrictions such as occupation, age, and even household registration. The reason is mainly because:

(1) China has not yet established a comprehensive personal credit evaluation and monitoring system, and operators have concerns about consumer credit;

(2) Operators are afraid of providing longer-term credit, and always hope to recover debts as soon as possible. Taking housing mortgages as an example, the longest in China is only 30 years, and developed countries introduced housing mortgages for 140 years 15 years ago. Some people think that it is because China's consumer income is too low. In fact, the level of income is only relative to credit payments. If the cycle is longer, the corresponding regular payment of the loan will be less.

3. Unequal credit consumption opportunities

Equal opportunity for credit consumption means that under the same credit consumption conditions, consumers have equal access to credit consumption. This is the embodiment of legal equality and fair value on the issue of credit consumption. The credit consumption conditions are based on the characteristics of credit consumption and can only be based on consumer credit and debt repayment ability. At present, there is unequal opportunity in credit consumption in China. The main reason is that national or local credit monitoring systems have not been established. It is difficult to continuously monitor the credit of consumers with different household registrations, occupations, and ages. Benefits, often occupation, age, and household registration are used as credit consumption conditions, resulting in different credit consumption opportunities for consumers of different occupations, ages, and household registration. For example, some banks in Chengdu stipulate that teachers can borrow 20,000 without guarantees. Yuan; at the end of 1999, some banks in Chengdu suspended housing mortgages for foreigners. In addition, factors such as unscientific credit evaluation and undisclosed credit consumption conditions also make consumers likely to be discriminated against and have no opportunity to defend.

Consumer Credit Legal Countermeasures

Strengthening credit consumption legislation is a basic countermeasure to eliminate the problems existing in China's current credit consumption market, which is determined by the function of law. Through legislation, the following major legal systems should be established and improved.

1. Creditor's rights transfer system for credit consumption

Creditor's rights transfer, that is, creditor's transfer, means that without changing the content of the debt, the creditor will transfer its creditor's right to a third party for enjoyment [5]. The civil laws of all countries in modern times recognize that creditor's rights must be granted in principle. Article 191 of China's General Principles of Civil Law also stipulates that creditors can transfer their claims, but this article requires the consent of the debtor. Article 79 of the Contract Law provides that creditors are free to transfer all or part of the contract's rights to a third party. We believe that the transfer of creditor's rights for credit consumption should be different from the general transfer of creditor's rights. One is that the qualifications of the assignee should be restricted. Because the relationship between credit consumption and debt is based on the credit of the two parties, the debtor should be protected from being damaged by the convenience of the transaction or the security of the transaction due to the creditor's transfer of creditor's rights to others. Otherwise, it will increase transaction costs and inevitably reduce consumption Consumers' security of credit consumption. Therefore, the assignee should be a financial institution (such as a commercial bank, a financial company, etc.), because the layout of financial institutions, trading rules, credit, etc. are conducive to reducing transaction costs and ensuring transaction security, and can eliminate consumer insecurity in credit consumption. sense. However, if the creditor's and assignee's claims are not protected, then they are unwilling to transfer the creditor's rights. Therefore, the method of transfer must be restricted. One is the transfer and succession of creditor's rights between financial institutions. Time and time to share benefits and risks reasonably and fairly; the second is discounting, that is, non-financial institutions such as retailers that provide credit consumption, transfer credit consumption bills (here, broad bills) or contracts to financial institutions. A percentage of the underlying amount of the bill or contract pays the currency to the assignor. This ratio is the discount rate. These two transfer methods are beneficial to protect the interests of creditors, so that creditors are willing to transfer creditor's rights without forcing consumers to demand debts. At the same time, because creditors can transfer creditors at any time to recover funds, they are also willing to provide longer-term credit. Conducive to reducing credit consumption conditions and costs.

2. Personal bankruptcy system

Personal bankruptcy means that when a natural person with civil capacity is unable to pay off due debts, his property is auctioned according to the bankruptcy procedures and the necessary living expenses and necessities of life are kept, and his property is distributed to creditors in a certain proportion. A legal system. The social significance of the bankruptcy system lies in safeguarding the security of civil circulation and commercial transactions. For the debtor, it can protect the debtor and protect the basic life of the debtor and his dependants. At the same time, it can make honest and unfortunate debtors out of the abyss of debt. Free yourself and create a new life. Therefore, Japanese law calls the bankruptcy law "rehabilitation law" in this sense. Because of this, personal bankruptcy can encourage consumer credit spending. However, if the interests of the operators are not protected, the operators will be reluctant to provide credit consumption or improve credit consumption conditions to hinder credit consumption. Therefore, the personal bankruptcy system must also protect creditor's rights and interests. In fact, from the perspective of creditors, the personal bankruptcy system "can make those who cannot pay off their debts have to dump their assets and do their best to effectively assume their debt repayment obligations and overcome the kind of patting on the chest. One, do nt pull down, write off a social phenomenon, so that the creditor s legitimate rights and interests can be realized to the greatest extent possible. But from the current point of view in China, due to the imperfect personal credit monitoring system and the immature market economy, individuals despise their credit. Insufficient legislation and law enforcement on malicious credit consumption and bankruptcy fraud. In order to prevent the enthusiasm of operators to provide credit consumption and to balance the interests of operators and consumers, legislation and law enforcement should be strengthened to strengthen malicious credit consumption and bankruptcy fraud. Investigate and prosecute and extend the time limit for prosecution for malicious credit consumption and bankruptcy fraud to 4 to 10 years.

3.Supervision system for format contracts

In order to prevent operators from using format contracts to harm consumers, laws in various countries have established regulatory systems for format contracts. There are three main systems. The first is the review system of format contract terms, which is designed to prevent beforehand; the second is the supervision system of format contracts, which strengthens the supervision of the entire transaction process; the third is the unified formulation of some by specialized agencies. Universally applicable form of contract clauses, this approach is also intended to prevent in advance. These supervision methods "are conducive to overcoming the limitations of narrow personal and departmental interests, and ensuring the fairness of general contract terms." China's contract law makes general provisions on format contracts, but does not provide for a regulatory system; and some special laws, such as the Insurance Law "Provides for a third regulatory system. In fact, simple ex ante prevention is not enough. It should combine ex ante prevention, in-event control, and ex post relief. Therefore, the third system is combined with the second system so that important format contract terms are uniformly formulated by specialized agencies, and all format contracts are subject to daily supervision by the corresponding agencies. At the same time, in the corresponding institutions, there must be a considerable number of consumer representatives to ensure the fairness of all forms of contracts, timely correct unfair and unreasonable terms for consumers, and ensure the safety of credit consumption.

4. Establish a scientific credit evaluation system and credit monitoring system

Consumers' credit rating can be based on a rating system or a scoring method. However, no matter which method is adopted, in order to fairly evaluate and continuously monitor the credit of consumers, a scientific credit evaluation system should be established first. The evaluation system should include the following factors: consumer occupation status, income status, approximate amount and location of bank account, credit or other debts, payment habits, marital status, litigation, transaction records and quality, habits, morals and other factors. The relationship between these factors and their weight in the evaluation system should also be determined. Secondly, establish a special agency evaluation monitoring system and operators' own evaluation monitoring system. A specialized agency is a credit consumer service agency that is independent of a specific operator. The relationship between it and the operator is the relationship between the operator and the customer or the user. It provides a credit report based on the requirements of the customer and receives remuneration. The operator's own evaluation and monitoring are evaluated and monitored by the operator according to his own evaluation system and method. Third, establish a reasonable information collection procedure system to ensure the authenticity of the information. Special agencies collect information by themselves, such as interviewing neighbors, friends, colleagues, and investigating past transaction records. Second, they form interactive relationships with customers. Customers provide consumers with relevant transaction information to specialized agencies. The evaluation conclusion and monitoring situation are provided to the customer, and the customer then provides the relevant information to the specialized agency, and so on. Operators' self-evaluation and monitoring are generally based on past experience statistics or subjective evaluations. It is necessary to establish a system for notifying consumers of adverse information in a reasonable process, that is, in consumer credit reports, if certain information (including outdated information) is not good for consumers, it may adversely affect the conclusion of credit evaluation, then Consumers should be informed of this information, and consumers have the right to explain or correct it. The evaluation and monitoring of the specialized agencies are through the continuous and long-term interaction between a large number of customers and the organization, thereby occupying a large amount of dynamic information. The evaluation system standards for any consumer are the same, so the evaluation conclusions are more fair and guarantee that no discrimination occurs. Operators' self-evaluation and monitoring information comes from their own transaction records with consumers. The amount of information is small and may not be continuous. Therefore, the scientific nature of the evaluation is highly questionable. Therefore, a national or regional special institution should be established as an important system for consumer credit evaluation and monitoring. Through the scientific evaluation and monitoring system, it is possible to make a fair evaluation of consumer credit, thereby eliminating the operator's concerns about consumer credit management and ensuring equal opportunities for consumer credit consumption. ?

5. Equal credit credit opportunity system

In order to ensure equal opportunities for credit consumption, fair credit consumption conditions should be established. Operators who provide credit consumption are concerned about whether consumer credit can be repaid smoothly, and what protects consumers from paying off debts is credit and solvency. Therefore, credit consumption conditions are mainly based on consumers' credit and solvency, and discriminatory provisions cannot be made based on gender, education, race, religion, ethnicity, color, age, marital status, and household registration. The explicit provisions of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the B Regulations in the United States can be used for reference in China. Second, credit consumption conditions should be made public. "Sunshine is the best antidote", open credit consumption conditions, can monitor credit consumption conditions for discriminatory clauses, and establish a consumer complaint system, if consumers believe that they have been discriminated against, they have the right to submit to relevant organizations or institutions Complaints until litigation.

Through legislation, a credit transfer system for credit consumption, an individual bankruptcy system, and a formal contract supervision system were established to eliminate consumers' insecurities in credit consumption. Establish a system for extending the time limit for civil lawsuits against bankruptcy fraud and malicious credit consumption, a credit transfer system for credit consumption, and a scientific credit evaluation and monitoring system to make operators willing to provide longer-term consumer credit and reduce credit consumption conditions and transaction costs. Establish a scientific credit evaluation system and monitoring system, an equal credit opportunity system, and eliminate obstacles to uneven credit consumption opportunities. As a result, most ordinary consumers dare and have the opportunity and possibility to obtain credit consumption, so that credit consumption can gradually become a scale and truly drive economic growth.