A woman named Chen, who used to study at a college in Anhui, applied for five online loans with annual interest rates ranging from 32.08% to 35.90% and a maximum installment period of 36 months. Several years ago, Chen stopped repayment due to financial difficulties, and the loans have been overdue for over 1000 days.
In 2020, while studying at a private college in Anhui, Chen was persuaded by the installment sales personnel on campus who touted “low interest rates.” She subsequently applied for five loans which were as follows: 6800 RMB (36 installments), 1000 RMB (24 installments), 3500 RMB (36 installments), 400 RMB (36 installments), and 1974 RMB (12 installments).
From 2020 to 2021, she accumulated a total loan amount of 13,674 RMB on the installment platform. The five loans displayed annual interest rates ranging from 32.08% to 35.90%, with the longest installment period being 36 months.
“I had no income while studying, and I spent money recklessly. I could only borrow more to repay the existing loans,” recalled Chen. She managed to sustain herself until August 2022 by gradually paying off loans from other platforms, except for the five loans with the installment platform, which she found impossible to repay.
At that time, the monthly repayment amounts for these five loans were 310 RMB, 57 RMB, 156.06 RMB, 18.23 RMB, and 198 RMB, respectively. For Chen, who had no financial income, the total monthly repayment of nearly 740 RMB became a heavy burden.
Among these bills, the most striking was a 400 RMB loan split into 36 installments, with a monthly repayment of 18.23 RMB. The platform indicated that the loan required a total repayment of 860.28 RMB, with 255.89 RMB in interest, equating to an annual interest rate (simple interest) of 35.6%.
In August 2022, Chen decided to stop making repayments, and the loans have been overdue for over 1000 days now.
Chen mentioned that the debt collectors had informed her friends, relatives, and even her partner about her outstanding online loans, causing her significant psychological stress.
In February 2026, Chen communicated with the installment platform with a plan to repay the five debts. However, due to the excessively high annualized interest rates, Chen hoped to negotiate a resolution with the platform.
Chen had borrowed a total of 13,674 RMB, and the platform indicated that the total repayment amount would be 26,859 RMB.
Feeling overwhelmed by depression, Chen aimed to clear her debts. She had already repaid 11,000 RMB before the overdue period, but the remaining amount to be repaid was still 15,000 RMB.
According to the report, when contacting the platform regarding the high interest rates as mentioned by Chen, the customer service promised to provide a detailed response. As of the time of writing, no response had been received from the platform.
The above news has attracted attention and discussion among netizens, leading it to trend in popularity.
Some netizens questioned why such online lending companies could exist.
Due to the low threshold and fast loan approval process of Chinese online lending platforms, coupled with pervasive advertising and the absence of a social credit system, more and more people are resorting to “borrowing to repay existing debts” as a way to sustain their livelihoods. This is especially true for those who have long been unemployed, where online borrowing has become almost their sole means of survival.
According to the think tank Gavekal Dragonomics, in 2024 alone, the number of individuals in China defaulting on personal loans was estimated to be between 25 million and 34 million, double the figure from five years ago. If including loans that are overdue but not yet in default, the number of risky borrowers could reach as high as 61 million to 83 million, equivalent to 5% to 7% of the population aged 15 and above.