15th Floor Finance | Hi Rent was exposed to be suspected of inducing minors to pay in installments, and the annualized liquidated damages of more than 30% were too high

A few days ago, many users complained about buying mobile phones in offline stores, but were induced by the clerk to pay in installments on the "hi life" platform, most of whom were minors aged 16-18. They said that they could only provide information such as work permits. Moreover, the rental price of the mobile phone given by the platform far exceeds the price of the mobile phone, which is about 1.5 to 3 times the price of the mobile phone. In addition, if overdue, its default fee will be more than 30% annualized, far exceeding the central bank's regulations on private lending.

At present, the company has thousands of records of voluntary prosecution, all of which are "lease contract disputes", of which the defendants are mostly overdue users aged 16-18. In previous court judgments, it was found that the contract was valid, and users aged 16-18 who used their labor income as the main source should be regarded as fully capable of civil conduct and should pay the rent of mobile phones; however, the liquidated damages of 0.09% (annualized more than 30% per annum) on the day were too high, and changed to a liquidated damages ratio of 3/10,000 per day. In this regard, the lawyer suggested that the proportion of liquidated damages was less than one-third of the original agreement.

Lawyers suggest: When handling the rental of mobile phones by minors over the age of 16, it is best to require them to provide more adequate materials to prove that they take their labor income as their main source of livelihood, such as: labor contracts and wage income bank flows, social security payment materials, etc., and only use the work card as a material, and there is a large space for fraud.

For 16-year-olds with jobs, the Hi Rental Platform has been accused of targeting minors

"In July this year, I went to Suzhou Wujiang to work, because I wanted to change to an Apple mobile phone, I went to the store over there. There are billboards hanging in front of many mobile phone stores: 'Over 16 years old, have a job, 0 yuan installment mobile phone'," a consumer said on the complaint platform in December 2021, he bought a white Apple iPhone 11 128G mobile phone, the system estimated at 4250 yuan. At that time, he had not yet found a job, but the mobile phone store made a fake work card for him, and finally completed the business of buying mobile phones in installments on "Hi Rent". In the end, the total repayment plan given by the system is as high as more than 7,000 yuan.

A number of consumers have similar experiences, they are all diverted by offline mobile phone sales stores, and then apply for installment leases on the platform, and most of them are minors aged 16-18, some of whom are students who are interns in factories organized by school organizations. Some of them said the information told by the store was incomplete or did not explicitly inform the high interest rates at all.

Mr. Huang, a consumer, said that he was working in Huizhou, "Huizhou is an internship organized by the school, and I can issue my internship certificate." The consumption record shows that he installs a mobile phone, pays 473 yuan per month on the 9th of the month, and the total price plus interest is 5676 yuan. On January 9, he was overdue for two days during the fifth repayment period, and the platform charged a liquidated damage of 9.46 yuan, that is, his daily liquidated damages were 4.78 yuan, according to this calculation, the annualized interest rate of overdue liquidated damages was as high as 30%.

Hi rent far beyond the market price of the mobile phone valuation and overdue costs, so that many consumers complained bitterly, a consumer said, "the original 4200 yuan mobile phone, after the installment of a total of 7392 yuan, more than 3000 yuan of costs." If it is overdue, the penalty is 6 yuan a day, and it is 200 yuan a month, which is too high. ”

"At the beginning, I rented for a month or two and didn't want to use it at any time, and now I don't want to rent and call the past to quit the lease." Saying that to compensate for liquidated damages and depreciation fees, a mobile phone of almost 3,000 yuan plus interest of 7560 yuan. It is still a second-hand mobile phone, the rent is 580 yuan a month, 12 periods, and it is still expensive to buy out. How can I afford a 16-year-old minor? A consumer said that he had repaid the principal and now only asked for excessive liquidated damages and did not pursue it anymore.

"In a mobile phone store installment a vivo S9, 2999 yuan, did not know that it is in the form of hi rent in this form of installment, and told me that the interest rate is low, and then it is installment." Paid a deposit of 650 yuan, no interest was seen before passing the audit, and finally 490 yuan was paid every month, 12 months. As an underage student, only 17 years old, every month the income is unstable, after paying for 5 months, there is really no way. And will contact parents, relatives and friends to carry out verbal attacks. I hope to take down this loan shark app, I am still a student, I don't understand, so I was tempted, and the heart of the college entrance examination was gone..." said a minor student.

The price of renting a mobile phone is much higher than the purchase price of a new machine, and some of it is as high as 3 times the price

These consumers mentioned that the "Hi rent" platform, has a "hi life" App and public number and other platforms, according to reports, this is a mobile phone rental software, users can rent goods on the platform with one click, so that users can easily use when they want to buy electronic products. However, when the platform was opened, it was found that it was impossible to directly handle the leasing business directly online, only "store rental" and "free change" could view the goods, and there was no product under "E rental". Consumers said they mainly rely on offline stores for drainage and business handling.

The Beiqing Daily reporter consulted the platform as a consumer, and the platform said that as long as it is a user who is 16 years old and can show a work permit or work certificate or labor contract, he can handle the business of renting a mobile phone.

A "free to rent" price list presented by the platform shows that the platform provides mobile phone rentals of multiple brands including Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, honor, iQOO, and True Self. For example, Xiaomi Note 10 5G 8+ 128G, the monthly rent is 303 yuan, according to this calculation, the total price of 12 months rent is 3636 yuan, and on Jingdong, the total price of this mobile phone is only 1289 yuan. Oppo's Reno 4se 8+128G, the monthly rent is 387 yuan, according to this calculation, the total rent for 12 months is 4644 yuan, and the price of this mobile phone in Jingdong is only 1599 yuan, about 1/3 of the platform rent. Another example is the Honor 50 8+256G version, the monthly rent is 502 yuan, according to this calculation, the total rent for 12 months is 6024 yuan, while the price of JD.com is only 2499 yuan, less than half of its total price.

In addition, the platform also provides a batch of "free to change" mobile phones for rent, which are non-brand new machines.

The court found that the 16-year-old working person was a person with full capacity for civil conduct and should pay rent

Enterprise investigation information shows that the operating entity of "Hi Rent" is Chongqing Fun Hi Rent Technology Co., Ltd., the legal representative is Huang Xinghua, the major shareholders include Tu Hua, Deng Yong and other natural persons, the company's registered capital is 5 million yuan, and the business scope mainly includes telecommunications equipment sales, electronic equipment leasing, etc.

The Beiqing Daily reporter saw that the company currently has more than 1,000 related judicial cases, all of which are plaintiffs, and the vast majority of cases are "lease contract disputes" that sue individual users, and most of these defendants are between the ages of 16-18.

Previously, there were hundreds of judicial documents that had been adjudicated, most of which were similar cases, and most of the Hi Rental Company won the case. For example, a judgment shows that Xiao Qi, who was born in 2002, rented a mobile phone on Quhi Rent in November 2019, when he was 17 years old, and showed his work card at Jinzhou Plastic Products Co., Ltd. when he leased. His leased mobile phone model is vivo NEX dual-screen version of ice field blue 10 + 128G, the total value of the goods is 3598 yuan, the lease period is 12 months, the monthly rent is 480 yuan, and Xiao Qi also voluntarily paid a deposit of 150 yuan. The Beiqing Daily reporter saw that according to this calculation, the rent is 1.6 times the original price of the mobile phone. At that time, the contract stipulated that the first payment date was December 15, 2019, and if XiaoQi failed to pay or did not pay the rent payable in full for more than 30 days overdue, Hi Rent had the right to unilaterally terminate the contract, and in the case of contract termination, the remaining lease period that had not expired was deemed to be due, and Xiao Qi had to pay the total rent for all periods of the contract at one time, and the rent paid was deducted from the total amount, and liquidated damages were paid to Fun Hi Rent. Liquidated damages are based on the total rent for all terms and are calculated on a cumulative basis of 0.09% per day on the date of overdue until the total rent for all terms is paid.

Why was the contract judged valid? The court held that Xiao Qi's provision of the work card was sufficient to determine that the defendant was mainly based on his own labor income and should be regarded as a person with full capacity for civil conduct. After the contract was signed, the defendant only paid 1 installment of rent, and in addition to the security deposit, the plaintiff's rent of 5130 yuan should also be paid.

However, the court held that the interest rate and base of the liquidated damages of Quhi Rent were too high. Previously, the parties agreed to calculate the liquidated damages according to the daily accumulation of 0.09%, and the court adjusted to 3/10,000 of the day at its discretion, and the base amount was 5130 yuan in arrears, and the liquidated damages should be calculated from the date of overdue until the date of settlement. That is to say, previously, the annualized interest rate of the liquidated damages of Quhi Rent was as high as 32.85%, and the court determined that it was 0.1095% annualized, a difference of 300 times between the two. In the end, the court ordered Xiao Qi to compensate Quhi Rent Company for 5130 yuan in rent, liquidated damages, and more than 600 yuan in legal fees.

The lawyer suggested providing more adequate materials to prove that the source of labor income was stable

Xu Guilin, a partner and lawyer at Beijing Times Jiuhe Law Firm, explained to the Beiqing Daily reporter that although the general "loan" product requires an adult over 18 years old to be eligible, the company's product is a mobile phone lease, not a financial loan. Article 18 of the Civil Code stipulates that "minors over the age of 16 whose main source of livelihood is their own labor income shall be regarded as persons with full capacity for civil conduct".

However, he also stressed that when handling the rental of mobile phones by minors over the age of 16, the mobile phone rental platform suggests that they should provide more adequate materials to prove that they use their labor income as the main source of livelihood, such as: labor contracts and wage income bank flows, social security payment materials, etc., and only use the work card as a material, and there is a large space for fraud.

In an interview with the Beiqing Daily reporter, some consumers also made it clear that the stores that rent mobile phones said that they could provide them with fake "work cards", so if the platform requires "stable work", it may require consumers to support them with more rigorous materials, and at the same time punish the counterfeit stores.

For some consumers who said that after the platform successfully handled the payment, they did not know the problem of the appraisal price and interest, Xu Guilin said: "Based on the cognitive ability of minors over the age of 16, the leasing platform is recommended to fully prompt the lease contract and related details when renting, such as the price of the leased mobile phone, the amount of money repaid every month, and the need to bear liquidated damages if it fails to repay on schedule." ”

He also said that if the loan is not repaid on time, it is recommended that the liquidated damages be reduced, and the liquidated damages should not exceed four times the quoted interest rate of the one-year loan market at the time the contract was formed. According to Article 25 of the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Private Lending Cases, if the lender requests the borrower to pay interest at the interest rate agreed in the contract, the people's court shall support it, except where the interest rate agreed upon by the two parties exceeds the quoted interest rate of the one-year loan market at the time the contract is formed.

In addition, for the platform rent pricing, Xu lawyer said that there is no clear pricing requirement in the law, but according to common sense, such pricing is indeed relatively high.

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Wen Jing

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