In the past two days, 360 has been involved in a huge public opinion storm.
However, this time, what made 360 out of place was no longer the outrageous remarks of zhou Hongyi, the "Red Sect Leader", but a photo -
On January 25, a photo circulated on the Internet of a man in a suit and leather shoes who was detained and taken away from 360 by the police, surrounded by a circle of policemen, holding police weapons.
360 quickly responded, saying that the incident was an outsider injuring an employee, and all cases were subject to police reports.
01 Interest rates remain high
360 This incident was caused by an online loan dispute.
The police notice is very clear that the suspect Liu X and the "360 IOU" platform have a loan dispute, and then Liu X went to the 360 office area, and in the process of negotiation, Liu X stabbed a 360 employee with a fruit knife in the palm of his right hand and right leg knee.
The 360 IOUs that were cue in the circular are credit businesses of 360 Digital Divisions specifically for individual consumers.
Open the official website of 360 IOUs, we can see that its homepage is full of text information such as "up to 200,000 loan limits", "you can apply for 18 years old", "the fastest 5 minutes to the account", etc., which is very straightforward and very instructive.
Compared with other credit products on the market, the characteristics of 360 IOUs are very distinct - that is, its interest rate is quite high, so high that it is frequently complained about by netizens.
In October last year, some netizens posted on social platforms, saying that they had borrowed a consumer online loan of 20,000 yuan through 360 IOUs, repaid in 24 installments, and their annualized interest rate was as high as 34.24%.
Such a high interest rate makes it difficult for him to accept.
The reason why the annualization rate of 360 IOUs is so high has a lot to do with its algorithm. The interest algorithm of 360 IOUs is calculated according to the equal principal and interest, that is, the interest is calculated according to the initial loan principal for each period, while the general algorithm is that the repaid part will no longer accrue interest.
360 such an operation, the annualization rate is not high to be strange.
In addition to the problem of the high annualization rate, the other behaviors of the 360 IOU have also made the public criticize, the most typical is early repayment - if the users of the 360 IOU choose to repay in advance, then not only need to pay the interest of the whole period, but also need to pay an additional 2% handling fee to the platform - which is equivalent to saying that if you repay in advance, you have to pay more money!
For other similar products on the market, if users choose to repay in advance, most of them will not take the initiative to charge a handling fee.
When borrowing, it is often difficult for users to find the corresponding terms of the 360 IOU for interest and early repayment, and when the online loan arrives, or when it is ready to repay in advance, they find that they have stepped on the pit, but it is too late to regret it.
On chicken thieves, you can always believe 360.
02 Main business of lending business
As Sister Bang also said earlier, 360 IOUs are the fist products of 360 digital subjects.
Founded in July 2016, 360 Digital Wasix finance, its business is not only 360 IOUs, but also 360 small and micro loans and 360 installments. From these business names, it can also be seen that what 360 Digital Science is doing in the end - thanks to the outlet of online loans, 360 Digital Science has quickly become bigger and stronger, from its establishment to the listing in the United States, it took a total of 2 and a half years.
According to the data, the operating entity of 360 Digital is Fuzhou 360 Network Microfinance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 360 Micro Loan), which was established in March 2017 and was initially 100% controlled by Beijing Qibu Tianxia Technology Co., Ltd. On April 2021, 360 Micro Loan changed its equity, and its wholly-owned shareholder was transformed into Shanghai Qiyu Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shanghai Qiyu).
Through equity penetration, we can see that the actual controller of 360 small loans is Zhou Hongyi, the founder of 360.
Thinking back to that year, Zhou Jiao, facing the news that Internet companies had entered the financial circle, also threatened that he would not get involved in Internet finance.
"Some fund companies and banks came to us to cooperate, and I didn't agree... I don't understand, I think we have recently done a good job in the field of security products, and we do not plan to get involved in Internet finance. ”
Can only sigh, Internet finance is still too fragrant, in the end let the Zhou Sect Master reneg on his word and fat.
As a microfinance company, the sinkhole of 360 small loans is really a bit much, and the judicial cases of its wholly-owned shareholders due to financial loan contract disputes are as high as 1258, covering a wide range.
Despite the continuous legal disputes, the performance of 360 Digital is growing in a down-to-earth manner - in 2018, 2019 and 2020, 360 Digital achieved a year-on-year increase in revenue of 467%, 97% and 49% respectively; achieved a year-on-year increase in net profit of 624%, 110% and 40%; in the third quarter of 2021, the two performance data increased by 20% and 95% respectively.
The eye-catching results of 360 mathematics are inseparable from the lending business.
According to the data disclosed by 360 Digital, as of September 30, 2021, 360 Digital Has accumulated 181.1 million registered users. Among the loans it issued, the contribution of repeat borrowers was 89.2%. In other words, the user stickiness of 360 digital subjects is high, they borrow once, and they will borrow the next time.
Compared with the sluggish performance of 360 Group, 360 Digital is simply Zhou Hongyi's cash cow.
03 Conclusion
This is not the first time that the 360 IOU has been caught up in the storm.
Earlier, the 360 IOU had published an advertisement, a small middle-aged man carrying a hanging of pork, and a woman in a flight attendant uniform walked side by side, the man said he would try to make the flight attendant live a good life, and the flight attendant asked him how much he had on the 360 IOU.
After the man said he did not understand the 360 IOU, the flight attendant was suddenly disappointed, saying that the two sides were not suitable. Subsequently, after a period of 360 IOU science, the man opened a 360 IOU quota, and the flight attendant said that she was willing to give him another chance to go home with the man.
After the advertisement was launched, it was quickly attacked by netizens, and the 360 IOU quickly set up this advertisement.
In addition to objectifying women and promoting vulgar and distorted views of marriage and love, behind this advertisement, there is also a more serious problem hidden, that is, the sinking of the online loan market.
In fact, as early as the beginning of the listing of 360 Digital, the outside world paid attention to the sinking problem of consumer customers. At that time, the explanation given by 360 Digital was that they developed and launched a technology platform, and the non-performing rate level of 360 Finance did not increase significantly.
According to the latest data disclosed by 360 Digital, as of September 30, 2021, the arrears rate of loans issued by financial institutions on the 360 Digital Platform for more than 90 days was 1.17%, and the arrears were not bad.
However, on Sina's consumer service platform "Black Cat Complaints", the number of complaints about 360 IOUs reached 22,038. In the last 30 days, 687 consumers have complained about 360 IOUs, and the content of the complaints is not bad, not that the interest rate of the 360 IOUs is too high, or that it is violently collected.
The list sister can only sigh that the data that looks beautiful in the outside world often requires costs.
At present, the high-level control of microfinance companies is becoming more and more stringent, and the 360 IOUs with frequent problems are only a lot more troublesome in the future.