On February 10, the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission officially issued a circular on the infringement of the legitimate rights and interests of consumers by Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance).
It is reported that Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance has publicity materials that do not clearly state that the loan product provider, the service price information disclosure does not meet the requirements, and the standard terms for authorized use of consumer information do not follow the legal, legitimate and necessary principles, which infringe on consumers' right to know and have hidden risks in consumer information security.
When it comes to the rights and interests of Mercedes-Benz consumers, many people will recall the Mercedes-Benz female owner rights protection incident that occurred in April 2019, when the female owner became popular because of the video of sitting on the hood and crying. However, the reason for the rapid fermentation of this complaint incident is not only the quality of the oil leakage in the engine, but also because the owner of the car was charged a financial service fee of 15,200 yuan during the car purchase process.
Finally, Mercedes-Benz Finance was fined a total of 800,000 yuan by the Beijing Municipal Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau for violating Article 46 of the Banking Supervision and Administration Law due to "serious deficiencies in the management of outsourcing activities".
To this end, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd., Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Co., Ltd. and authorized dealers have also jointly launched the Service Convention. The Service Convention contains the basic code of conduct for dealers, further emphasizing the legal compliance of operations, the transparency of services and charges, and the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in the process of automobile consumption and service. At the same time, it is clearly pointed out that "never bundled sales" and other prohibited behaviors, respecting the customer's right to know and choose in the process of car purchase.
However, four years later, Mercedes-Benz Finance was once again criticized by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission for infringing on consumers' right to know, their right to make independent choices, and the existence of hidden dangers in consumer information security risks.
It is reported that Mercedes-Benz Finance was established in 2005 and is a full subsidiary of mercedes-Benz Group. Among them, Daimler shares hold 52.2% of the shares of Mercedes-Benz Finance, the largest shareholder, Daimler Greater China holds the remaining 47.8% of the shares, the current registered capital of 6.983 billion yuan.
According to the data, at the end of the second quarter of 2021, Mercedes-Benz Financial's business network covered 270 major cities in China, with 682 dealers. At present, Mercedes-Benz Financial mainly provides three types of loan products to retail customers: financial loan standard products, financial loan limited-time project products and used car/test drive financial loan products.
There are four types of loan purchase services, among which the "first enjoy, then choose - Star Smart" program and the "old customer exclusive - Star Smart" program are provided by Mercedes-Benz Leasing Co., Ltd.; the financial loan solution and the "Star Loan" program are provided by Mercedes-Benz Finance, and the annual interest rate is calculated by simple interest method. In the absence of preferential financial loan policies, the standard annual interest rate of the financial loan scheme is 12.78% (12-60 periods).
The above behavior of Mercedes-Benz Finance, many consumers are in the dark, do not know the hidden dangers of information security behind it, and do not have the real right to know and the right to make independent choices. In this regard, Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance has been rectified in accordance with regulatory requirements.
Just on February 9, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued the 14th Five-Year Development Plan for Financial Standardization, which clarified that the requirements for financial products will be put on the agenda, covering institutions including financial institutions, non-bank payment institutions and Internet financial platforms. Among them, it is clear that "promote the inclusion of explicit annualized interest rates of loans into financial standards to protect the right of financial consumers to know".
Write at the end:
With the consumption of auto credit deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, auto finance has also entered a mature period and has become one of the core sources of profits in the automotive industry, but complaints about auto financial services are also emerging.
Many people will have a similar experience in the car purchase process: the "naked car price" is very favorable, but the "landing price" is not cheap. In the car purchase process, consumers' "dissatisfaction" is increasingly concentrated in car insurance, car loans, licensed services, optional accessories and other aspects. However, most consumers end up choosing to settle down – after all, the cost of these value-added services is not so impressive compared to the cost of large cars. Mercedes-Benz Finance was notified of criticism, which will blow a clean wind in the auto finance industry and promote the healthy and benign development of the industry.
The complaint data accepted nationwide in 2021 released by the China Consumer Association also shows that the number of complaints about financial services was 6926, an increase of 0.02% year-on-year. The increasing number of complaints reflects that the problem of consumer rights protection is still difficult to be well solved, protecting consumers' right to know and the right to make independent choices, which first requires true information parity between car companies, dealers and consumers.