Chengfeng automobile consumption Rural commercial banks have increased installment subsidies

Reporter Guo Jianhang reports from Beijing

After the implementation of the policy of reducing the proportion of car loans, some rural commercial banks have responded quickly to car installments.

Although rural commercial banks have not yet launched "zero down payment" car purchases in terms of car loan down payment ratio, many rural commercial banks have successively launched interest rate subsidy activities for car installment products.

Shunde Rural Commercial Bank credit card recently played the slogan of "Shunde to lead the way with the old for the new", and the official publicity content shows: "Credit loan 'car purchase installment' product, the same price installment interest rate of oil and electricity is preferential to 0.195%, and the converted annualized interest rate (simple interest) is 4.44%; In addition, the amount of credit card car purchase installment through the designated channel of Shunde Rural Commercial Bank is ≥ 100,000 yuan, and the number of installments is 60 periods, and the successful loan can also enjoy a car purchase installment subsidy of up to 5,000 yuan. ”

According to public information, Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank can get red envelopes for customers who make an appointment to register and complete the purchase of Xiaomi car SU7 in installments.

At present, there is no "zero down payment" car installment service in rural commercial banks, or due to concerns about asset quality, and the introduction of preferential policies on auto installment interest rates is for the purpose of stimulating the growth of automobile consumption. A person from a rural commercial bank told reporters: "Auto installment loans are relatively high-quality assets in consumer credit loans, but the non-performing rate of auto loans is also on the rise, and it is necessary to pay attention to the changes in asset quality brought about by the expansion of the auto installment market after the new auto loan policy." ”

The down payment ratio remains unchanged

On April 3, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration jointly issued the Notice on Adjusting Relevant Policies for Auto Loans, clarifying that the proportion of auto loans is determined by financial institutions, which has triggered discussions among car buyers about whether they can buy cars with "zero down payment".

During the interview, the reporter learned that a number of rural commercial banks in the southeast and central regions have not yet adjusted the loan ratio of automobile installments.

A person from the credit business of Shunde Rural Commercial Bank said to users who intend to buy a car: "At present, the maximum loan for new energy vehicles can be issued for new energy vehicles, and 80% for traditional cars. As for whether there will be a new loan ratio policy after the introduction of the new regulations on car loans, there is no notice of adjusting the loan ratio yet. ”

Rural commercial banks have not loosened the entry threshold for car installment loans.

The reporter learned in the interview that Shunde Rural Commercial Bank currently proposes to intending users to have local real estate or social security provident fund and other threshold requirements. A person from the credit center of Sanhe Rural Commercial Bank told reporters: "At present, there is no product specifically for auto credit, but you can apply for consumer credit loans for the purpose of buying cars, and there are threshold requirements such as local household registration and employment in public institutions. ”

A relevant person in the industry chain of a car company told reporters: "When car buyers bought cars in the past, manufacturers or manufacturers' auto finance companies would provide advance down payments or discounts, so that car buyers could actually achieve 'zero down payment' car purchases, but there may be a certain percentage increase in service fees." ”

Another factor that affects the purchase of a car by installments is the loan interest rate. Recently, users who have the intention to buy a car told reporters: "The handling fee for buying a car in installments is actually very high, and now that the loan ratio is high, I expect the interest rate and handling fee to be adjusted." ”

On the whole, although there have been no new changes in the down payment ratio and entry threshold of rural commercial banks, some rural commercial banks have recently had preferential policies for consumer credit loan products in terms of installment interest rates.

For example, after Beijing Rural Commercial Bank's "Phoenix e-Loan" is formed into a group of 3 people, customers in the group can enjoy an annualized interest rate of 2.98% if they meet the credit line of 200,000 yuan, Sichuan Lezhi Rural Commercial Bank's "New Citizen Consumption Loan", the loan interest rate is as low as 2.45%, and Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's "Chongqing Quick Car Purchase 2.0" activity, from March 28 to December 31, customers who purchase Xiaomi Auto SU7 in installments can get cash red envelopes of 1,200 yuan to 5,000 yuan according to the installment amount and purchase order.

As for the reason why the rural commercial bank has not adjusted the down payment ratio of automobile installment loans on a large scale for the time being, the above-mentioned person from a rural commercial bank pointed out: "Automobile installment is a movable property mortgage, and the risk is relatively large, which can also be seen from the performance of the non-performing rate of automobile installment in recent years. Therefore, rural commercial banks will be more cautious in the auto installment business. ”

In terms of the non-performing rate of auto installments, taking a commercial bank with a large auto finance business as an example, the non-performing rate of auto finance loans in the first quarter of 2023 was 1.53%, higher than 1.26% at the end of 2022. According to data released by United Credit in 2023, the non-performing rate of auto loans is between 2% and 2.5%, and the non-performing rate of the car rental market is between 3% and 4%.

In this regard, Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Zhiyan, said: "After reducing the down payment ratio of car loans, banks need to weigh factors such as consumer credit, repayment ability, car category and price, and use new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to improve risk control strength. ”

Rural Commercial Bank Exploration Car Installment

Su Xiaorui believes that reducing the down payment ratio of passenger car loans provides consumers with a more relaxed option, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for banking institutions. At the challenge level, higher requirements are put forward for the risk control level of banking institutions, while at the opportunity level, it is possible for banking institutions to drive more new customer acquisition.

The above-mentioned person from a rural commercial bank believes that risk control is more challenging. "It mainly depends on the borrower's willingness and ability to repay. It is necessary to do a good job of investigation before lending, if the borrower subjectively does not repay, the loan can easily become non-performing. She said.

The reporter learned that some rural commercial banks had previously made some explorations in the field of commercial vehicle segmentation.

Yantai Rural Commercial Bank Development Zone Sub-branch innovatively launched the "Online Car-hailing Car Purchase Loan" in accordance with the Administrative Measures for "Commercial Vehicle Loans" of Yantai Rural Commercial Bank, which is issued to those engaged in online car-hailing operations in the service area, and the operation management company shall provide guarantee to the bank and go through the mortgage registration procedures for the purchase of credit products for operating vehicles. Combined with the marketing scenario of "commercial car loan", it docked with online car-hailing companies, took the provision of commercial car loans as the entry point, publicized and promoted loan products within the company, obtained the information of drivers who have the need to purchase vehicles, and signed cooperation agreements with taxi companies and passenger transport companies, and won the guarantee provided by online car-hailing companies on the basis of vehicle mortgages.

In addition, the Rural Credit Union of Qingyuan District, Baoding City, Hebei Province, previously launched the auto consumer loan product online car-hailing loan in response to the problems of "difficult financing and high financing costs" for online car-hailing drivers, in which online car-hailing drivers submit loan applications and car rental companies provide joint and several liability guarantees to provide customized comprehensive financial services for online car-hailing drivers. The suburban branch of Hunan Longshan Rural Commercial Bank launched a "taxi loan" after docking with the company when it learned about the taxi replacement plan of the taxi company.

In addition, some rural commercial banks cooperate with local car dealers and 4S stores, but the business scale is generally not large, accounting for a small proportion of the bank's loans.

On March 7 this year, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Trade-in of Consumer Goods", which proposed to "optimize financial support", and clearly pointed out that banking institutions are encouraged to appropriately reduce the down payment ratio of passenger car loans and reasonably determine the term and credit line of auto loans under the premise of legal compliance and risk control.

With the implementation of a series of policies to support automobiles, automobile consumption will be effectively stabilized and expanded, so there is also a broad space for automobile consumption in rural areas.

(Editor: He Shasha Review: Zhu Ziyun Proofreader: Yan Jingning)