The face of banks can change at any time.

Once upon a time, credit cards even won the favor of the "Huabei generation" with their convenience, high limit, low interest rate, and wide range of benefits. Many people chose to "deduct the fixed rent from their monthly salary." After spending, save or invest to earn interest, and rely on credit cards for daily consumption, from which you can earn a slim interest rate." Although it is not much, for young people who "can buy clothes for 1,000 yuan, but cannot bear the postage of 5 yuan", no matter how little it is, it is still money, maybe it can be enough to earn a cup of milk tea, which is a kind of "sense" practices.

But the good times did not last long. Credit cards have experienced a period of brutal expansion, with growth slowing down and non-performing rates rising. Especially after experiencing the impact of the epidemic in the first quarter of 2020, a group of users were unable to repay their loans normally. , even if credit cards account for a small proportion of each bank's business, banks are still under considerable pressure.

Credit cards don’t seem so popular anymore: banks have begun to reduce credit limits and limit consumption on a large scale, points and rights have been cut to pieces, and users on major complaint websites are complaining, claiming that their rights and interests have been damaged. So why did the bank suddenly change its attitude?

It has been more than 60 years since the world's first credit card appeared; the earliest credit card issuer in China was the Bank of China. In 1985, China's first credit card - "Bank of China Card" was launched in Zhuhai and opened. It describes the 35-year development history of China’s credit card industry.

According to the "Overall Operation of the Payment System in 2019" data released by the People's Bank of China, as of the end of 2019, the number of credit cards and debit and credit cards (with the characteristics of a credit card) in use totaled 7.46 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.78; the average number of credit cards and debit cards held per capita was 0.53, a year-on-year increase of 8.36.

"A total of 746 million cards" and "0.53 cards per capita". Looking at these two data alone, there is actually not much concept. Extend the timeline to 2011 and review the development of China's credit cards in the past 10 years. The clues are visible.

It can be found that: 2011-2014 can be called the "crazy expansion period" of credit cards, with the average number of credit card issuances increasing by 4.31 month-on-month; 2015-2017 is the "braking and slowing down period" of credit cards, with the average number of credit card issuances The month-on-month growth rate dropped to 2.27; from 2018 to 2020Q1, credit cards entered a "stable operation period". The average month-on-month growth rate of the number of credit card issuances rebounded slightly to 2.74, and the overall growth rate showed a slowing trend.

Among them, in 2020Q1, the number of credit card issuance increased by 0.32 from the previous quarter, which was the lowest value since 2017Q1. The per capita number of credit cards has also remained at a level of 0.53 for three consecutive quarters.

Therefore, throughout 2020Q1, the growth rate of total bank card credit slowed down, the growth rate of total outstanding loans overdue for half a year, and the proportion of total outstanding loans overdue for half a year both increased significantly. To a certain extent, It can reflect the dilemma faced by credit cards of "slowing growth and rising non-performing rates".

The emergence of dilemmas is inevitable.

The force majeure factor is the impact of the epidemic, which has caused many people to have their salaries cut or even lose their jobs. They have lost their basic source of livelihood. Credit card repayments have naturally become a problem, and "passive overdue" rates are higher than usual. more common.

In addition to the impact of the epidemic, there is another long-standing problem that cannot be ignored. Chen Jianing, a senior researcher at Suning Financial Research Institute, said, "The overall capital cost of cashing out credit cards through POS machines is very low. In this case, credit card cashing has gradually evolved into a 'black product'. As the management department of credit cards, Bank credit card centers are actually clean, but in the early stages of development, they adopted a tacit attitude towards 'black products'."

"Develop first, then govern." The scale of credit cards has grown. Taking advantage of the problems reflected in the 2020Q1 credit card data, it is time to "rectify the chaos."

Banks “change their faces”, regulatory tips

Chen Jianing believes that at this stage, all banks already have a large enough volume in credit cards, and there is a huge demand for such gray channels and traffic. If it is not that big, we will find ways to rectify it to tighten the risk. In addition, banks may also face regulatory pressure.

According to the latest information disclosed on the official website of the Guangdong Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, on July 16 and 17, two penalties for violations of Guangfa Bank’s credit card business were announced for two consecutive days, which means that risk control is not in place. Guangfa Bank received a total fine of 4 million yuan, which shocked the entire banking industry's credit card business.

Supervision has taken the lead in regulating the credit card market, and banks naturally dare not neglect it. Guangfa, Ping An, CITIC, Industrial, Shanghai Pudong Development, China Merchants Bank, and Communications have begun to step up risk control upgrades.

The first is to limit consumption.

That is, the bank adjusts the cardholder's credit card limit based on the cardholder's financial status, repayment and overdue status, and "kills" the possibility of risks from the source; for cardholders with higher risks , the bank can even close its credit card directly.

Objectively speaking, the bank’s measures to restrict consumption are normal risk control measures. Because the credit card itself is based on the cardholder's own credit, when the cardholder's credit is poor, the bank will bear greater risks unilaterally, and it will also destroy the contract between the cardholder and the bank. The bank has the right to take Take appropriate actions to protect your own legitimate interests from being infringed upon.

Therefore, when your credit card is suddenly restricted for consumption, first check whether you have repaid the loan on time and whether there is any overdue behavior.

Through the Black Cat Complaint Platform, some users reported, “I am an old user of Guangfa Credit Card for many years, and I have made normal repayments of Caizhijin. In the past year or so, I have been unable to make installment payments with my credit card due to merchant consumption restrictions. I hope Guangfa Bank can lift the restrictions. "Old users" and "normal repayments" are still restricted from consumption, and even cannot make installment repayments with their credit cards.

Many consumers even complain that credit cards are becoming more and more boring, becoming a bit "tasteless", tasteless, and a pity to throw away.

If the user feedback is true, China Guangfa Bank’s approach is really inappropriate. Although this “one size fits all” approach is simple and effective for a few speculators, it has inadvertently harmed the majority of people who abide by the law. . Banks need to treat customers differently and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of users through a more humane approach.

In addition, the points rights of credit cards have "shrunk" significantly.

Recently, joint-stock banks such as China Guangfa, Minsheng, Industrial Bank, China Xia Xia and CITIC, which are “pioneers in issuing credit cards”, have launched a major offensive and begun to adjust the way credit card points are accumulated, resulting in a substantial “dive” in the credit card points rights of cardholders.

On July 13, Industrial Bank issued an announcement announcing adjustments to points rules; Guangfa Credit Card added 1.0269 million merchants to the list of non-accumulating points; Minsheng Credit Card announced the cancellation of transactions with 19 third-party payment institutions such as Lakala. Accumulated points; among city commercial banks, Chongqing Bank’s accumulated points for credit card transactions have shrunk by 10 times. Now you need to use 10 times the previous points to exchange for the same goods, and the cost-effectiveness of points has plummeted.

The "black product" of credit cards can be used to obtain cash or points, which can be used to exchange for goods. Points play a part of the "currency" role.

Restricting consumption is mainly to prevent cashing out on credit cards and reduce the probability and extent of losses; while cutting off the points rights of credit cards is to block the way for speculators to obtain points. With a two-pronged approach, the market response is still very rapid. of.

In addition to penalizing some banks that violate regulations in their credit card business, supervision also does not forget to provide reminders to cardholders. On June 30, the Consumer Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Consumption Tips on the Reasonable Use of Credit Cards", reminding cardholders to "correctly understand the functions of credit cards, use credit cards rationally, establish scientific consumption concepts, consume rationally, and overdraft appropriately."

Compared with the penalties imposed on banks by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the restrictions imposed by banks on cardholders, it is actually the best way if cardholders can reduce the risk of overdue credit cards through self-discipline; but at present, Many cardholders have formed bad card-using habits, and it may be better to apply external pressure.

In view of the arbitrage behavior that exists in the credit card market, can limiting consumption and reducing equity points have a good effect? At least on the surface, the public seems to be "directly affected by the problem." The problem is with the cardholder, and there seems to be nothing wrong with imposing restrictions on them. However, Lu Ying, general manager of Ping An Bank Hangzhou Branch, put forward a different view.

Lu Ying believes that if we want to consider the compliance and strict control of credit cards, it depends on whether the acquiring output end is strict. At present, it is still relatively loose. Many banks still outsource their acquiring business, which leaves a lot of room for risk and loopholes in packaging and industry selection.

Regarding the behavior of cashing out, Lu Ying said that the bank will not interfere manually, and it will all be screened by computers and the process has been automated. The measures taken by the bank, whether it is restricting consumption or reducing equity points, are more likely to show to the bank's banking supervisor that it has taken some measures to control credit card risks.

So, if banks want to truly reduce credit card risks, they should not just focus on the cardholders, but also start with the acquiring institutions. Without "helpers", where will it be? risk.

But this involves whether the bank is willing or not. As an ordinary cardholder, I hope from the bottom of my heart that regulatory agencies and banks can truly rectify the chaos in the credit card market, so that cardholders who abide by the rules can get their due rights, and they should not be made to feel that credit cards are more and more It’s no longer interesting; when they feel that credit cards are no longer interesting, they may be ready to abandon them at any time and turn to Alipay’s Huabei and Jiebei, WeChat’s Weilidai, JD Finance’s white bars and gold bars, and various high-quality and low-priced consumer financial products. .

"If you ignore them now, you will be unable to reach them in the future." By then, banks will inevitably pay a greater price to regain their trust.

When can the crisis curse of credit cards be truly broken?

Due to space limitations, I cannot attach all the content, but I would like to thank many professionals for providing very valuable perspectives and rich cases during the writing process of this article. Special thanks (listed in no particular order):

Lu Ying, general manager of Ping An Bank Hangzhou Branch, and Chen Jianing, senior researcher at Suning Financial Research Institute.