A few years ago, an explosive car financing lease model was introduced to China, which set off an upsurge of entrepreneurship and financing in the field of auto finance. Hong Kong listed company CreditEase Group (hereinafter referred to as "CreditEase") is the best among many players.

Personnel unrest

A few days ago, an insider broke the news to Xiaojinshe that Shanghai Yixin Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yixin Leasing"), the operating entity of CreditEase, was laying off employees in batches. "The company does not have any compensation and requires employees to leave on their own. At present, the person in charge of the district has persuaded some white employees who have just joined the job, and they are about to open the knife to the old employees. "

The insider said that at present, CreditEase Leasing is in turmoil and its operation involves criminal cases. Some company leaders were invited to "have tea" for investigation, and the management personnel were frequently adjusted. "The legal person changed in September, and now the business license of the branch has to be recycled and changed again."

12 12, a ruling of China Judgment Document Network was made public, and the financial lease contract dispute case between CreditEase Leasing and a customer was transferred to public relations agency, which was caught in a "fraud" storm.

In response, CreditEase Leasing issued a statement in response that the news of the company's investigation was untrue and CreditEase was not suspected of fraud.

According to the media "First Consumer Finance", because an agent whose cooperation was terminated was put on file for investigation by the public security organs, an executive in charge of loans of CreditEase was taken away by the police in Linfen City, Shanxi Province for more than two months. So far, there is no news, including the registration certificate of some users' vehicles, which has also been taken away to assist in the investigation.

"It is true that CreditEase executives were investigated, but this matter has not yet been determined." The above-mentioned insiders told the consumer finance society.

After the layoffs broke out earlier, when the Consumer News Agency recently confirmed the progress, the insider recently responded that after communicating with the company, the layoffs of some employees have been temporarily solved, so this matter has not been exposed.

In addition, since CFO Liu Xiaotong left at the end of June 1 1, the senior management of CreditEase has also been adjusted recently. 65438+February 18, the website of Shanghai Clearing House shows the announcement of the change of legal representative and directors of CreditEase Leasing. Jiang Dong resigned as the executive director and legal representative of the company, and Liu Huiqun served as the executive director, general manager and legal representative of the company.

Not long ago, on September 19, CreditEase Leasing announced that Zhang Xu 'an was removed from the post of chairman and legal representative, and Jiang Dong was appointed as the executive director and legal representative of the company.

In less than three months, the company changed its legal representative twice in a row. In this regard, Yixin's staff explained to the media: Too busy! "CreditEase Leasing is currently working with a number of banks. Every time we talk about cooperation, we need a legal representative to be present in person. Jiang has been busy following up other projects recently, and is often out of Shanghai.

The above-mentioned insiders revealed to Xiaojinshe, "At present, the legal person level of Yixin New Company is actually not high, and it used to be a subordinate of an executive."

In the view of an industry veteran, "Yixin Yitai changed its legal person on the grounds of being busy, which is even more funny than Zhangzidao scallops running away."

Transformation and risk

Behind the personnel turmoil encountered by Yixin is the reality of the company's overall business adjustment and the risks exposed in the business process.

2017165438+10/6, CreditEase is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It was not only the first auto financing company in China, but also the company with the highest market value in China at that time, mainly engaged in financial leasing.

However, since 20 18, the business focus of Yixin has changed. By the end of last year, Yixin had reached cooperation with six banks, with144,000 auto finance transactions, a year-on-year increase of 15 times. The proportion of loans that contributed to the transaction climbed from 8% in the first quarter of 20 18 to 60% in the fourth quarter, accounting for 30% of the total auto finance transactions in the whole year, while it was only 2% in 20 17.

By the first half of 20 19, the income of CreditEase's loan assistance business had further increased, and the company's loan assistance service income was 839 million.

Xue Hongyan, director of the Internet Center of Suning Financial Research Institute, said in an interview with the media, "The potential hidden danger of a large part of the lending business is to observe whether the lending platform bears substantial risks. If the lending platform bears the risk of this business and exceeds the affordability of capital, industry adjustment may have a great impact on the platform. "

As for the specific business development, Yang Li, an employee of CreditEase, introduced to Xiaojinshe that the financial leasing business is mainly divided into two forms: term leasing (purchasing by rent) and leaseback (leaseback after sale). Lease-back is to obtain a loan with a car as an asset, similar to a car loan. CreditEase's leaseback business is not standardized. "The standard leaseback is to sell the car to our company and then rent it back. In practice, there is no transfer, only mortgage registration. The funds for lending came from banks, and CreditEase played the role of' helping loans'. "

In CreditEase Group, due to the rising cost of capital and other factors, the self-operated automobile financing business has decreased, while the proportion of loan assistance business obtained through cooperation with licensed financial institutions such as banks has been increasing. Now, business transformation has achieved results, but what is more difficult now is the rise of legal risks in the process of business development.

Since the nationwide anti-vice campaign on 20 18, the "routine loan" and violent collection in the car loan industry have become the key targets of anti-vice. Some medium and large car loan platforms are basically gone.

Forcibly trailer, but call and legal proceedings to collect.

Xiaojinshe noticed that there were 33 1 complaints about CreditEase Group on the complaint platform. The complaints mainly included routine loans, beheading, usury and violent collection.

The complainant Zhong Yuan handled the car loan through the dealer authorized by Yixin in October 20 18/Kloc-0, with the contract amount of 60,066 yuan, the actual payment amount of 5 1800 yuan, and the loan period was 36 installments, with the repayment of 2,263 yuan per installment. Zhong Yuan applied for one-time repayment after timely repayment 14, and was told that he still needed to repay 44,300 yuan. If the repaid principal is added, the repayment is 75,982 yuan. "A car mortgage loan is equivalent to 50% of the paid-in principal for one year! This is usury! " Zhong Yuan expressed great anger.

After Zhong Yuan complained, Yixin gave him feedback that the contract amount was 60066 yuan, which had been remitted to the agent's account. But the agent told Zhong Yuan that they actually paid 565,438 yuan+0,800 yuan, and they didn't do any interception. Yixin received beheading interest and said to Zhong Yuan: "If there is any objection to the cost, it is recommended to sue Yixin for coordination."

A screenshot of Zhong Yuan's chat with Yixin's agent. The picture comes from Ju's complaint.

As the crackdown intensified, some agents stopped their cooperation with Yixin.

According to the understanding of First Consumer Finance, Yixin dare not accept the car directly now. "I used to be a product of CreditEase, and the borrower's overdue agent needs to be at the bottom. Yixin will then transfer the creditor's rights of the car to the agent, and the agent will collect the car for collection. Now that the car has stopped, some agents have stopped cooperating. " A person familiar with the matter said.

It is worth noting that CreditEase Leasing is listed as the historical executor 1 1 time, and there are more than 5,000 judgment documents involving various disputes.

In fact, the continuous disputes in operation have also affected CreditEase's performance in the capital market. As of the close of February 25th, 1.73 Hong Kong dollars, the share price of CreditEase was 1 1 100 million yuan, and the share price has dropped by nearly 80% compared with the issue price. Yixin, which was included in the list of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect on 20 18, was also removed from the list due to the stock market crash.

Industry dilemma

As a representative enterprise of the financial leasing industry, some difficulties faced by CreditEase are actually a microcosm of the whole industry.

A young man who just graduated from college, if his monthly salary is not high, but wants to realize his dream of buying a car, can drive away a new car with a value of 654.38+10,000 through financial leasing, with a down payment of 1% and a monthly payment of 1 10,000 or more.

After the one-year lease expires, young people have three choices: renewing the lease, withdrawing the lease or paying the final payment to buy a car. At present, this low-threshold car purchase model has accounted for more than 30% of the American car sales market. However, in China, at present, the overall penetration rate of renting cars is only single digits.

The market potential is huge. In addition to many Internet giants' investment in Yixin, many players and capitals such as Maodou New Car Network, Dabai Automobile, Fun Shop and Alibaba-led Bullet Car also entered the market one after another.

However, this highly anticipated "1 3 model" was transplanted from the United States to China for two or three years, but it was in trouble. Because most users will choose to "return the car" after renting a car for one year.

"Purchasing by rent is actually renting a car. Most customers always think they are buying a car. Although every company will ask for clarification, the actual effect is not necessarily. This form of user seems that although the down payment and interest are not high, the actual cost is significantly higher than the loan to buy a car. " Yang Li, an employee of CreditEase, told the Consumer Finance Society.

Some users have violated the rules during driving after picking up the car on a rental purchasing platform, but because the car is under the name of the company, the users can't solve it by themselves. "To deal with such a small problem, we must find a platform to issue an illegal power of attorney, and it will take 3-5 working days to open it." Some users said.

If the user chooses to return the car, it will be difficult to make a profit by renting the purchasing platform, because the previous customer acquisition cost and operating cost are not low. In order to prevent returning cars, most companies will take a series of measures, such as increasing the amount of liquidated damages, using credit information to limit returning cars, and even "forcing" users to buy cars by stages. But this has formed a vicious circle.

On the trip page, many one-year financial plans (standard plans) clearly indicate that car return is not supported. If you choose to return the car after 1 year, the monthly payment will be more than 50% than the "one-year non-return" scheme.

"The consumer experience is getting worse, the after-sales service can't keep up, and the contradiction begins to escalate." Some insiders said. In addition, many of the vehicles rented and purchased are unpopular models that some car manufacturers cannot sell. And how can we make users have the desire to buy such a car?

The person in charge of an offline store in Chongqing, a leasing and purchasing platform, said in an interview with the media zinc scale, "At present, most domestic financial leasing and purchasing platforms are still in the stage of burning money. Due to the particularity of the domestic market, many new companies directly abandon the 1 3 model, but the 3 0 and 4 0 models. In other words, let users rent a car directly. After 3 or 4 years, the car will be owned by the user after the rent is paid off. However, compared with the American model, the combination of rent and purchase has changed in China. "

As a mature automobile market in the United States, the hire-purchase model has been recognized as one of the conventional means of car purchase, and has formed relevant norms in its financial planning, taxation, after-sales service and so on.

20 19 The passenger car market in China continued to decline, and the auto finance market also entered a cold winter. Faced with the severe market situation, some players implant commercial spies, launch technical attacks on business systems, attempt to steal data, maliciously slander opponents and other competitive chaos also occur from time to time.

In recent days, an article titled "Playing Car Scam: The owner of a luxury car was stolen overnight! ! The article "Buying a car is actually renting a car" was reprinted by hundreds of media. Yao, founder and CEO of Dasou Car, responded on February 25th that "car financing leasing business realizes sales by renting first and then buying", and its biggest feature is that it effectively reduces the entry threshold for consumers to use cars through leasing. This model is still a new thing in China, and there are many shortcomings in the development process. Follow-up cars will continue to optimize products and experiences, but will oppose the embarrassing means of competitors harming others. "

Huang, the founder of the self-media "research on purchasing by rent", told the consumer finance agency that many enterprises and individuals think too simply about the auto financing leasing industry, lacking both professional knowledge and awe, so the industry will be chaotic at the beginning. "In the future, there will be more and more requirements for compliance and legal operation, and specialized enterprises will have the possibility of survival."

Xiaojinshe noted that in August this year, CreditEase's subsidiary invested 475 million yuan in Dalian Rongxin Financing Guarantee Co., Ltd. and obtained 32.2% equity. According to the latest regulations of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, lending institutions need a license to provide financing guarantee services.

On June 5438+065438+ 10 this year, an Interim Measures for Supervision and Management of Financial Leasing Business (Draft for Comment) was circulated in the financial leasing industry, which put forward strict requirements for standardizing the development of the industry.

"At present, the China market is still immature. We estimate that it will take three to five years for this financial leasing industry to mature. " Some insiders have said.

The intensification of market competition and the upcoming New Deal also mean that the financial leasing industry, which is still in the "growth period", will usher in a new round of reshuffle.

Note: Some interviewees are pseudonyms.

Related question and answer: Why doesn't Yixin dare to tow a car now? I don't think I dare to tow a car now, because it is very troublesome. Now many roads are closed, and then the roads in the village are closed, so I won't go out to tow cars now.

Related Q&A: The car loan was only two days overdue, and the collection company said it would be handled by a trailer. Does the collection company have this right? Why? The collection company does not have this right. To say the least, even if the car loan is overdue in the contract, it is illegal to collect the company trailer.

If the company is forced to tow the trailer, it can report to the police or apply to the people's court for property preservation measures.

Reason 1: The company trailer does not exercise the lien.

Lien is a legal security interest, not an agreed security interest. The "mortgaged vehicle" agreed by the loan company and the borrower in the loan contract belongs to the agreed lien and is invalid. Moreover, the loan company does not legally possess the mortgaged vehicle, and the creditor's rights and debts between the mortgaged vehicle and both parties do not belong to the same legal relationship and do not meet the conditions of lien, so it is illegal to collect the company's trailer, which is one of them.

Reason 2: The company's trailer collection does not conform to the way of mortgage exercise.

The way to exercise the mortgage right stipulated in the Property Law is "auction, sale and priority compensation for the sale price". The mortgagee shall not agree with the mortgagor that when the debtor fails to perform the due debt before the expiration of the debt performance period, the mortgage shall be owned by the creditor, that is, the mortgagee is prohibited from realizing the mortgage right by obtaining the ownership of the mortgage. Therefore, it is illegal to receive company trailers, which is the second.

Therefore, in this case, both sides are at fault. It is suggested to negotiate and ask the collection company to give a certain grace period for repayment. If negotiation fails, it will be settled through litigation. However, it is illegal for the collection company to tow the car away either in accordance with the contract or without the consent of the borrower.

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