Indirect remarks highlight the "cost performance" even more.
Bank Consumer loans appear to be the first financial products to raise interest rates this year.
As the clock and Calendar move into April, more and more banks are reporting that the interest rates for consumer loans will no longer increase.
The four major state-owned banks, leading joint-stock banks, and major city commercial banks have all begun to stop issuing consumer loan products with ultra-low interest rates (below 3%), which has led to related loan rates exceeding 3% in public settings.
Will bank loan interest rates enter an 'upward channel' as a result?
High-leverage clients are 'facing challenges'.
Zhou Guangpeng (a pseudonym, referred to as Xiao Zhou hereafter) is a 'tech geek' at an Internet company in Peking, and as the owner of two houses and bearer of two mortgages, he has recently been contemplating 'leveraging up'.
Leveraging up is not to find more investment opportunities, but to alleviate temporary cash flow pressure. It is reported that Xiao Zhou spends his monthly salary to repay the housing loans for his houses in both Peking and his hometown. He himself revealed that after paying the mortgage, he is nearly 'spending every penny' by the end of the month.
Xiao Zhou does not need to be too nervous, but after seeing the DeepSeek craze during this year's Spring Festival, he is bullish on China's equity market and continues to increase his holdings in ETF funds, which has made his cash flow particularly tight.
If it weren't for successfully applying for a consumer loan with an interest rate of only 2.55% in March, the pressure on Zhou Guangpeng's cash reserves would be even greater.
High-leverage clients are filled with mixed feelings.
However, the overall cost of financing from banks for Xiao Zhou continues to rise.
At the beginning of April this year, Xiao Zhou received clear confirmation that for a considerable period in the future, consumer loans with an annual interest rate below 3% may become increasingly rare.
At the same time, the deposit interest rates offered by major banks continue to be lowered... which increases the pressure on high-leverage Xiao Zhou.
所谓消费贷，亦叫消费信贷，是指商业银行发放给个人或家庭，用以购买耐用消费品或服务（比如教育、医疗、旅游）等用途的贷款。此类贷款往往不能用于生产经营和投资领域，但享有较多的利率优惠。
More financial institutions are raising interest rates.
Zhitang has整理 公开信息: Recently, several banks have successively raised the annual interest rates for consumer loan products.
Taking Bank Of China as an example: The annual interest rate of "Bank Of China E Loan" has been raised from 2.72% to 3.1% (excluding clients enjoying interest rate policies in Tibet), with an approved limit of up to 0.3 million yuan; the minimum interest rate of the "Flexible Mind Loan" product has increased from 2.85% to at least 3.00%, but the specific interest rate situation can only be determined after assessment.
CM BANK's "Lightning Loan" annual interest rate has been raised from 2.55% to start from 3.05%. The maximum amount that can be borrowed is 0.3 million yuan. The minimum annual interest rates for consumer loan products of Agricultural Bank Of China, MINSHENG BANK, and China CITIC Bank Corporation have all increased to 3.1%. The minimum annual interest rate for China CITIC Bank's "Xing Miaodai" is 4.35%, but it is noted that qualified clients may have preferential interest rates.
Among city commercial banks, the consumer loan product interest rates of leading city commercial banks in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have also risen to a level of 3% per year.
In addition to raising the annual interest rate level, some Banks have also adjusted the limits of consumer loans. For example, the related products of China Construction Bank Corporation have increased the interest rate to 3%, and the limit has been uniformly adjusted to 0.3 million yuan, while China CITIC Bank Corporation has offered a corresponding limit of 0.2 million yuan. Additionally, the "Phoenix E Loan" from Peking Rural Commercial Bank currently has a maximum limit of up to 0.6 million yuan.
The "price war" abruptly ends.
Industry insiders believe that the reason banks are "raising interest rates" against the trend may be due to window guidance. Some reports indicate that relevant parties have requested that commercial banks should not offer loan interest rates lower than an annualized 3%, and that reauthorized loans will also face interest rate adjustments.
Earlier this year, in order to compete for "high-quality clients," various banks had launched various "preferential" annual interest rates for consumer loan products, with extreme cases being below 3% annual interest.
According to monitoring data from the Rong360 Digital Technology Research Institute, the average minimum executable interest rate for online consumer loans from national banks in February 2025 is 2.91%.
At the same time, major banks also have phased preferential consumer loan interest rates targeting specific regions or consumer directions. The "limited-time offer" product with an interest rate of 2.55% mentioned at the beginning of this article is one such product.
In March of this year, several large Banks also joined this "discount war". In addition to CM BANK mentioned above, the minimum discount loan rates of MINSHENG BANK and Bank Of Communications have dropped to 2.55%, 2.58%, and 2.85% respectively. Moreover, there were reports that some city commercial Banks launched a "limited discount" product with a rate of 2.4%.
Moreover, a professional in the consumer finance industry told Zhitang that some banks have offered products with an annual interest rate close to 2% for individuals with excellent qualifications (especially focusing on the employer and annual salary level). However, this individual refused to disclose the specific details of the involved banks.
In this competitive landscape, more banks not only "lowered" the interest rates but also increased the lending limits. A local bank in Jiangsu Province previously raised the maximum limit for relevant loan products to 1 million yuan.
"Special supply products" still exist.
With the efforts of the "visible hand," the preferential loan interest rate products of various banks have gradually disappeared in the short term.
However, behind the scenes, the banner of "preferential" still stands. A customer manager from a bank in northern China reported that the interest rate for the bank's consumer loan products is around 3.07%.
This customer manager continually emphasizes that the current requirements for Consumer loans are higher than those for online loans, requiring a review of credit reports, social security, and provident fund payment proofs. If the customer has borrowing records from platforms such as JD.com White条, Huabei, and Jiebei, the approval threshold will be even higher.
It is worth noting that there is still some consumer loan products in the market that offer relatively "low interest rates," leaving room for survival.
"If your credit record is very good, with a monthly provident fund contribution of over 1,800 yuan (the contribution amount from both employee and company), we can issue a coupon to you, with an annual interest rate of only 2.9%" said this customer fund manager to ZhiShiTang.
For consumer loan products with a larger "discount," this customer manager revealed the following application thresholds:
"If the monthly provident fund contribution is above 4,000 yuan (the contribution amount from both employee and company), it also depends on the qualifications of your workplace, and the annual interest rate can be even lower."
On April 18, a social media platform provided a 'strategy' for workers with interest rates below 3% for consumer loans, indicating that this is an exclusive channel for employees of state-owned enterprises, public institutions, and large technology companies.
It mentioned difficult situations to pass through, such as having borrowing records from platforms like Jiebei and WeiliDai in the past three months, and applicants need to 'nurture their credit' for three months after settling small loans before reapplying.
Consumer funds cannot flow into the stock market.
Zishitang further research found: In March this year, major Banks intensified the "interest rate competition" for Consumer loan products, related to a policy document, but it is filled with misunderstandings and arbitrage.
In mid-March, the National Financial Regulatory Administration issued the "Notice on Developing Consumer Finance to Boost Consumption," which mentions:
Commercial Banks can temporarily increase the upper limit of the amount that customers with good credit and high Consumer demand can independently pay for personal Consumer loans from 0.3 million yuan to 0.5 million yuan.
For customers with long-term Consumer needs, the loan term for personal Consumer loans from Commercial Banks can be extended temporarily from no more than 5 years to no more than 7 years.
This "misunderstanding" indirectly led to people like Zhou Guangpeng at the beginning of this article attempting to use Consumer loans for "leveraging" operations, flowing funds into the stock and real estate markets, violating the original intention of Consumer loans, and such behavior is now being corrected naturally.
