A SHENZHEN resident, surnamed Zhou, received a loan for 320,000 yuan (US$46,528) from a Ping An Insurance Group online lending platform without having granted consent to the specialist who was dealing with Zhou’s affairs a few months ago.

    Zhou was not satisfied with the result because she managed to collect enough money to solve her financial problem and no longer needed the loan. According to the woman, the specialist, surnamed Guo, told her that the loan process would only proceed with her consent, so the outcome was not what Zhou expected.

    The lending platform responded recently that all of the loans would be issued if their clients passed an online video interview and there was no such step as “authorizing consent.” The specialist’s notion of asking for Zhou’s consent was his own mistake. The platform has already helped the client pay back the loan.

    Zhou owns a restaurant in Futian District. She was in need of some money several months ago and came across the loan specialist on the Ping An lending platform.

    On the night of Dec. 12 last year, Zhou consulted Guo about whether the lending platform could issue the money on the same day that she applied. Guo told Zhou that since it was late that day, the loan could only be issued the next day. However, Zhou managed to solve her financial problem the next day and did not need to apply for the loan.

    Keeping in contact with Guo, Zhou asked Guo again Jan. 5 if the loan could be transferred to her account that day. Following Guo’s instruction, Zhou applied for a loan of 320,000 yuan on the platform and went through the online interview procedure 10 days later.

    However, Zhou had not actually needed the loan by that time. The restaurant owner said that she agreed to conduct the interview only because the specialist was urging her to do so.

    According to the snapshot of her WeChat conversation with the specialist, the money would be transferred to her account only with Zhou’s consent. However, to Zhou’s surprise, the money went into her account Jan. 20.

    Public information shows that the lending platform is a branch company of Ping An Insurance Group and focuses on giving loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises as well as individuals. To be able to apply for loans on the platform, one also needs to register at Lufax, a financial company that also belongs to Ping An.

    Zhou said that she was aware of the requirement of having both accounts bound with the same bank card, but since her accounts on the two platforms were bound with two different cards, she did not think that the transaction would proceed.

    The lending platform responded, however, that its review of the backstage data showed that the client had unbound her bank card from the Lufax account Jan. 17, enabling the system to automatically assume that the loan could be issued to the bank card bound with their own platform, so the transaction went through.

    In terms of Zhou’s complaint, the lending company said that it found it was the specialist’s responsibility, and that it had already helped Zhou pay back the loan to the platform.

    (Zhang Qian)