Watching dramas and ordering takeout can unexpectedly lead to "trick" loans—beware of these hidden traps

Open the food delivery app to order, and a payment plan discount pops up—saving a few bucks here. Hail a ride and pay, and the page pushes low-interest borrowing. Even when you top up for a video membership or pay your phone bill, you can see the so-called borrowing entry points. These days, in all kinds of everyday services platforms, borrowing inducements are everywhere. What should be rigorous financial borrowing has turned into something you can do with a tap. Many people accidentally sign up for services and end up with debt, even affecting their personal credit record. With financial marketing getting into everything, and facing such layered borrowing traps, how should consumers protect their own financial safety?

Free VIP link redirect Watching series turns into a borrowing user

Beware the interest-rate illusion trap

Mr. Wang from Zhejiang reports that recently, while watching shows on his phone, loan ads of all kinds keep popping up frequently—catchphrases like “No need to ask, high额度, instant approval and payout” are extremely tempting. In a moment when he was waiting for an episode to play, he inadvertently tapped the screen a few times, and soon received a prompt saying he could be approved for a 200k yuan loan.

Mr. Wang said that in the past, when he went to the bank to borrow several hundred thousand yuan, the procedures were complicated—he needed to provide real estate and car collateral, check his credit record, and the funds would be released slowly. Now, he can borrow money just by tapping a few times on his phone.

Ms. Xie from Jiangxi, while watching a popular TV series, also clicked a button on a certain video platform that said “Get 1 month of VIP for free,” only to be redirected to a loan application page.

Ms. Xie: Back then, I was really into the series. When I saw I could “get 1 month of VIP for free,” I thought I could save a few dozen yuan, so I clicked. In the end, I had to fill in my ID card and bank card information. While filling it out, I only then realized it was an application for a loan. I was really upset—watching a show turned me into a borrowing user. Now when I see words like “interest-free, loan, installment,” I won’t click around casually anymore.

The reporter’s review found that in a number of commonly used apps—shopping, entertainment, commuting, and food delivery—many platforms have set up borrowing entry points. Some platforms that appear to have nothing to do with loans are no exception. Behind it, there are mainly two models: platform-owned financial products and assist-loan services that route users from third parties. In the view of Liu Xingliang, a scholar of digital economics, the core goal of internet platforms is conversion rate and the efficiency of monetization. This kind of design, in essence, deliberately guides users to improve conversion.

Liu Xingliang: Borrowing business profits are high and customers repurchase strongly, so it will be placed at the highest-priority level for recommendations. The design details involve behavioral guidance— and the button colors are very conspicuous. The “close” button is even more hidden. By default, it calculates for you the amount you can borrow. All of this is behavioral design, which lowers users’ decision-making barriers. According to the “Internet Information Service Algorithm Recommendation Management Provisions,” platforms may not use algorithms to induce excessive consumption. But in reality, many of these behaviors are still skirting the rules.

Mr. Xia from Hebei told the reporter that not only do the borrowing ads in the software disturb the public, but if people click into them by mistake, they also leave credit record entries—planting a hidden problem for later life.

Mr. Xia: Ads related to borrowing ask you to input information like your mobile number and ID card number. These ads affect my use of my phone and my plans. After I click into them, I can see the relevant browsing records on my credit report. Later, when I need to use borrowing or small loans, the credit-related staff will ask why I clicked a link with borrowing-related information—whether I have any intention to use borrowing products recently.

Many people think that buying things in installments is just a small convenience of paying later after spending first. They didn’t realize that once you add it all up, there can be quite a lot of hidden fees. Tian Lihui, Dean of the Financial Development Research Institute at Nankai University, believes that the key to calculating the real cost of borrowing or installment plans is controlling the interest-rate stage.

Tian Lihui: When you see ads saying daily interest can be as low as one ten-thousandth, and a loan of 1,000 yuan costs only a few dozen cents, be careful—this isn’t a discount, it’s a cognitive trap, possibly an interest-rate illusion. One ten-thousandth daily interest sounds trivial, but if you multiply it by 365 days to get an annualized rate, it becomes 3.65%. If it’s five ten-thousandths, the annualized rate can reach 18.25%. This is already close to the upper limit of the legal protection rate for private lending. To guard against this illusion, you must look at the annualized rate. According to regulatory requirements, any loan product must clearly mark the annualized rate in a prominent place. If it’s not marked, marked very small, or you’re given the daily interest rate and monthly fee rate instead, it’s recommended that you turn around and leave.

Tian Lihui points out that for young people, borrowing through a few-yuan discount coupon and getting deeper and deeper in debt—this is the core pain point of consumer finance today. He suggests that ordinary people should clearly understand their amount they can borrow, and avoid exceeding their ability to repay.

Build a “three-in-one” governance system

Let borrowing return to its rational essence

The essence of finance is allocating resources across different time periods, not trying to grab small advantages—it simply isn’t worth it. A simple self-check method:

30% threshold

Keep all debt monthly repayments within 30% of your monthly income—that’s the comfort zone;

Income minus essential expenses rule

Subtract essential expenditures each month—such as rent, food, transportation—from your monthly income. Of the remaining money, you should use at most half to repay debts; the other half should be kept for savings or emergencies.

True financial freedom isn’t about how much you can borrow, but about being able to control the desire to not borrow money.

The National Financial Regulatory Administration recently held talks with five assist-loan platforms and six travel platforms, directly pointing to issues such as noncompliant financial business marketing and unclear disclosure of interest and fees. In March this year, the two departments jointly issued new rules requiring that personal loan businesses must clearly disclose the comprehensive financing cost, listing all interest and fees and their collection standards in full.

Tian Lihui believes that non-financial applications are becoming a covert entry point for financial risks. In the past two years, the level and speed of related regulation have been unprecedented and historic. “Making interest and fees clear” is only the first step. To root out disorderly practices, we need a three-in-one governance system.

First, technical regulation needs to be upgraded—algorithms must not be allowed to become accomplices in inducing borrowing, and algorithms that exploit users’ financial difficulties must be prohibited. Second, data use must be standardized—consumption behavior data and financial data need to be strictly separated, preventing platforms from determining whether you’re already short on money by analyzing your food delivery records or ride-hailing frequency. Third, a responsibility mechanism across the full chain should be established: in the marketing stage, it should be strictly forbidden to disguise things as consumption coupons or points reminders; in the signing stage, a cooling-off period should be considered; and in the collections stage, violent debt collection must be strictly banned.

Most importantly, we need to establish a long-term consumer education mechanism. Financial literacy is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. The ultimate goal of regulation is not to eliminate borrowing, but to ensure that borrowing returns to the essence of cautious decision-making.