In Depth: Chinese Consumers Deluged With Cheap Loans

In the space of a month or so, three or four banks came knocking on the door of a top internet company in Beijing with some juicy offers — cheap personal consumption loans for staff in a group-buying arrangement.

The deals included loans of 300,000 yuan ($41,175) to as much as 500,000 yuan with some carrying annualized interest rates as low as 2.8%. Many were interest-only loans that allowed borrowers to repay the principal at the end of the three-year term.