(ECNS) -- More than 76 percent of respondents advocate a prohibition on loans to people under the age of 18 as peer-to-peer lending (P2P) presents the risk of burdensome debt among university students, China Youth News reports.
P2P enables individuals to borrow and lend money without the use of an official financial institution as an intermediary. It removes the middleman from the process, but also involves more time, effort and risk than general brick-and-mortar lending outlets.
The www.wenjuan.com survey of 2,000 people found that 47.9 percent of respondents said they have seen many university students make use of online loans.
Some 68.7 percent recommended that students have a rational approach to consumption, while 76.7 percent said students under 18 should be banned from using online loans while those above 18 should only access loans with the written permission of guarantors.
In addition, the survey found that 70.1 percent of respondents thought university students have less self-control in terms of consumption. People surveyed said verification for loans is not strict enough (46.9 percent), P2P lending processes are immature without unified industry standards (46.1 percent), and there is a lack of efficient supervision on P2P lending (42.1 percent).
The report also revealed posters promoting consumer loans are put up everywhere on campus and that university students can easily borrow tens of thousands of yuan with just their ID and student cards.
A student in central China's Henan Province recently committed suicide because of financial insolvency, which has drawn public attention to the consequence of excess credit.
Xin Xiaojun, a partner at Beijing Changheng Law Firm, said that college students should be educated in financial literacy and receive psychological guidance to avoid excessive consumption.
For their part, P2P lending platforms should strengthen verification on qualifications and lower loan amounts, Xin added.
