Qifang
Encyclopedia
Qifang is a Chinese peer-to-peer
lending online community focused on student loan
s. http://www.qifang.cn/index.htm
Qifang was founded by Calvin Chin, its present CEO. He is a Chinese American
, a former ABC
corporate worker. With two friends he started Qifang, “basically doing a pure lending model focused on Chinese students wanting to go to school”. http://cnreviews.com/video/qifang_social_venture_calvin_chin_20080723.html
In 2009, Chun was recognized as a Chinese Business Leader of the Year by Horasis
Under the scheme, lenders are banks, companies, non-government organization, non-profit organizations, philanthropists and individuals seeking for projected investment returns in the range of 8 to 12 percent. Qifang has established partnerships with the schools to have access to the students’ information to verify the applications and disburse loan payments directly to the respective educational institutes. Upon application, students must provide personal information such as their national ID cards, and list their school, major, grades, hometown, parents ID cards and income. Prospective lenders are recommended to invest in a portfolio of loans to reduce their risk, with the alternative of putting all their money in a single loan upon their own discretion.
[1] (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education_in_China)
[2] (Source: Worldbank China 2007)
[3] (Source: Uwe Brandenburg, Higher Education in China in the light of massification and demographic change, 2007)
[4] (Source: http://www.qifang.cn/index.htm)
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
lending online community focused on student loan
Student loan
A student loan is designed to help students pay for university tuition, books, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in that the interest rate may be substantially lower and the repayment schedule may be deferred while the student is still in education...
s. http://www.qifang.cn/index.htm
Qifang was founded by Calvin Chin, its present CEO. He is a Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
, a former ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
corporate worker. With two friends he started Qifang, “basically doing a pure lending model focused on Chinese students wanting to go to school”. http://cnreviews.com/video/qifang_social_venture_calvin_chin_20080723.html
In 2009, Chun was recognized as a Chinese Business Leader of the Year by Horasis
Horasis
Horasis is an independent think tank based in Zurich, Switzerland, which was established in 2005 by Frank-Jürgen Richter, its Chairman. Its stated mission is to "enact visions for a sustainable future" through new platforms for cooperation and knowledge-sharing, particularly between developed...
Background
China’s higher education sector has changed from a unified, centralized and closed system to one that allows openness and diversification. As the current undergoes decentralization and semi-privatization, there is greater inequality in educational opportunities. From 1989, China started to collect tuition and accommodation fees from its students enrolled in higher education institutions. The fees have since risen from 200RMB in 1989 to 5000RMB in 2007. Based on the figures, higher education tuition fees correspond to 37% of the average Gross National Income per person in China. Since 1999, average tuition fees are taking up roughly 50% of per capita GDP, compared to 20% observed in other developed countries. With the potential of tuition fees to further rise, average incomes in China may not be able to catch up.Operations
Qifang is a P2P lending site for Chinese student loans which caters to students accepted into Chinese universities or colleges and post-graduate training programs. Qifang promotes a group lending dynamic in contrast to the conventional group borrowing associations. The company focuses on helping poor students to solve the problems of higher education tuition fees and full repayment and provides access to other educational financial services. Qifang’s business model share similarities with that of Prosper Marketplace, tapping into the infant consumer lending sector of China’s developing banking infrastructure.Under the scheme, lenders are banks, companies, non-government organization, non-profit organizations, philanthropists and individuals seeking for projected investment returns in the range of 8 to 12 percent. Qifang has established partnerships with the schools to have access to the students’ information to verify the applications and disburse loan payments directly to the respective educational institutes. Upon application, students must provide personal information such as their national ID cards, and list their school, major, grades, hometown, parents ID cards and income. Prospective lenders are recommended to invest in a portfolio of loans to reduce their risk, with the alternative of putting all their money in a single loan upon their own discretion.
[1] (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education_in_China)
[2] (Source: Worldbank China 2007)
[3] (Source: Uwe Brandenburg, Higher Education in China in the light of massification and demographic change, 2007)
[4] (Source: http://www.qifang.cn/index.htm)