When you already cannot repay credit cards or online loans, call the bank or platform customer service yourself to apply for a personalized installment or deferral; do not borrow new to pay old, and do not pay intermediaries for “interest freeze,” “credit-report repair,” or “anti-collection”

If you cannot repay a credit card but are still willing to, you can negotiate a personalized installment with the bank for up to 5 years; once the agreement is signed the bank must stop collection. But the bank may refuse, and overdue records already on the credit report stay. Intermediaries who charge to “freeze interest” or “clean the credit report” have been specifically flagged by regulators — do not use them.

Cost

No money spent. Call the official customer service number printed on the card back or published in the App, say clearly that you cannot repay but are willing to. Have proof of income, unemployment, or illness ready; often you must call several times. Once agreed, repay monthly under the new plan; you cannot open new credit cards until it is paid off. The hard part is answering the bank’s calls and explaining your hardship over and over.

Benefit

For credit cards there are express rules. When debt exceeds your repayment capacity and you are still willing to repay, the bank “may” negotiate equally with you and sign a personalized installment repayment agreement. The agreement lasts at most 5 years. It must state how much is owed, how much each installment is, and whether annual fees and interest are charged during repayment. Once both sides sign, the bank and collection agencies it engages must stop collection. If you do not repay per the agreement, that limit does not apply. If the deal is only oral, the bank must keep a recording at least until the debt is paid off. Debt already under installment cannot be installmented again; personalized installment is the only exception (2022 regulatory notice). When the People’s Bank of China repealed the old bank-card rules in 2025, it stated that credit cards continue under these rules. Online loans have no unified personalized-installment rule; whether deferral or installment is possible depends on the contract and the lender. When the lender is a consumer finance company, rules forbid collection by violence, threats, intimidation, or harassment. Banks and consumer finance companies may not collect from people unrelated to the debt. On paid intermediaries, five departments including the financial regulator issued a joint risk alert in 2026. It says claims such as “loans/credit cards need not be repaid,” “debt negotiation,” “debt swap,” and “credit-report whitewash” are false. Such “agency rights defense” charges high service fees; if you try to quit mid-way you may be sued for breach. They collect your bank cards, phone SIMs, home address, and children’s schools. Providing false materials as they teach, maliciously fleeing debt, or pressing with complaints may, in serious cases, involve crime. The Beijing banking and insurance regulator in 2022 also named ads for “interest freeze,” “stop collection,” and “full interest waiver.” It said that listening to such people, delaying repayment, and not contacting the bank can leave overdue bad records on the credit report. The National Development and Reform Commission ran a 2022 special campaign on “credit-report repair.” The notice says these people blur credit-report objections and credit repair, and defraud under names such as “credit-report repair, whitewash, wipe the slate.” Bad information on a credit report is kept for 5 years from the day the bad act or event ends, then deleted. During the retention period you may add a statement to that record, and the credit-reporting institution must record it (nationwide)

Notes

Personalized installment says the bank “may” negotiate, not that it must agree; the bank may refuse. If talks fail, the bank may sue you for repayment. Ordinary first-instance procedure starts at 6 months; summary procedure is 3 months. Lawyer fees are yours to pay; they are not among litigation costs the court orders the loser to bear. If you still cannot pay after a judgment, enforcement follows — see Section 8, item 20 (sued and under enforcement). Being listed as dishonest — see Section 8, item 21 (listed as dishonest). Simply being unable to repay is not a crime. A joint judicial interpretation says you cannot be treated as intending to keep the money just because you missed a payment. Fleeing after overdrawing, changing contact details to dodge collection, or transferring assets may be treated as malicious overdraft. Malicious overdraft is pursued as credit-card fraud; unpaid principal of 50000 yuan or more counts as a relatively large amount. So take the bank’s calls, and tell the bank when you change number or address. Borrowing new to pay old only rolls interest higher; before any loan, look at the annualized rate — see Section 5, item 7 (convert interest to an annualized rate). High-interest private borrowing — see item 15 (do not borrow usury). If collectors call family or colleagues, or insult or threaten you, complain to the lender first. If the bank does not resolve it, call the free 12378 bank and insurance consumer complaint hotline. Threats to personal safety go to 110. For errors on the credit report, free inquiry and objections — see Section 8, item 9 (free credit-report inquiry). If serious illness leaves you unable to repay, also see item 10 (serious illness: medical insurance and medical assistance first). “Agency surrender of insurance” is the same kind of scheme — see Section 5, item 43 (do not use agency surrender). The main beneficiary is you yourself.

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