Following the announcement by the Ministry of Finance and two other departments to optimize the fiscal subsidy policy for individual consumer loans, by the 22nd, six major state-owned banks and several joint-stock banks have swiftly responded, intensively releasing detailed operational rules and Q&A guides. Some institutions have simultaneously opened supplementary application channels for credit card installment subsidies to ensure the policy benefits are quickly realized.
Regarding the subsidy period, the fiscal subsidy for individual consumer loans will be effective from September 1, 2025, to December 31, 2026. The subsidy period for credit card bill installments is from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026.
In terms of coverage, the new policy for the first time includes credit card bill installments within the subsidy scope, implementing an annual subsidy rate of 1 percentage point. It also comprehensively removes the restrictive clauses on consumption categories from the original policy.
On subsidy standards, multiple banks including Bank of Communications and Postal Savings Bank of China have clarified that they are abolishing the previous cap of 500 yuan per transaction for consumption subsidies and the cumulative subsidy cap of 1,000 yuan for individual consumer loans below 50,000 yuan. The maximum cumulative subsidy per borrower per year for all individual consumer loans, including credit card bill installments, at a single bank is now 3,000 yuan.
"The removal of single-transaction and small-amount cumulative subsidy limits effectively reduces the financing cost for medium and large-sized consumer credit," said Xue Hongyan, a special researcher at SuShang Bank. He indicated that with the 1% annual subsidy rate, the policy is expected to create a significant leverage effect, further amplifying the impact of fiscal funds on stimulating consumer lending.
The new policy also expands the range of institutions eligible to administer the local subsidy policy to include city commercial banks, rural cooperative financial institutions, foreign-funded banks, consumer finance companies, and auto finance companies with a regulatory rating of 3A or above, thereby broadening the policy's reach. Currently, many banks are urgently formulating detailed implementation rules; for instance, Fuzhou Rural Commercial Bank stated it will subsequently announce the application procedures and other implementation details through official social media, its website, and branch outlets.
