Economic Observer reporter Lao Yingying

It's impossible for you to ask me to save 10000 yuan, but maybe you can ask me to repay a loan of 10000 yuan. "As a" Moonlight Clan, "Chen Hui from Ningbo plans to force herself to accumulate savings again through loans after multiple failed attempts at saving.

Recently, with the concentrated release of demand for summer travel and home appliance replacement, various consumer loan and interest sharing activities by banks have emerged one after another. Chen Hui discovered that the annualized interest rate for limited time consumer loans offered by some banks has dropped to 3%, and multiple benefits such as interest deduction coupons and lucky draws can also be added. Therefore, she was tempted to apply for a loan. Half a year ago, Chen Hui had already applied for a consumer loan of 15000 yuan with an interest rate of 3.6% from the bank. However, the loan originally planned for savings was ultimately used for consumption. After the first "loan savings" plan failed, she was still unwilling and decided to try again.

The reporter learned during the interview that "moonlight enthusiasts" like Chen Hui pursue happiness in current consumption and spend all their monthly wages. Even after working for many years, they find it difficult to save up. But standing at the turning point of their lives at the age of 30, they began to realize the importance of savings, so they came up with a special way of saving: applying for a loan or credit installment from the bank, and then transferring the borrowed funds to other banks, using the deposit interest to "reverse" the monthly payment, and paying for the shortfall themselves. This method of using debt to impose mandatory constraints on consumer behavior is equivalent to spending money to find someone to supervise one's persistence in saving, and the cost paid is the interest difference between deposits and loans.

Among the "Moonlight Tribe" interviewed by reporters, most people have restrained their impulse to consume and developed a habit of saving after one or two attempts, and then stopped using this method. But Shanghai white-collar worker Yu Jia adopted this method, borrowing more than ten times and "saving" a considerable amount of savings (including his own fund balance). In her opinion, this method works well and she plans to continue using it in the future.

Borrowing money from the bank and depositing it

After repaying her first loan, Chen Hui decided to try "borrowing money" again. This time she took out a loan of 10000 yuan with an interest rate of 3%. According to the equal principal and interest repayment schedule within one year, the average monthly interest is about 20 yuan. After withdrawing, she deposited the money into another bank and made a one-year fixed deposit with an interest rate of 1.45%. She hopes that this plan will be successful and that she can save 10000 yuan in one year.

Be sure to go to the counter to apply for a fixed deposit, and do not operate it through mobile banking. Mobile banking operations can be revoked, and do not leave yourself a way out. "As an experienced" old hand ", Yu Jia has obtained a passbook for herself. This way, withdrawals must be processed in person at the counter with her ID card and deposit certificate, which is cumbersome and can completely eliminate the idea of using her principal.

Yu Jia told reporters that she will start applying for consumer loans for savings from mid-2023. At that time, banks were vigorously promoting consumer loans, with interest rates dropping to about 3.5%, and also launching discount activities such as coupons and lucky draws. For the first time, she applied for a loan from a joint-stock commercial bank with an interest rate of 3.68%. She dared not lend too much recklessly, only applied for and withdrew 20000 yuan, and chose to repay within a year. Then I deposited this money into a local commercial bank and processed a one-year fixed deposit business with an interest rate of about 1.9%.

At the beginning of 2024, Yu Jia changed jobs and received a salary increase, and then paid off her previous consumer loans in one go. In 2024, the "price war" of consumer loan interest rates is very intense, and some banks' consumer loan interest rates have even entered the "2" prefix. Stimulated by low interest rates, Yu Jia continued to apply for multiple consumer loans and increased the amount to 50000 to 100000 yuan, with monthly repayments increasing to four to five thousand yuan. Due to her high monthly salary, it is sufficient to cover her monthly repayment expenses. At the beginning of 2025, the consumer loan interest rate dropped from 2.8% to 2.68%. On the basis of repaying the previous loan in advance, she also took out a one-time loan of 100000 yuan, repeating this cycle multiple times.

So, when monthly repayment became a habit, after deducting loan interest and living expenses, Yu Jia had a surplus of funds every month, and the amount of surplus continued to increase. With the continuous decrease of consumer loan interest rates, the interest rate of commercial bank fixed deposits is also decreasing, gradually falling below 1.5%, which has made her lose interest in fixed deposits. Relying on the continuously increasing loan amount and monthly surplus funds, she "saved" hundreds of thousands of yuan to purchase a 3-year large deposit certificate from a local small and medium-sized bank. At that time, although the interest rate of large denomination certificates of deposit also fell to 1.9%, it was still more attractive than fixed deposits.

In April 2025, the annualized interest rate for commercial bank credit consumption loans will be standardized to no less than 3%. At the same time, the interest rate of large denomination certificates of deposit is gradually decreasing. At present, the interest rate of Yu Jia's latest loan is 3%, with a monthly repayment amount of 3600 yuan, and the interest rate of the large deposit certificate deposited is 1.8%. In the past three years, Yu Jia has taken out more than ten loans, with an annual loan frequency of 3 to 4 times, ranging from a minimum of 20000 yuan to a maximum of 100000 yuan. Combined with her monthly savings, her current "deposit amount" is quite substantial.

Yuxin from Guangdong also told reporters that her first deposit was also saved in this way. At that time, she applied for a consumption loan of 50000 yuan, with two years of installment payments and monthly repayments of more than 2000 yuan. And at that time, she directly deposited the principal of the loan into Yu'ebao, without depositing it in a designated bank. The reason for doing this is that she is worried that she will resign if she can't keep up with her job. If she resigns without income, she can use the money in Yu'ebao to repay the loan at any time. She believes that carrying bank debts can impose constraints on herself, as she does not want to become a "deadbeat" and is forced to repay on time, which also helps to restrain her desire to consume.

Who is "saving money with loans"

Among the interviewees, Yuxin is a bit special. She is an "80s generation" who loves cats. She has five cats, and the oldest one is currently 20 years old. She bought it to accompany her when she first graduated. She has been working in a private enterprise in a third tier city in Guangdong. When she first graduated, her monthly salary was less than 5000 yuan, leaving little money for meals and clothes every month. After working for a period of time, her salary increased and she began to want to buy more expensive digital products. She applied for a credit card for installment payments, but still couldn't save up money every month.

At the age of 30, Yuxin's after tax salary had already increased to 10000 yuan. She bought two more cats and felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction watching them constantly act cute and play. But at the same time as emotional comfort, the cost of raising cats is also increasing day by day, especially for kittens, which can cost at least thousands of yuan for a single illness. She came up with the idea of "saving money with a loan" in this situation.

Chen Hui, born in 1996, has been working for 7 years and currently earns over 10000 yuan per month. She told reporters that she is a person who enjoys things to the fullest and enjoys them to the fullest, and her consumption concept is that 'you must buy what you want'. Many small gadgets that are not essential items, although not expensive individually, can still be quite expensive at the end of the month when you look at the bill. And she enjoys traveling, spending short holidays around the city and arranging trips abroad during long holidays. In this way, "tight wallets" have become the norm, and the plan to "borrow and save money" has been put on the agenda.

Yu Jia, born in 1995, currently earns a monthly salary of nearly 30000 yuan. Two years ago, she changed to a more stable job and her salary doubled after the job change. When she first graduated, she could hardly resist various temptations. Her vanity and competitiveness were very strong, and she wanted to buy luxury goods, change her phone or purchase other digital products every year, and also wanted to buy a luxury car. Moreover, she is the kind of person who will make large and impulsive purchases whenever she has a large deposit on hand.For example, one time when a friend bought a Mercedes Benz, she also went to buy the same model. However, when she was looking at the car, she didn't do any strategy and paid a deposit of more than 10000 yuan directly. Later, she found out that because she didn't compare prices, the car was 20000 yuan more expensive. She often laments that although having a hot brain may be stimulating, it is absolutely not advisable.

Ms. Li was born in 1997 and works for a foreign company in Guangzhou. She told reporters that her salary is relatively high, with nearly 20000 yuan after tax per month and no pressure, so she cannot control her desire to consume. Previously, she believed that becoming beautiful was more important than anything else, and most of her salary was spent on medical beauty and skincare. Every once in a while, she would take care of her face through projects such as photon rejuvenation, water therapy, and facial lifting. These medical beauty projects ranged from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan. A year ago, she took out a bank credit loan and deposited 20000 yuan for the first time in her life through the method of "loan savings".

In May 2026, Accenture's report "Certainty: New Coordinates for Generation Z - Insights into Chinese Consumers" pointed out that Chinese Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2009) under the age of 30 need immediate and definite emotional feedback to recharge themselves through experiential consumption. Travel, concerts, exhibitions, immersive entertainment and other activities have become important outlets to meet the needs of Generation Z, helping them release their emotions and regain a sense of rhythm and control in life. They use creativity to make up for resource shortages, from "special forces" style tourism, to eating "beautiful meals", and then to purchasing bulk luxury goods. Through meticulous planning and creative consumption, they achieve maximum emotional returns within a limited budget.

The reporter also learned through interviews that women make up the vast majority of the group who are forced to save through loans. They live in the present and focus on short-term emotional support, without considering the long-term. For example, none of them have bought a house, and some have not even considered buying a house at all. Whether they are Generation Z or not, the first time they engage in the behavior of "borrowing and saving money" is usually around the age of 30. In the eyes of these people, although this approach incurs higher interest costs, if the loan can be 'saved', the additional interest costs are simply not worth mentioning.

Need both immediate satisfaction and a sense of security

30 years old is a turning point in life. At this age, the women interviewed begin to value the sense of security in life. They no longer only pursue immediate consumption happiness, but also need to accumulate both immediate satisfaction and long-term security.

Yujia has always been in a circle of comparison since childhood. When she was studying, she had better grades than her classmates, and after working, she had higher salaries than her peers. At work, in order to grow rapidly, she almost spends all her rest time on work. But at the age of 28, she suffered from depression, and the pain made her slow down and learn to save herself and think: when she was young, she could abandon everything for herself, but after the age of 30, she had to face not only herself, but also consider marriage and her aging parents. This also means that she can no longer just pursue immediate satisfaction of material desires, but needs to save and live more systematically in order to have more confidence in her future.

In 2023, Yu Jia adopted a "down payment+installment" model when purchasing a Mercedes Benz car, with a monthly repayment of 4200 yuan for the car loan. At that time, her salary was not high, more than 10000 yuan per month, and she was burdened with debt, which reduced the funds she could use for consumption and prevented her from spending extravagantly on shopping every month. But the repayment model of car loans gave Yu Jiaxin inspiration - mandatory debt, arranging monthly repayments for oneself, so as not to engage in large-scale consumption at will. Almost all of her friends around her do not use this method, but instead invest their salaries in funds and wealth management products to achieve asset appreciation. However, Yu Jia feels that her brain is not good enough, and she can only deposit into the bank for asset allocation. So, approaching the age of 30, Yu Jia launched a plan of "mandatory savings through loans".

Compared to Yu Jia's stable job, Chen Hui's job is not stable. She is not satisfied with her current job and often has the idea of resigning. However, she does not have any savings and is afraid to resign easily because once she loses her source of income, there will be no talk of "spontaneous travel". Therefore, she hopes to have more choices, and the important factor in becoming a selector is having money. By chance, Chen Hui saw someone online mentioning the method of "saving money with a loan", so she decided to give it a try.

At the age of 30, Yuxin, who had been working in a private enterprise for a long time, was very aware of the large variables in her work and worried that she might not be able to withstand them at any time. Although consumption can provide short-term emotional support, if there is no savings for a long time, as one grows older, they will also feel particularly insecure. So she forced herself to apply for a consumer loan from the bank and deposited it into Yu'ebao. The whole process was not easy, and the early stages were very agonizing. She repeatedly wanted to use her capital, but she restrained her impulses time and time again. After the adaptation period, the habit of saving is gradually established, and one-third of it is voluntarily deposited into a fixed deposit every month when receiving salary. When she can set aside a fixed amount of money every month, she no longer needs the method of "borrowing money to save".

Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and Yuxin has already saved 300000 yuan. While saving money, she did not choose to be overly frugal. Two years ago, she bought herself two cats, and now the youngest one is only two years old.

After taking out more than ten loans, Yu Jia gradually changed her habit of spending large amounts at will. At present, she repays a loan of 3600 yuan per month and will not consider buying a house with a loan in the short term, because if combined with a mortgage, the monthly repayment may reach over 10000 yuan. Previously, when friends around her changed cars, she also had the idea of changing cars, but now considering the pressure of repaying the loan, she has abandoned this idea. But apart from large expenses, she will not excessively mistreat herself, and she will still spend small daily expenses.

In her opinion, if she doesn't consume at all, it would be too disappointing for her youth.

(At the request of the interviewee, Chen Hui, Yu Jia, and Yu Xin are all pseudonyms)