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Find Out What Your Alipay Credit Score Says About You!

2017-07-09 ShanghaiWOWeng


You read that title right. You have a Chinese credit score you know nothing about, scared yet? Well hopefully, you’re a responsible Alipay(er) and you shouldn’t be. This credit score is compiled on all the data that Alipay collects from you, meaning the more you use that handy app to pay for all the goods and services you purchase the higher your score ultimately will be. Of course, there are several other factors and benefits that go into this as well. Take a look into Alipay’s Zhima Credit score and what this means for you.



Open Alipayà Home à More à Wealth Management 

 

Follow there track just above so you can see this screen on your phone. From here click on Zhima Credit. If your Alipay is in Chinese for some reason and you can’t read it, it looks like 芝麻信用. Click on it and proceed to finding out your Alipay credit score.



Home Screen

 

Your home screen shows your fancy credit score at the stop with a series of options below. The score starts at 550 for new Alipay users and increases or decreases accordingly. Luckily most foreigners are unable to get Chinese loans, at least as far as I’m aware. This means as long as you’re a frequent Alipay user and don’t keep your money under your mattress, you probably have only increased your score. The max is 950, the benefits of which (for foreigners) remains unclear.



Bicycles


While the benefit remains only for Chinese ID card holders, we are looking at a bright future as bike-shares and Alipay themselves go global. At the moment, our Chinese friends can enjoy using bike-shares like ofo without first handing over the RMB 199 security deposit, if their score is about 650. Like I said, it may only be for locals at this moment, but as Alipay’s Zhima credit exits its beta phase and increased globalization takes place throughout all the companies involved, we are looking at higher potential for foreign-friendly benefits coming soon.



Loans, Rent & Services

 

As the local market turns more and more into a communal paradise, with bike-shares, power-bank shares, and umbrella-shares popping up left and right, we are bound to see Zhima Credit take advantage of the current situation. Bikes and other services like umbrellas have already been implemented. Aside from these small-scale credit services, Zhima Credit is also offering local security deposit free apartments for those with a high enough score. For renting apartments in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou a score of 650 gets you 1 month deposit/ one month rent for a down payment, while a 750 score gets a free security deposit, only having to fork over the rent every month.

 


Why Should We Care?


As per usual, expats are left out of the majority of these benefits unless you’re lucky enough to have the nearly unobtainable Chinese ID card. However, you should still care; here’s why. For the rental credit, perhaps the biggest benefit, if your local girlfriend, boyfriend, or REALLY good friend has a high enough credit score, they can sign on your behalf to get you out of committing to a security deposit.

 

Additionally, as foreign-owned Alipay accounts still have the Zhima Credit service included and active without any prior Chinese ID card registration, plus an option for foreign account/credit/certification registration, all the signs point to a soon-to-be foreign friendly future for Alipay’s credit score. Be patient and soon you may too be free to ride ofo(s) without a pesky RMB 200 leaving your pocket. 


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