Online lending is legal. Online lending is legal as long as it conforms to the law. However, if the online loan interest exceeds four times the quoted interest rate of the one-year loan market when the contract is established, it is not protected by law. In other words, it is illegal for online loans to pay more than four times the quoted interest rate of the one-year loan market when the contract is established.

legal ground

Article 25 of the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Private Lending Cases (revised in 2020)

If the lender requests the borrower to pay interest at the interest rate agreed in the contract, the people's court shall support it, except that the interest rate agreed by both parties exceeds 4 times the market quotation of one-year loan at the time of the establishment of the contract.

The "one-year loan market quotation" mentioned in the preceding paragraph refers to the one-year loan market quotation issued monthly by the National Interbank Funding Center authorized by the People's Bank of China from August 20th, 20th, 20th19th.