Small loan companies are financial institutions that abide by national laws and administrative regulations, implement national financial policies, implement financial standards and accounting systems for financial enterprises, and accept supervision and management by governments at all levels and relevant departments according to law. Microfinance companies cannot absorb public deposits. Its customers are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households; Compared with private lending, microfinance is more standardized.

P2P(peer to peer) credit simply means that individuals with money and financial ideas lend money to others who need to borrow through intermediaries. Among them, the intermediary agency is responsible for conducting a detailed investigation on the borrower's economic benefits, management level and development prospects, and collecting income such as account management fees and service fees.

Although P2P credit and microfinance are both private lending institutions serving individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises, there are four major differences.

Difference 1: the operation mode is different.

The main operating mode of small loan companies is offline service, and investors and borrowers cooperate face to face online, which has geographical restrictions. The main operation mode of P2P credit is online service. Both investors and borrowers complete the cooperation directly online, and some of them need to be completed through offline audit contact.

Difference 2: the nature of the company is different

In the whole lending relationship, the main business of small loan companies is to provide all kinds of small loans to attract borrowers to come to the loan. Peer-to-peer credit does not participate in any capital transaction, but only serves as an intermediate relationship between borrowers and investors and provides them with corresponding services.

Difference 3: different charges

Small loan companies charge corresponding interest. P2P credit institutions only act as intermediaries, so they will charge service fees to investors and borrowers.

Difference 4: Different interest rates.

The loan funds of microfinance companies all come from shareholders, so the interest rate is relatively high (there are no other hidden costs). The lending funds of P2P credit institutions all come from investors, which is a person-to-person service. So the interest rate is slightly lower (there are other additional fees).