With two friends, Qifang's operations were “basically doing a pure lending model focused on Chinese students wanting to go to school”.
[2][3] As a grown up from a small village in Hunan province of China, Tingbin understood how hard it is for a family to afford for their kids' tuition.
Based on the figures, higher education tuition fees correspond to 37% of the average gross national income per person in China.
Qifang’s business model shared similarities with that of Prosper Marketplace, tapping into the infant consumer lending sector of China’s developing banking infrastructure.
Qifang established partnerships with schools to have access to the students’ information to verify the applications and disburse loan payments directly to the respective educational institutes.