No Money No Honey: Chinese Student’s University Enrolment Suspended Due To Father’s Poor Social Credit Score

As you may or may now know, social credit is an extremely big deal in China. What’s more there is a gazillion factors influencing the social score a citizen may even not know about. The recent instance reported by Business Insider is posing a question if children must be held accountable for their parents’ mistakes. The Typical Student team learned more about the story. Previously, we told you about credit score in Student Loan Guide: 8 SIMPLE Ways to Build a Good Credit Score in College (INFOGRAPHIC). Chech the post to learn more!

According to Business Insider, a student in China had his university enrolment suspended because of his father’s poor social credit score. Allegedly, a man named Rao didn’t pay off his $29,900 loan and was blacklisted as a debtor. Naturally, this was the reason why his social credit score dropped drastically.

Rao’s son who had allegedly landed a spot at a Chinese university was denied his enrolment due to father’s debt. Eventually, Rao had to pay off his debt of 200,000 renminbi ($29,900/£22,600) in two years’ time. Too late though, since it had already affected his son.

Social Credit System in China: Key Facts

In case this story is making your hair stand on end, here’s more about the harshness of Chinese social credit system:

• In 2020, China's social credit system is due to be rolled out nationwide.
• For now, two projects are doing the job instead: one is meant for rating individuals and another one is meant for creating blacklists.
• The blacklists are used to punish debtors in different ways: Chinese citizens can’t take flights abroad, use high-speed trains, book expensive hotels, or educate kids at lavish schools.
• There is a possibility of debtors’ children being affected by their parents’ poor credit score.  

This situation has caused quite a stir in China’s What's On Weibo. Users left over 30K comments on the news item about student’s rejection. Turns out, this isn’t the first time Chinese universities reportedly reject applicants due to their parents' poor social credit scores.