Abstract: As the representative of the private finance in China, P2P online lending initially carries out the practice of interest rate marketization. Compared to foreign P2P online lending interest rate which is mainly affected by the borrowers’ hard information and soft information, China’s P2P online lending interest rate is heavily affected by the platforms. When studying the factors deciding China’s online lending interest rate, we should take into consideration the impact from both the platform attributes and the specific loan attributes. The results show that the interest rate on the private platform is significantly higher than that on the platforms with other investment backgrounds. Such principal and interest guarantee modes as the platform funds deposited by the third party and the institutional guarantee can significantly reduce the interest rates of loans, while the risk degree of the platform region, the term of loan and so on can significantly increase the lending rate. But the effects of the mortgage guarantee method of the project itself on the interest rate is not significant. China’s P2P online lending investors pay special attention to the platform risks in their risk identification, so that concrete specifications must be made for the P2P online lending platforms.

Key words: P2P online lending; interest rate determination; online lending platform; interest rate marketization