More than 20,000 college students have taken high-interest loans to buy fancy electronic products, mostly Apple devices, in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

From the start of January 2012 to the end of February 2013, the students applied for loans with a total value of 160 million yuan ($25.7 million) from Home Credit China (HC China), a subsidiary of international investment business PPF Group.

"We have lost touch with about 100 of them, getting no response to calls or letters reminding them about delayed payments," said Liu Mingwei, Wuhan regional manager of HC China.