Bugs and New Repayment System - Q&A With Kiva CS

[Guest]

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[Diane R]

It sounds awful, but... I've almost completely stopped looking at my portfolio.  I can't make any sense of it, it's not easy to sort, it can't be easily searched, it's disorganized, I don't have good luck getting my data into Ian's spreadsheet.... I just lend and hope.  I'd really like ways to become more connected with it again (and that means connected with the borrowers and MFIs I'm supporting)....


--Diane.

[Jan & John]

Don't ever leave, Ian. We need you!. 


Judy

I'll echo that, for sure...

...but... the main problem is the fact that the spreadsheet is not available from Kiva and I seem to remember Christopher said the early early spreadsheets will "break horribly" when Kiva makes changes. 

Ian's spreadsheet is terrific for me, but will there always be Ian when Kiva makes changes.  I really think the kiva site needs better ways for us to manage our portfolios.

jan

[mejane]

Ian's spreadsheet is terrific for me, but will there always be Ian when Kiva makes changes.  I really think the kiva site needs better ways for us to manage our portfolios.

jan

Actually, Kiva just needs Ian............... life would be so simple then!
Jane

[mejane]

I am having the same issue Jane, but it seems like it has just started for me.  I will send an email also.  Did you ever hear anything back?

Thanks,

-Kerry-

I did hear from Gerard.  He wanted me to send him a screen shot.  However, I did not know how to do that.  Then last night in chat I learned how from Mona.  Now, however, my messages have stopped "rearranging themselves" so a screen shot would not be helpful.  BUT, I am ready for the next time.   
Jane

[Unilove]

...there is really no easy way to sort the loans using the tools Kiva has given us (without Ian's spreadsheet).

Don't ever leave, Ian. We need you!. 

Judy

I concur.  I reiterate Judy's sentiments like so:

Don't ever leave, Ian.  We need you!

[wind5001]

As much as I love Ian's spreadsheet and rely on it (Ian, you know how thankful I am!), it is really not acceptable that Kiva is not offering any such information in a way that one could manage his/her portfolio through Kiva channels.

[Sengbe Pieh]

It now appears that there is a bug when trying to make a withdrawal and the process can't be completed.

               

After completing the first 2 steps:

Withdrawal Request - https://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=withdraw

Donate to Kiva - https://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=withdraw&action=saveWithdrawal

                                                             

When you click on either the Donate the Above Amount to Kiva or the No thanks button, you should be taken to a third page to Confirm Your Withdrawal but instead you get a blank page with the following url:

https://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=withdraw&action=confirmWithdrawalAndDonation

                                                                             

I have tried to make a withdrawal for the last 3 days without success (hoping this might be a temporary problem).

I wonder if this problem is widespread or just another that plagues those with larger portfolios.

Either way, Kiva needs to fix this one ASAP!!

[Limesarah]

bikeme -- I withdrew funds back on the 15th (or maybe 16th?) so it was working at least for me then.  I hope it gets sorted out soon!

[AccountAbility]

I thought the penny rounding issue had been solved. 

One of our loans repaid in the 8/15 process in DR Congo

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=97997

Shows as being 100% paid back on the loan page, but still shows up in our portfolio as "paying back" because this time the rounding error shorted us by $0.02.

It seems to be inconsistent for these two not to be in sync.

I have emailed contactus.

Dan

[wthepoo]

Hi all,

recently, a lender contacted me about a potential problem with Ian's summary spreadsheet (you know... in my capacity as the outsourced CS for this very product ).

Well, why I am posting here and not in the Summary spreadsheet thread: It appears to be a problem not with the Summary spreadsheet (unthinkable) but indeed with Kiva's accounting!

 

The lender discovered that the account balance on Kiva wasn't identical with the one stated in cell G10 of the "Summary" tab of Ian's spreadsheet (and H34 of the "Cashflow" tab). The easiest way for you to check if you are potentially affected is to run Ian's summary spreadsheet macro and compare these figures - if they are identical, you are fine - if not, you might have a problem.

It took me a while to figure it out but what seems to have happened is this: The lender made several loans on repayment dates and - this is speculation, though - when loan repayments and loan purchases were registered absolutely simultaneously (or in some other weird relation to each other), one of them was "skipped"... it is listed in the transaction history, but it is disregarded when calculating the Kiva account balance. In the case in question, I found such discrepancies with two "skipped" repayments on September 15, 2009.

Here is what the relevant part of the Kiva transaction history might look like (not the actual numbers/loans):

borrower 1	$6.25	Sep 15, 2009	Loan Repayment	Redeemed Loan Repayment borrower 1 (id=x) $6.25	108.04
borrower 2	$6.25	Sep 15, 2009	Loan Repayment	Redeemed Loan Repayment borrower 2 (id=y) $6.25	114.29
borrower 3	($25.00)	Sep 15, 2009	Loan Purchase	Loan Purchase of $25 to borrower 3 (business id=y)	83.04

As you can see, the middle repayment has been disregarded (as $108.04 ./. $25 = $83.04).

It probably only happened when you made loans on repayment days, and even then it should be a very rare coincidence that should mostly affect lenders with big(gish) portfolios - my portfolio isn't affected. But still, I encourage you to check with Ian's spreadsheet if it is at all available to you and to report any discrepancies here and/or directly to Kiva CS. Further, if I am correct with my suspicion I hope that Kiva will find a fix, soon, and also a way to remedy all past accountancy errors.

Again, from what I have seen I am confident enough to post about it that it's a glitch on Kiva's side, but I cannot be 100% sure that I am right or what the precise problem or its extent is.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.