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

[Guest]

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[AccountAbility]

It shakes the credibility of the accounting system to be sure. 

I have reviewed every transaction in my portfolio through my own spreadsheet and at least the running balance has remained correct in it. 

That still leaves the penny rounding errors which are still occurring, as well as other discrepancies-- which make me wonder whether any cross balancing is occurring in the system.

Dan

[Dagfinn]

Since you mention this Wolfgang the one thing that puzzles me is that for some time I hava had a minus (right now -29,54 to be exact) and how it comes that Kiva provide me with a credit is something I do not understand

If you can shed light onto that I am much obliged.

Be well, Dagfinn A

[wthepoo]

Dagfinn,

there are (at least) three possible explanations for a negative balance on Ian's spreadsheet, I think:

(1) Ian's spreadsheet macro could not register / count certain transactions (like a deposit or a refund in your case) and thus ignored them (I usually get a message when the macro ignores certain manual transactions, though - in my case: catch-ups for penny errors -; thus this explanation is unlikely IMHO, should you not receive an error message when you are running the macro);

(2) Based on what I posted: It happened the other way round to you - you got a repayment and made a loan (or two) at the same time, and the "official" balance only counted the repayment but not the loan(s). This would, of course, mean that you indeed owed Kiva.

(3) The transaction history - other than the balance on Kiva - skipped a transaction (most likely a deposit) or registered a wrong transaction.

Which of the 3 (or indeed a fourth one?) it is, I cannot say without seeing your transaction and loan exports. But you should still probably contact KivaCS about it.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[Eli]

Both of my spreadsheets match my Kiva balance, but I don't do a lot of repayment day lending.

There is something that I've noticed that doesn't fully register on my spreadsheet.  I have one MIFEX defaulted - 'ended with loss' loan.  Most of the loan was paid back, I received all but $3.00 (I truly lucked out, unlike some of you).  It is my only official 'defaulted' loan, but the entire row (19) of 'Ended with Loss' is blank on my Summary page.

If you go to the Loans page and scroll through the data for that loan, the $3.00 shows up in the 'delinquent' column, but not in the 'written off' column.  The 'Loan Status' on the same page says 'Ended with Loss'.  The 'actual expected paid back' column has a -$3.00.

This is the loan:  www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=19951

I'm so grateful we have people that pay attention and figure these issues out.  To all of you, I'm forever grateful.

If it wasn't for Ian's spreadsheet, this glitch may not have been caught.  What I'd like to know is who will be the watchdog for currency risk transactions?

[wthepoo]

Eli,

thank you for your post.

As for your defaulted loan, I cannot say much, I fear, as Ian's spreadsheet deals perfectly with my 2 defaults. Obviously yours hasn't been able to "translate" the status of the loan in question to "Defaulted" as it should read on the "Loans" tab (column V).

May I ask you whether you are using the current version (2.01.06 or 2.01 respectively)? If I recall correctly, with versions a few numbers back there is a problem in dealing with defaulted loans because Kiva decided to rename "Defaulted" to "Ended With Loss - Defaulted".

If you are using a current version, can you please check your Kiva loan export (= the "My loans" tab on Ian's spreadsheet) and copy and paste here the status it gives for the loan in question? It should read "Ended With Loss  - Defaulted".

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[AccountAbility]

The newest Kiva patch contains a lot of back office fixes.  See:
http://www.kiva.org/about/inside/2009/10/29/release-notes-for-102709.html

However, apparently the penny rounding is still an issue.  I just received a final payment on a loan which was short $0.01.

That leaves me with three loans that are short by just pennies.  (Not to mention the overpayment from over a year ago that I regularly bring up with Gerard.)

Dan

[Diane R]

Release notes FTW!

--Diane.

[AccountAbility]

The newest Kiva patch contains a lot of back office fixes.  See:
http://www.kiva.org/about/inside/2009/10/29/release-notes-for-102709.html

However, apparently the penny rounding is still an issue.  I just received a final payment on a loan which was short $0.01.

That leaves me with three loans that are short by just pennies.  (Not to mention the overpayment from over a year ago that I regularly bring up with Gerard.)

Dan

After an email exchange with contactus and with Gerard, they posted a penny addition to my account as I was able to verify in my Portfolio/My Credit

Imagine my surprise when the next transaction posted and the penny disappeared!    See below:

Leng Chim     ($50.00)     Nov 11, 2009 9:28am     Loan Purchase     Loan Purchase of $50 to Leng Chim (business id=151071)         92.73

Ngoné Diéye    $0.01    Nov 13, 2009 1:26pm    Loan Repayment    Redeemed Loan Repayment Ngoné Diéye. Missing penny from April 2009 repayment. (id=64747) $.01       92.74

Adora Fajiculay    $1.00    Nov 15, 2009 3:00am    Loan Repayment    Redeemed Loan Repayment Adora Fajiculay (id=74445) $1       93.73

Apparently there isn't any accounting safeguard to maintain the account balance if this transaction can be entered like this with no permanent effect.
 
Dan

[AccountAbility]

After an email exchange with contactus and with Gerard, they posted a penny addition to my account as I was able to verify in my Portfolio/My Credit

Imagine my surprise when the next transaction posted and the penny disappeared!    See below:

Leng Chim     ($50.00)     Nov 11, 2009 9:28am     Loan Purchase     Loan Purchase of $50 to Leng Chim (business id=151071)         92.73

Ngoné Diéye    $0.01    Nov 13, 2009 1:26pm    Loan Repayment    Redeemed Loan Repayment Ngoné Diéye. Missing penny from April 2009 repayment. (id=64747) $.01       92.74

Adora Fajiculay    $1.00    Nov 15, 2009 3:00am    Loan Repayment    Redeemed Loan Repayment Adora Fajiculay (id=74445) $1       93.73

Apparently there isn't any accounting safeguard to maintain the account balance if this transaction can be entered like this with no permanent effect.
 
Dan

Six months later and my account is still out of balance.  I just don't know how a transaction can be posted in "My Credits" and have no effect on the balance.  The integrity of the system worries me.   

Dan

[AccountAbility]

After an email exchange with contactus and with Gerard, they posted a penny addition to my account as I was able to verify in my Portfolio/My Credit

Imagine my surprise when the next transaction posted and the penny disappeared!    See below:

Leng Chim     ($50.00)     Nov 11, 2009 9:28am     Loan Purchase     Loan Purchase of $50 to Leng Chim (business id=151071)         92.73

Ngoné Diéye    $0.01    Nov 13, 2009 1:26pm    Loan Repayment    Redeemed Loan Repayment Ngoné Diéye. Missing penny from April 2009 repayment. (id=64747) $.01       92.74

Adora Fajiculay    $1.00    Nov 15, 2009 3:00am    Loan Repayment    Redeemed Loan Repayment Adora Fajiculay (id=74445) $1       93.73

Apparently there isn't any accounting safeguard to maintain the account balance if this transaction can be entered like this with no permanent effect.
 
Dan

The faulty math accounting was acknowledged and then referred to the "engineers" -- which sort of feels like the black hole.  My Account (excuse me, My Credit) is still out of balance.  Where are the Kiva accountants?

Dan