Risk-Based Searching-currency exchange,non-payment,partner rating,delinquency...

[Guest]

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[David2051]

I posted 0.2.0.6 this morning which is a prettier version of the Lender Analysis. Thurs night was about getting some of the behind-the-scenes code ready, tonight was to put a little better face on it. There are still occasional times where it will stall and I'm looking into that... typically if you just put your cursor back into the lender id box and press enter, it'll kick start it back going.

Thanks for all your efforts Paul!   

I wonder when Kiva will realize that their Lend page is obsolete??   

Before didn't the pie charts sort the items in order?  So my largest countries were together, for example?  It seemed to me like it was easier to make sense of that way.    On mine, the bottom two charts show one loan with a description of "1".  On non-payment liability, there are three categories, Lender, Partner and "1".  Currency loss has Partner, Shared, None and "1".  Any idea what that "1" is? 
Thanks again... 

[nuclearspike]

Thanks for all your efforts Paul!   

I wonder when Kiva will realize that their Lend page is obsolete??   

Before didn't the pie charts sort the items in order?  So my largest countries were together, for example?  It seemed to me like it was easier to make sense of that way.    On mine, the bottom two charts show one loan with a description of "1".  On non-payment liability, there are three categories, Lender, Partner and "1".  Currency loss has Partner, Shared, None and "1".  Any idea what that "1" is? 
Thanks again... 

Previously they were ordered by amount, now they are ordered alphabetically. I've thought about making it value-based, but then it cramps all the slivers together making tons of lines-out on the same slice.

I'd run across the "1" for non payment as well as currency liability. I'd seen those appear on occasion, and it seems to be from one of the 54 first loans KB had read in, where it hadn't fetched that data and apparently the graph displayed that missing data as a 1. It should be fixed now.

Paul

[David2051]

Have you considered an option for making the countries and MFIs just text based? Like on the lender page, except having percentages for all loans and active loans?  With more than a few loans the pie charts just get really busy.  The style used on the lender pages would work well for portfolio diversification if only they had numbers for active loans as well as all loans...  Just a thought.

Edit:  Oh yeah, the mystery "1" is gone now!   

[alan]

In a word, brilliant. Very well done.

Am I missing it or is there a gender filter on the horizon?

[RichardF]

Hi Paul,

I would put the Prosper third-party “lender” tools into two basic groups – listings tools and portfolio tools.  The listings tools help lenders view, create and save advanced searches and results.  The portfolio tools help lenders view, create and save portfolio descriptions and performance.

These days, Prosper offers what it calls “Portfolio Plans” (http://www.prosper.com/invest/portfolio_plans.aspx). These basically are saved advanced searches with varying risk levels and automatic, optional bidding capabilities.  The standard plans are called, “Balanced,” “Moderate” and “Aggressive” – described as having “very low,” “medium” or “high” risk.  Lender can start with any of these plans and adapt them, or just start from scratch.  Every value in the listing profiles from the API are fair game for use in the profiles (saved advanced searches).  Obviously, you already have a “safest” version of this in KivaBank.  Regardless of how a listing is found, it also can be added to a named bookmarks list.  Multiple bookmark lists are possible here too. 

Something I particularly like about these advanced searches is that, every time a list of values is used in the underlying listings database, that list is offered as a drop-down or check box list on the corresponding search definition page.  One implication of this is that anyone can learn about the underlying structure of how the listings are internally organized from the search definition pages.  An interesting Kiva analogy for me would be cascading (related) “Sector”-“Activity” drop-downs.  I believe the Kiva “Use” field is free form, so a set of AND-OR-NOT text search boxes that look at the Use and Description entries to go along with the Sector-Activity drop downs would round out answering the “What is this listing about?” question. 

Of course, all sorts of individuals and teams could build and share these loan search definitions that emphasis various levels of risk, use, affiliations and timing.  I can think of any number of teams and other like-minded lenders that share their tips on how to find various types of listings.  Like you mentioned, some way to share these topical saved searches certainly would be a Kivaly way to connect people for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Many of the free standing 3rd party apps (http://www.prosper.com/tools/3rdParty.aspx) offer tools for enhanced portfolio description and performance summaries.  These apps more clearly reflect the core differences between the Prosper (lending as investing) vs. Kiva (lending as donating) models.  Lots of differences in the cultures of these two lending communities can be viewed from the perspectives of the types of portfolio apps that are available.  The key differences I see are related to lender identity and return on investment disclosures in the apps.  I’m sure you could inspire some very interesting discussions on these topics, based on how your Lender Analysis evolves.  I hope you enjoy the ride on that one.

In any event, great job so far, and I always enjoy discovering…
The Next, New and Improved, KivaBank!

p.s.  All you really have to do is change the title in the first post of this topic and you have your new topic.  That way, its history will be much easier to find too. 

[Diane R]

(Off-topic but...)

p.s.  All you really have to do is change the title in the first post of this topic and you have your new topic.  That way, its history will be much easier to find too. 

Almost, but not quite sufficient...  Changing the first post title will change how the thread is shown in the list of topics, but you also have to be sure the most recent post in the thread uses the new topic also.  Many people (*cough*including_me*cough*) click the "Reply to this" button at the end of a thread when adding a new post, even if they're not actually replying to the most recent post, and that action will carry the previous post's title through to the new post.  So if you want to retitle a thread you started, you should both edit the original post to create a new title, AND post at the end of the thread using the new thread title on your post. 

Voila.

--Diane.

[David2051]

Many people (*cough*including_me*cough*) click the "Reply to this" button at the end of a thread when adding a new post, even if they're not actually replying to the most recent post, and that action will carry the previous post's title through to the new post. 

What else would you do? Is there another way I haven't seen yet?

[RichardF]

Paul,

Another pondering for "real soon now."

Ian's Summary Spreadsheet accurately depicts cash flow for lenders because it uses password-protected access to the transactions download.  Would that be a viable option for the Lender Analysis - Repayments amounts?  Obviously, that presentation breaks down when loan amounts are not ($25 * loan counts).  The larger the portfolio, the more likely the $25 assumption does not hold.

[AccountAbility]

p.s.  All you really have to do is change the title in the first post of this topic and you have your new topic.  That way, its history will be much easier to find too. 

David - Diane was pointing out that when you hit the "reply to" button the topic that comes up for your post is the topic listed in the last post-- not the revised first post (or in the thread summaries).  If you find that the topic in the last post is still the old title, you can change it in your post so that all subsequent "replies" are correct.  Of course, if you were the originator, her suggestion of doing both at the same time is cleaner.

Dan

[nuclearspike]

Have you considered an option for making the countries and MFIs just text based? ...

Maybe I could have a way to flip the view from graph to a sortable grid. The app already has all the data downloaded to your browser, switching views would not be difficult. I've added it to my ever-growing to-do list. My next priorities are:

1) Saved Filters (requires registering an account with KB -- free of course)
2) Alerts (based on saved filters)
3) Indicate loans that are either "In Basket" or "Loaned" (I really want this myself)