Worried about loans expiring unfunded?

[Guest]

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[Diane R]

Judy, I prefer to think that we're starting to open their eyes to this fact.  I did send to Gerard (and after the call, to Premal) the example of how the Popularity algorithm was self-perpetuating, and I have hope that the simple act of changing some constants in the weighting factors in the algorithm will help restore equilibrium, so that expiring loans really *will* give an MFI a signal.  As it is now, false signals are likely to be sent (along with some honest signals, too: 40 similar Bolivian group loans with currency risk hitting the site at the same time may never be a good idea, from a funding viewpoint).

EDIT:  Richard, your post appeared while I was typing this.  As you see above, I have already reported this to Gerard, and sent a copy to Premal.

--Diane.

[RichardF]

By the way, 135326 has "8 days left," so maybe it still has a shot at becomming popular and getting funded too!   

[RichardF]

Thanks, Diane.  I still believe refunding any partially funded listings is a fundamental flaw in Kiva's business model that ultimately will alienate even more lenders, but, apparently, that's not much of a concern.

[Diane R]

I also mentioned in my email the possible problem, especially for new lenders, with refunding partially-funded loans after 30 days, so perhaps that will get some consideration also.

--Diane.

[RichardF]

I wonder how pleased Laurent D, currently at 14,370 loans, is with all the refunds (duplicates and likely expirations) he has and most likely will be receiving?  Is his and others like his total lending rate being affected by all the added difficulties in making a successful loan?  Opportunity lost - opportunity cost is a very difficult number to come by.  That seems to be a missing factor in all of Kiva's operational decision-making equations.

[Dottie b]

if kiva posted 100,000 loans in the space of a month, and 98,500 were not funded, that means they were "bad" ?  I would think in actuality, the more loans there are out there, the more are partially funded, and the money sitting in loans that will be refunded means there is less capital to put into viable loans. That means less loans would be completed, than if there was not an oversupply.

It is inefficient to have people spend their time and money and make an emotional investment in a borrower, and then reject their decisions, and refund the loans.

Yeah, if every loan was 90 percent funded, none would be funded! Makes a case for posting fewer at a time!


I think if loans start to expire, people will start putting more money on a particular loan, rathern than $25 hear and $25 there.

Dottie b

[cjp1973]

On the conference call last night, a phrase that Premal used in the conversation of the popularity page, caught my attention.  New loans coming in and going to the top of the popularity page, getting "turbo" time on the front page. 
I agree that this happens for 3 weeks of the month, but the massive uploads at just after midnight on the 1st of the month does not allow for any turbo time for any of these loans.  At the very least they need to space the upload over a couple of days to give these loans their due "turbo" time.

[Dottie b]

On the conference call last night, a phrase that Premal used in the conversation of the popularity page, caught my attention.  New loans coming in and going to the top of the popularity page, getting "turbo" time on the front page. 
I agree that this happens for 3 weeks of the month, but the massive uploads at just after midnight on the 1st of the month does not allow for any turbo time for any of these loans.  At the very least they need to space the upload over a couple of days to give these loans their due "turbo" time.

Didn't he say something about the turbo time being one hour? Don't know if that was supposed to be exact. If that's the case, several loans could be rotated. But I really don't see the point of any turbo time!

Dottie B

[cpbailey]

Maybe loans could request to be considered for turbo time and put in a queue to slow release.  Those tiny loans at $125 have no need, so fast release could work.  This slow release would keep the loans from flooding when there isn't much money going into the system.

[KFLiaison]

After receiving some email from Kiva this morning, I have started a new thread to ask for input on the "Popularity algorithm" and how to fix it. 
You will find the new thread here:  Input for Kiva staff on the "Popularity algorithm"

--Diane.