Why Lenders Value Notifications when a Loan is fully paid back

[Guest]

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[AccountAbility]

Just before the Christmas Holiday, I was asked by a Kiva staff member why notification that a loan is fully paid back is so important to me--and to other lenders.

Others of you undoubtedly use payoff notifications in ways different than mine.  By sharing them here, you can help Kiva make design choices in this area which will hopefully aid in our lending and at minimum avoid interfering with processes that Kiva lenders employ.

I personally keep a spreadsheet with all my loans, divided into current repaying loans and loans paid off.  When I receive notice that a loan is fully repaid, I move it to the paid back section after reading one more time the borrower profile and any subsequent journals posted.  I also go to the pictures I have downloaded to refresh my mind about this borrower.  I can rejoice with him or her that their loan has been paid off completely.  I see these as little success stories.

Ever since Kiva rolled out PA2, the repayment process brought a significant increase in commoditization of borrowers, as our Portfolios were inundated with the frequent--and virtually interchangeable-- small repayments, without regard to where in the loan process the borrower was.  Prior to that time the only emails about repayments were announcements that the borrower had 100% repaid.  Afterward the focus shifted from my borrowers to My Credits.  In fact, in My Credits all payments are described identically.  Only the repayment emails indicated when a repayment installment was the final payoff. (but alas that was severely limited 10 months ago.)  Otherwise the loan silently slips from the paying back to the paid back section of My Portfolio. 

I would like to see more celebration of the borrowers' accomplishment.  Anything that helps keep the focus on the borrowers is worth pursuing IMHO.

So how do some of the rest of you utilize full payback notifications? (When you get them)

Dan

[JohnAtKiva]

Hey Dan - thanks for posing the question here!

Just to clarify... when you say "Kiva staff member", do you mean Paul/nuclearspike?

[Kestrel]

Hi Dan,

Me too! I keep a spreadsheet of all my loans: Countries in rows, 1st/2nd/3rd/etc. loan in columns, and loan term in months (x amount) in each cell. I keep track of the total for each country and tend to prioritize loans to those countries with the lowest totals. I color code the loans that are paid off (also delinquent, refunded or ended with loss). If a loan is paid back early, I adjust the total and that country is up for a new loan sooner than I anticipated. I also like to review the details of my completed loans and I DO take a moment to celebrate the success of these entrepreneurs.

I am sharing this likely irrational approach with the KF community because it is what I really do. Please, all,  do not tell me how ridiculous this is  , because I need some strategy to select loans - otherwise, I would find all the requests worthy and might be paralyzed by indecision! I have a small portfolio (under 350 loans) and certainly less than 25 loans completing payments each month. It is very cumbersome for me to follow the status of these loans with the My Credits listing and without the help of the monthly email with complete details of all repayments. With a larger portfolio, I guess it would be unworkable.

So...I second the motion to at least prioritize notification monthly of fully repaid loans.

 

Best,
Laurie 

[David2051]

There are so many lenders on Kiva I would guess that there are hundreds of different systems and rituals that various people have developed.  To me the main issue is simply that information which was provided was taken away.  I'm sure I can't imagine all the different ways that information was used, but I can imagine that many, many people sorely miss it.

As Dan mentioned, anything to make the value of our lending - the success of the borrowers - more concrete and apparent would have to motivate lenders to lend again.  It really does bring the human connection of Kiva into focus.

[joanna_h]

It would be really nice to be hearing about borrowers success, even if it is just a sentience or two.

[AccountAbility]

Apparently, Kiva is in the design phase of a revamp of the repayment emails, postings etc. What should the design take into consideration in regards to final 100% loan paybacks? 

The point here is to share "how the info is being used to make sure the revamp doesn't step on that process. What is this info being used for? To go and review the repaid loans? Leave a comment on the borrower pages? Check them off a spreadsheet?"

That list reminded me that I used to consistently leave comments at the beginning of a loan and at the final payback.  I must confess that I haven't been doing that for a number of months.  I can't blame that totally on not getting good notifications of final payoffs, but it definitely is a factor.

Dan

[nuc]

(citing Dan)
"I would like to see more celebration of the borrowers' accomplishment.  Anything that helps keep the focus on the borrowers is worth pursuing IMHO."

I agree.
Isn't that exactly what the whole kiva project is about? The motto is "loans that change lives", and in the 'about' section on the main page there's also a mention of 'accountability'. The best way to show this (to the lenders) is the completion of repayment.

K

[Jan & John]

Back in the 'old days' 

I didn't pay attention to the borrower who was 67% paid up...

I did however take note each and every time one came in 100% paid off...

I complained about the 25 loan repayment cutoff... somehow my connection to the borrowers had been decreased... my journal comments have almost stopped... and my pretty colour coding on my excel photo pages is totally out of date and I will probably never catch up. 

Kiva sends lonnnnnnng emails explaining defaulted or refunded loans... which I don't read because I feel it's just Kiva's way of trying to get me to continue to loan.  If Kiva sent lonnnnnnng emails noting paid off loan, well now, that would perk my interest.

I know it's not supposed to be all about me... but it is, you know 

-jan-

[David2051]

Kiva sends lonnnnnnng emails explaining defaulted or refunded loans... which I don't read because I feel it's just Kiva's way of trying to get me to continue to loan.  If Kiva sent lonnnnnnng emails noting paid off loan, well now, that would perk my interest.

So right now the focus is on the failures rather than the successes...  Is that what you mean?