Upcoming tune-up to My Portfolio > Loans

[Guest]

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[Cailin@Kiva]

Hello again!  I'm back with the promised preview of some upcoming changes to the My Portfolio > Loans page.  This thread should serve as a place for you to provide feedback and suggestions before we get started on this work.

When we (Kiva) started talking about this "tune-up" we really had one simple goal:  fix the "penny errors" in the "Paid Back" column.  (More on those later.) However, once we were "in the neighborhood" we thought of quite a few more improvements we could make to this page.

Here's a short summary, with two very detailed mock-ups attached.

1. Improvements to the My Loans table  

• Fix the penny errors in the Paid Back column
• Add free text search across your portfolio!
• Add new filters on Partner and Country
• Add a new column showing the date you purchased the loan. (Resolving my personal #1 pet peeve about this page.)
• Add a whole bunch of detailed financial info in the exported version.

2. Add a new section to this page:  My Recently Ended Loans

• A new section that shows a "pretty" Lend-tab-style summary of your three most recently ended loans
• Link provided to go to a new page that show all loans that ended in the past 30 days
• Will show all possible versions of ended: fully paid back, currency exchange loss, and defaults.

APPENDIX:  What "penny errors" in the Paid Back column?

Over the years, some of you have (correctly) pointed out that the Paid Back amount on the Portfolio > Loans page did not match the sum of the repayments for a particular loan on the Portfolio > Transactions page.

This discrepancy arises because the current version of the Portfolio > Loans page calculates the Paid Back column as

Paid Back = (Total Amount Paid Back For This Loan) * (Num Share You Own) / (Num Total Shares)

This does not always equal the sum of your actual repayments because the amount repaid each month cannot always be divided equally amongst the lenders (because we can't give out fractional pennies).  For example, consider a silly case of a $3 loan with 3 scheduled repayments of $1 each divided into 3 shares of $1 purchased by lenders A, B and C.  

• When the first repayment comes in, we'll give 0.34 to Lender A, 0.33 to Lender B and 0.33 to Lender C.
• When the second repayment comes in, we'll give 0.33 to Lender A, 0.34 to Lender B and 0.33 to Lender C
• When the third repayments comes in, we'll give 0.33 to Lender A, 0.33 to Lender B and 0.34 to Lender C

So, in the end, each lender gets their $1 back... but at any point during the paying back period of the loan the 3 lenders may not have exactly the same balance!

The new version of the My Loans table will simply calculate Paid Back as the sum of your relevant transactions, thereby eliminating this annoying discrepancy.

[David2051]

Hi Cailin, thanks for the new thread!

What is the sort order now?  The mockup says it will be by loan number.  Isn't it in the order that I make the loans now?  I think it would be very odd if I make a loan and then look here (5 minutes later) and find it two or three loans down in the list because I bought the loans "out of order".

Are you really intending to change the current radio buttons to drop downs to filter by status?  I find the current radio buttons very handy to get a quick fix on my portfolio.  Looking at mine now I can instantly see that I have 461 loans paying back, 881 paid back, 2 ended with loss and 14 refunded.  I would really miss not having this detail available at a glance.

Is the mockup supposed to imply that the loan term and start date are not going to be shown, or will that info be there just like the photos?  I'm a little curious why the date you bought the loan is a pet peeve of yours.  Have others asked for that?  I've never considered wanting to see that here since it doesn't seem to materially affect the loan.  Generally the loans are predisbursed  and therefore the loan term clock started ticking before I joined the loan.  I would really miss the loan term going away and the date that term started.  When the pictures are taken into account there is plenty of space to include the date the loan was purchased without removing anything else.  Perhaps the You Loaned column could show the amount and date?  (You Loaned $25 on 12/12/12)

It appears that the column order is somewhat different, but nothing particular about that jumps out at me.  i.e. moving the team column around, country/partner (or partner/country...).

Something I would like to see would be some indication of the how the loan is doing;  i.e. how many months of the term are remaining and how much of the loan was scheduled to be paid back at this point in contrast to the amount that has actually been paid back.  Perhaps the Paid Back column could show scheduled and actual amount repaid?  The My Loan Statistics section shows the total amount in arrears for my loans.  Perhaps the individual amounts in arrears could be shown in the Paid Back column as well.  Something like that would give a good indication how serious the loan delinquency is.  I know we've discussed the degree of delinquency in various threads around here before.  I would like to be able to see if a loan is delinquent by a large amount or just a few pennies, so I know which borrowers to worry about.  Maybe showing the amount in arrears would satisfy that.

Thanks for starting the discussion!

[Cailin@Kiva]

Thanks for the feedback David!  Lots of good suggestion in there.

I think combining the "You Loaned" and "Purchase Date" columns is a great idea.  The column could then contain data like "$25 on Jan 28 2011".  We could do the same thing for Loan Amount column.  It would read "$1000 on Jan 03 2011" where Jan 03 2011 is the disbursement date (or "start date").  I think we can squeeze back in the Loan Term column too.  (Note - in the export file, we would separate out all these two-field columns into two columns.)

The current sort order is based on a combination of the status of the loan, and the date that the loan began fundraising on Kiva.  I (mildly) prefer sorting by the Loan ID# because you can easily see the data on which the sort is being performed.  I (mildly) dislike the current sort because what we're sorting on is not at all obvious.

Thanks you for reminding me about previous discussions regarding easier to access information on the amount in arrears.  I have some notes regarding some possible improvements to the Advanced View of the Kiva Repayments Schedule of the Borrower Profile page that are worth digging up and discussing.  Perhaps we can do that next.

In the context of the My Loans table, I'm a little bit nervous about including Amount in Arrears owed to one particular lender because it is actually an "undefined" amount due to the fractional penny issues I mentioned in my previous post.  It's virtually impossible to know whether or not you should be the lender who gets $0.33 or the lender who gets $0.34 outside of the actual invoicing process.  Perhaps I am being overly neurotic here though, and Amount in Arrears +/- a penny or two would be acceptable.  If we included this, I would merge it with the Paid Back To You column, so that it read "$14.05 ($1.23 in arrears)". 

And finally... the radio buttons with the status counts.  Would it be acceptable to have the status counts listed beside each status inside the select box? E.g. inside the select box, one possible choice would be "Paid Back (34)"?   Alternatively, could we display that summary information as a separate little table or chart on top of the My Loans table? 

[AccountAbility]

Thank you again for initiating discussion early in the process! 

I agree with David that at least for lenders with a significant number of loans, the radio buttons are important extracts.  If you are merging all the loans into one "table", then there should be an easy way to filter for just those statuses--getting the same result as the current radio buttons.

As to the amount in arrears, that somehow is already being calculated in my portfolio statistics.  As long as the rounding protocols are correct, each loan's arrearage rounded should be able to be totaled into the total in my portfolio statistics.

As to the new page for recently ended loans, I don't find that particularly useful for the one thing I am most looking for -- namely marking the event that triggers the loan being paid back 100%.

Dan

[Cailin@Kiva]

The functionality of the radio buttons (e.g. the ability to filter by status) is just moved to the "Status" select box filter.  It's still there... it's just using a slightly different UI.  Given that, I'm trying to gauge if there is anything "irreplaceable" about the current radio buttons.

[David2051]

In the context of the My Loans table, I'm a little bit nervous about including Amount in Arrears owed to one particular lender because it is actually an "undefined" amount due to the fractional penny issues I mentioned in my previous post.  It's virtually impossible to know whether or not you should be the lender who gets $0.33 or the lender who gets $0.34 outside of the actual invoicing process.  Perhaps I am being overly neurotic here though, and Amount in Arrears +/- a penny or two would be acceptable.  If we included this, I would merge it with the Paid Back To You column, so that it read "$14.05 ($1.23 in arrears)".  

If this were added at the loan share level, I do think it would be important that it add up to the total in the statistics section.  It would perhaps be more useful to me in determining how the borrower is doing if it were shown at the loan level with a total amount repaid and in arrears.  I think either one would be helpful.

And finally... the radio buttons with the status counts.  Would it be acceptable to have the status counts listed beside each status inside the select box? E.g. inside the select box, one possible choice would be "Paid Back (34)"?   Alternatively, could we display that summary information as a separate little table or chart on top of the My Loans table? 

I would certainly prefer the information displayed outside of any drop down boxes.  I like being able to see it at a glance and I think most people would not notice it in a dropdown box.  I like the current radio buttons because it is very obvious what you should get if you click one of them. i.e. the 3 fundraising loans, or the 2 loans ended with loss.  With a dropdown box it is less obvious what options are available and with the counts separated the connection between the status and the count of loans is less obvious.  Most of the time though, I check the counts and leave the radio button set on All.

I guess I don't see a lot of value to the recently ended loans page either.  That said, the 30 day limit seems kind of arbitrary.  If I didn't have a loan which ended in the last 30 days, as would be the case for many small lenders, or if I were looking for a particular loan, I would want to see back further than that.  It is a nice view of loans, being able to read some of the loan listing and have a larger picture...
 

[AccountAbility]

....Given that, I'm trying to gauge if there is anything "irreplaceable" about the current radio buttons.

While not "irreplaceable", as David points out the current view shows the simple math of all my loans broken down by the specific categories Kiva uses--without any further clicks or selections. 

To hide that in a drop down menu would definitely be detrimental.

Dan

[Cailin@Kiva]

Okay, great, thanks - now I understand that you value the radio buttons primarily because they provide a good summary of the number of loans in each status.

Please take a look at the attached revised mock-up and let me know what you think.  It includes the following changes based on discussions today:

• The summary of loans-by-status is pulled into a new table at the bottom of the My Loans Statistics section.  Same information as in the radio buttons, but in a slightly different location.
• Loan Term column restored
• Loan Start Date added to the Loan Amount column ($1000 on Jan 1 2011)
• Amount in arrears added at both the lender and whole-loan level for delinquent loans.

[David2051]

I like it.  I still like the radio buttons, but this works.  I'm assuming the status drop down would have all the same statuses as the summary box.  It's shows all the information I would like to see.  Thanks!

[YowieFreak]

Please take a look at the attached revised mock-up and let me know what you think.  It includes the following changes based on discussions today:

• The summary of loans-by-status is pulled into a new table at the bottom of the My Loans Statistics section.  Same information as in the radio buttons, but in a slightly different location.

Can we add "expired" to the list of statuses shown so that the values of the various components add up to the total?