Online-Offline Collaboration on CDR/Psychometric Microloans

Iris Braun of IFMR LEAD in India will expand access to microloans for the poor in Bangladesh by piloting a simple credit-scoring test for rating individuals. Poor households are often in need of small, short-term loans to buffer fluctuations in income, but formally accessing these loans is problematic as most people have no credit score, and/or are unable to complete the application process. Their approach involves assessing customers by accessing their mobile customer data, such as top-up frequency, and by psychological testing, as well as performing a social survey to analyze local financial needs. The scores can then be passed to mobile money lenders to give them more confidence to lend to poorer households.