Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Interest rate: A variable at the cluster level, the interest rate outcome will be a continuous variable representing the mean interest rate of all loans in a cluster expressed as a percentage. This will be averaged within treatment groups to give the mean interest rate by arm. This outcome will be measured at T1.
Repricing: A binary variable at the cluster level of whether at least one loan in a cluster was repriced during the intervention period. This will be constructed from administrative data, with 1 indicating at least one loan was re-priced and 0 if it was not. For shared loans, the outcome captures whether the shared loan was re-priced regardless of which borrower initiated the change. This will be averaged within treatment and control groups to give the proportion of clusters with reduced rates by arm. This outcome will be measured at T1.
Financial stress: A binary indicator at the cluster level of whether at least one person in a cluster has experienced financial stress (0 = no financial stress, 1 = financial stress). This will be any of:
• Hardship support requests, OR
• Late payment fees for any of their loans, OR
• Arrears on any of their loans
This will be averaged within treatment groups to give the proportion of clusters in financial stress by arm. This outcome will be measured at T2 and T3.
Financial wellbeing: At the cluster level we will measure the total balance of available accounts such as deposit accounts, investment accounts, and shares held by each individual in the cluster at T2 and T3. The construction of this variable will depend on account information that is shared by the bank partner. This will be averaged within treatment groups to give the mean balance in each arm.