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Trial Status
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Before
on_going
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After
completed
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Field
Abstract
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Before
We are testing the effectiveness of offering payment flexibility to consumer borrowers in India during the COVID-19 crisis. Borrowers have taken out loans to purchase smartphones with technology allowing the lender to deactivate their phones (with the exception of receiving incoming calls) in the case of nonpayment. We are testing whether offering them an additional 3, or 5 months to repay their loan improves the performance of the loans, how it affects borrowers’ perceptions of the lender, and of the marketplace in general.
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After
We are testing the effectiveness of offering payment flexibility to consumer borrowers in India during the COVID-19 crisis. We test whether offering late-paying borrowers who have taken out loans to purchase smartphones in India an additional 3 months to repay their loan improves the performance of the loans, how it affects borrowers’ perceptions of the lender, and their willingness to do repeat business with the lender.
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Trial End Date
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Before
April 30, 2022
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After
April 05, 2022
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Last Published
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Before
March 30, 2021 01:43 PM
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After
December 02, 2022 01:16 PM
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Field
Intervention (Public)
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Before
Late-paying borrowers who have taken out loans to purchase smartphones in India will receive phone calls from the lender and will be made different offers. Some borrowers will be offered either a 3 or a 5 months moratorium on their loan in exchange for a small fee. They will be told that the offer is an initiative of the lender to help struggling borrowers. Other borrowers will be made an identical 3 months moratorium offer, but will be told that the offer is made as a result of a new directives from the central bank. Finally, other borrowers will not be made any flexibility offer, and will receive instead either a debt-collection call or a placebo check-in call.
Borrowers will receive phone calls with varying content.
Treatment A will contain an offer for a 3-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied my messaging explaining that the offer made is because the company cares for its customers.
Treatment B will contain an offer for a 3-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied my messaging explaining that the offer is made because the regulators have encouraged all lenders to extend such offers.
Treatment C will contain an offer for a 5-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied my messaging explaining that the offer is made because the company cares for its customers.
Treatment D/Placebo will contain no offer, but rather a friendly check-in call directing the borrower to informational resources.
Treatment E/Control will contain no offer, but rather a request for repayment of the loan, as the lender would do in this situation typically.
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After
EXPERIMENT 1
Late-paying borrowers who have taken out loans to purchase smartphones in India receive phone calls from the lender and are made different offers. Some borrowers are offered a 3 months moratorium on their loan in exchange for a small fee. They are told that the offer is an initiative of the lender to help struggling borrowers. Other borrowers are made an identical 3 months moratorium offer, but are told that the offer is made as a result of a new directives from the central bank. Finally, other borrowers are not made any flexibility offer, and receive instead either a debt-collection call or a placebo check-in call.
Borrowers receive phone calls with varying content.
Treatment 1A contains an offer for a 3-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied by messaging explaining that the offer made is because the company cares for its customers.
Treatment 1B contains an offer for a 3-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied by messaging explaining that the offer is made because the regulators have encouraged all lenders to extend such offers.
Treatment 1C/Placebo contains no offer, but rather a friendly check-in call directing the borrower to informational resources.
Treatment 1D/Control contains no offer, but rather a request for repayment of the loan, as the lender would do in this situation typically.
EXPERIMENT 2
Participants from treatments 1A and 1B of experiment 1 participate in a second experiment, and are cross-randomized in four conditions. They receive a phone call from the lender and are made different offers. In the first dimension of randomization, some borrowers are offered another loan, while others are offered a non-credit product (“enhanced credit report”). In the second dimension of randomization, some offers are “branded” (mention the name of the lender), while other offers non-branded (do not mention the name of the lender).
Participants from treatments 1A and 1B of experiment 1 receive phone calls with varying content.
Treatment 2A contains an offer for a branded loan.
Treatment 2B contains an offer for a non-branded loan.
Treatment 2C contains an offer for a branded report.
Treatment 2D contains an offer for a non-branded report.
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Field
Intervention Start Date
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Before
July 06, 2020
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After
November 09, 2020
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
September 30, 2021
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After
July 30, 2021
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Field
Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
Borrowers will receive phone calls with varying content.
Treatment A will contain an offer for a 3-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied my messaging explaining that the offer made is because the company cares for its customers.
Treatment B will contain an offer for a 3-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied my messaging explaining that the offer is made because the regulators have encouraged all lenders to extend such offers.
Treatment C will contain an offer for a 5-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied my messaging explaining that the offer is made because the company cares for its customers.
Treatment D/Placebo will contain no offer, but rather a friendly check-in call directing the borrower to informational resources.
Treatment E/Control will contain no offer, but rather a request for repayment of the loan, as the lender would do in this situation typically
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After
EXPERIMENT 1
Borrowers receive phone calls with varying content.
Treatment 1A contains an offer for a 3-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied by messaging explaining that the offer made is because the company cares for its customers.
Treatment 1B contains an offer for a 3-month payment holiday on their loan, accompanied by messaging explaining that the offer is made because the regulators have encouraged all lenders to extend such offers.
Treatment 1C/Placebo contains no offer, but rather a friendly check-in call directing the borrower to informational resources.
Treatment 1D/Control contains no offer, but rather a request for repayment of the loan, as the lender would do in this situation typically.
EXPERIMENT 2
Participants from treatments 1A and 1B of experiment 1 receive phone calls with varying content.
Treatment 2A contains an offer for a branded loan.
Treatment 2B contains an offer for a non-branded loan.
Treatment 2C contains an offer for a branded report.
Treatment 2D contains an offer for a non-branded report.
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Field
Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
45,144 in the first month. The sample size for the following months will depend on the number of non-paying customers.
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After
Experiment 1: 9.623 individuals
Experiment 2: 1,160 individuals
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Field
Planned Number of Observations
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Before
45,144 in the first month. The sample size for the following months will depend on the number of non-paying customers.
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After
Experiment 1: 9.623 individuals
Experiment 2: 1,160 individuals
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Field
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
9,000 in Treatment A
9,000 in Treatment B
4,500 in Treatment C
9,000 in Treatment D/Placebo
13,644 in Treatment E/Control
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After
Experiment 1:
1,901 in Treatment A
1,829 in Treatment B
2,452 in Treatment C/Placebo
3,441 in Treatment D/Control
Experiment 2
134 in 1A-Treatment 2A branded loan.
133 in 1B-Treatment 2A branded loan.
136 in 1A-Treatment 2B non-branded loan.
124 in 1B-Treatment 2B non-branded loan.
143 in 1A-Treatment 2C branded report.
161 in 1B-Treatment 2C branded report.
159 in 1A-Treatment 2D non-branded report.
169 in 1B-Treatment 2D non-branded report.
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Keyword(s)
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Before
Behavior, Finance, Firms And Productivity
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After
Behavior, Finance, Firms And Productivity
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Field
Building on Existing Work
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Before
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After
No
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