Fintech Collection Report 2021 - TransUnion
Fintech Collection Report 2021 - TransUnion
Fintech Collection Report 2021 - TransUnion
COLLECTION MANAGEMENT
Collection Management for FinTechs
Executive Summary
Conclusion
Research methodology
FinTech NBFCs that leverage technology and digital channels heavily have been
instrumental in easing and accelerating lending in India. By making it more
straightforward and convenient for end-consumers to access credit, the overall
borrowing experience has become more personalised, spontaneous and
seamless. Challenging the very core of traditional lending practices, FinTechs
have made access to credit easier, faster and cheaper — enhancing the
customer journey from offer to loan application, to approval, disbursement and
repayment. FinTechs play a significant role in increasing financial inclusion,
driving automated credit underwriting, transforming the KYC process through
the adoption of data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and
API-based platforms for a seamless banking experience.
Over the past few years, India has seen a shift in culture and perception around
availing credit with the advent of EMIs on almost anything they want to
purchase at the click of a button — driven primarily by Millennials and Gen Z
consumers. Changing attitudes are supported by smartphone and Internet
penetration, along with various digitisation initiatives by the Government of
India (GoI). Access to credit beyond the metro population has increased as a
result, with guaranteed incomes to urban and rural areas — geographies in
which it was previously more difficult to extend credit. Technology, which was
always a facilitator for traditional banks and financial institutions (FIs), is now
being leveraged by FinTechs to create new business propositions and cater to
new customer segments.
FinTechs have changed the way consumers acquire credit — shifting away from
from brick-and-mortar branches to anywhere with smart phone access.
Millennials prefer minimum interaction — whether it’s ordering their favourite
food on Swiggy or Zomato or purchasing a television or refrigerator on Amazon.
FinTechs have extended that power and accessibility to credit application and
disbursals. Their AI-driven, low-cost, digital models have helped reach larger
and more diverse audiences.
FinTechs have grown at a rapid pace over the past three years. As major
contributors to growth in the personal loan market, they’ve been instrumental
and successful in making personal loan finance simpler, quicker and convenient.
The digital savvy Indian audience tends to choose FinTechs over other lenders to
escape lengthy applications and longer approval durations for unsecured credit.
Personal loan origination volumes grew at 150% YoY during 2019, while FinTechs
grew at 650% YoY in the same period. FinTechs were focused on a consumer
segment untapped by traditional lenders which aided this rapid growth. Their
streamlined loan decision process, combined with alternate data and reliance on
latest analytics techniques, helped achieve faster disbursals.
657% 614%
600%
407% 441%
400% 312%
200%
161% 158% 188%
116% 166% -70% -39%
0% 82% 68%
-42%
-200% -94%
Aug-18 Nov-18 Feb-19 May-19 Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
Origination Month
FinTechs grew their
market share to 50% (from
10%) in the personal loan
origination space over the past two
years — during which time household
income and consumption levels rose. This,
coupled with various government initiatives to
push digitisation in banking — ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’,
Aadhaar, UPI, GSTN etc., led to FinTech lender growth.
The earlier untapped Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities also provided
space for all lenders to grow. Increased Internet penetration due
to low-cost or free providers like Reliance Jio in non-metro cities also
helped drive acceptance of digital financial services.
111
253
462 713
80% 1,024 186 625
1,805 2,500
% of Accounts
414
60% 404 48
574 266
806
40% 1,042
257 726 266
261 944
266 343
20% 304
322 623
256 258 486 422
286 255 254 286 343
0%
Aug-18 Nov-18 Feb-19 May-19 Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
Origination Month
Need for FinTechs to focus on collections
Compared to peer members, the huge volumes sourced by FinTechs were largely
small-ticket loans and from riskier segments. Banks have generally been lending
to consumers in prime and above risk tiers, and those with a relatively stable
flow of income, and leveraging their liability base to acquire personal loans. At
the same time, FinTechs have onboarded consumers with low credit scores and
leveraged more alternative data.
60% 54%
49% Aug-20
50%
% of Consumers
50%
43% Aug-20
% of Accounts
40%
May-20
30%
22%
18%
Feb-20
20%
8% 9% Nov-19
10% 7%
5%
3%
0% Aug-19
PSU PVT NBFC Fin Tech
Member Type
The upsurge in delinquent accounts (post-Feb. 2020) is attributed to accounts
flowing to a higher delinquency bucket each month — bloating the 90+ DPD (Days
Past Due) bucket. To avoid high NPAs, FinTechs need to manage delinquent
accounts in early collections buckets.
Pre-COVID Post-COVID
100%
373 433
Live Accounts (’000)
546 648
806
% of Accounts
0%
Jan-20 Feb-20 Mar-20 Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20
Month
In the current situation, as the moratorium has ended, more consumers will
enter delinquency buckets and make the collection process even more
challenging. Traditional collection strategies work well for banks due to their
superior physical reach, larger team sizes, and multitude and size of loans.
FinTech lenders need a different approach. They require policies to implement
loan restructuring for consumers based on certain criteria — encouraging
consumers to at least partially repay their debts. With credit for demand
expected to climb during and after the festive season, partial repayments will
help lenders manage their balance sheets. Most pressing is the need for a robust
and cost-effective collection mechanism to maintain overall profitability.
Overview of personal loan roll rates
Due to their unsecured nature, personal loan roll forward rates are usually
higher than other products. Yet FinTechs have the highest roll forward rates —
where non-branch operations have made collections a difficult activity. And
considering their loan sizes, traditional collection agencies aren’t an optimal
solution either. For accounts in the 30-59 DPD bucket, FinTechs operate at
improvement rates as low as 2%. What’s interesting is the upswing in
improvement rates after the beginning of the pandemic.
Personal Loan Improvement Rates for 30-59 DPD Bucket by Member Type
Jul-Aug 2019 Jul-Aug 2020
% Accounts Cured or Rolled
40%
31.8% 31.2%
30% 28.6%
24.2%
22.9%
Back
20%
12.1%
9.4%
10%
2.4%
0%
PSU PVT NBFC Fin Tech
Member Type
# Accounts (’000)
100
Back
12% 80
8% 60
40
4%
20
0% 0
Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
Status Month (t+1)
Personal Loan Improvement Rates for 15-29 DPD Bucket for Fin Techs
Improvement Rate Delinquent Accounts
% Accounts Cured or Rolled
24% 120
20% 100
# of Accounts (’000)
16% 80
Back
12% 60
8% 40
4% 20
0% 0
Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
Status Month (t+1)
Personal Loan Improvement Rates for 30-59 DPD Bucket for Fin Techs
Improvement Rate Delinquent Accounts
% Accounts Cured or Rolled
12% 250
# of Accounts (’000)
10% 200
8%
150
Back
6%
100
4%
2% 50
0% 0
Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
Status Month (t+1)
In TransUnion CIBIL’s
conversations and
engagements with various
FinTech lenders, we discovered
when FinTechs stopped disbursing new
loans at the start of the pandemic, they
had the ability to repurpose sales and credit
resources to assist with collections
management. Reduced new loan originations also
helped manage delinquencies in the lower buckets.
While these initiatives show a clear improvement in cure
and roll-back rates during the pandemic, it begs the question
whether these are sustainable approaches in the long run. As
and when the ecosystem rebounds and origination volumes pick up,
FinTechs need better, more sustainable strategies to manage their
portfolio collections efficiencies.
FinTechs must have industry benchmarks for roll rates to measure collection
efficiency. Curing an account seems almost impossible once the consumer crosses
30 DPD, which means FinTechs need to act early on delinquent accounts. As volumes
of delinquent accounts increase post-moratorium — and considering the contraction
in the economy expected over the next few quarters — FinTechs need to focus on
rapidly curing accounts to maintain profitability.
Collection behaviour across consumer dimensions
Historically, it’s been difficult for FinTechs to collect from rural locations due to
the absence of branches, and lower financial literacy. But in the most recent
quarters, the gap between metro and rural improvement rates has reduced. GoI
has adopted special initiatives to grow financial participation by low-income
groups and credit-deterrent MSMEs by encouraging saving and investments —
driving increased credit access while generating jobs and reducing inequalities.
That’s why geographic location of consumers does not seem to be an important
factor in measuring collections efficiency.
15%
Pre-COVID Post-COVID Metro
10% Urban
Back
Semi-urban
5%
Rural
0%
Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
Status Month (t+1)
15%
Pre-COVID Post-COVID 18-25
10% 25-30
Back
30-35
5%
35-45
0%
Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
Status Month (t+1)
Looking at loan size, we observed historically larger-ticket size loans had higher
improvement rates. This is because FinTechs see less marginal utility after initial
collections calls for lower-ticket sizes, as the cost of collections exceeds
possible returns and results in increased efforts to prioritise higher-ticket sizes
first. Post-COVID, efforts have grown across all ticket sizes leading to higher
collections across all ticket sizes.
15%
Pre-COVID Post-COVID
0-2.5K
10% 2.5-5K
Back
5-10K
5% 10-20K
20+K
0%
Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
Status Month (t+1)
FinTechs usually charge higher interest rates compared to banks, catering to a
consumer segment that’s neither accessible or eligible to traditional banks or
NBFC lenders. We wanted to see if consumers with multiple FinTech loans have
a higher affinity for repaying FinTech loans. Results show consumers with
multiple FinTech loans had better improvement rates compared to those with a
single FinTech loan, reflecting a higher tendency to repay. This is because of
increased consumer stickiness/loyalty and familiarity with FinTech brands
which offer greater convenience and availability. But this trend did not hold
true in 2020.
20%
Pre-COVID Post-COVID
1 Fin Tech
15% Trade
Back
10%
1+ Fin Tech
5% Trade
0%
Aug-19 Nov-19 Feb-20 May-20 Aug-20
We used two separate techniques to build models. Lenders could then choose
the one that suits their lending style and apply collection prioritisation
accordingly:
A)Scorecard methodology
B)Decision tree approach
For both approaches, we considered accounts in 30–59 DPD and measured their
performance over the next three months. We used cure-rate, or the number of
accounts that moved to lower buckets (0–29 DPD), in all three months as the
performance measurement metric.
Performance Definition
Cured: Account is not >30 DPD in ALL of the
Credit Vision
Account next 3 months
variables for
preformance in Deteriorated: Account has rolled forward to
past 36
next 3 months 60-89 DPD in ANY of the next 3 months
months
20%
16%
12%
8%
<=50% 51-68% 69-78% 79-90% 91-100% >100%
Percentage
Consumers with lower vintages on personal loans also showed lower cure rates,
while consumers ahead in their personal loans journey reflected higher cure
rates. This may be a result of higher credit experience and knowledge of
maintaining a good credit history — ensuring their credit score is not impacted
when they need a loan in the future.
16%
Cure Rate %
14%
12%
10%
8%
(0 - 2) (2 - 3) (3 - 4) (4 - 5) (5 - 7) (7 - 19) (19,inf)
Months
Consumers with multiple live loans (different products from different lenders)
who were not delinquent on those loans, showed a higher cure rate compared to
those with fewer non-delinquent loans.
Number of open trades currently satisfacory
18%
16%
Cure Rate %
14%
12%
10%
8%
0 1 2 3 4-6 >6
Number of Open Trades
20% score
15%
CV score
10%
5%
0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score Deciles
We also built a decision
tree model for lenders looking for a
simpler segmentation approach to prioritising
collection efforts.
1.FinTech lenders have much on-us consumer data and alternate data
available to them. They can customise the collection score or HML
segmentation by adding additional information to build an even more
accurate collections management framework.
2.Lenders can test the model on other DPD buckets (like 1–14 DPD or 1–29
DPD) depending on risk appetite while controlling the spill-over of delinquent
accounts to higher buckets.
COLLECTIONS
PRIORITIZATION
MEASURE MODEL
TEST
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