Granting and managing loans for micro-entrepreneurs: New developments and practical experiences

We present a methodology to grant and follow-up credits for micro-entrepreneurs. This segment of grantees is very relevant for many economies, especially in developing countries, but shows a behavior different to that of classical consumers where established credit scoring systems exist. Parts of our methodology follow a proven procedure we have applied successfully in several credit scoring projects. Other parts, such as cut-off point construction and model follow-up, however, had to be developed and constitute original contributions of the present paper. The results from two credit scoring projects we developed in Chile, one for a private bank and one for a governmental credit granting institution, provide interesting insights into micro-entrepreneurs’ repayment behavior which could also be interesting for the respective segment in countries with similar characteristics.

► We study the challenges that arise when modeling credit risk for micro-entrepreneurs. ► We present novel statistical OR methodologies for model follow-up. ► We show how non-profit organizations can construct model cut-off points. ► The variables and results on two real-life datasets are analyzed and discussed.