Informal Credit Questionnaire


[ Demand for Credit ][ Supply of Credit ]

This questionnaire was developed as a part of the masters thesis research titled, "Viability of Informal Credit to Finance Low-Income Housing: A Case Study of Three Squatter Settlements in Bangalore, India" at Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok) in 1991. The focus of the questionnaire was on social networks and linkages that assist credit mobilization, rather than economic/econometric issues. While the questions are specific to the area/research, it does provide a starting point (with considerable room for further development, and additions/subtractions etc.). Comments for improvement are welcome.

Demand Questionnaire
  1. Socio-Economic Data

    • place of origin
    • previous places of residence and future moves contemplated
    • native language
    • no. of family members and income earners
    • individual incomes earned and total family incomes
    • household expenditure patterns
    • place of work
    • ...
  2. Credit Mobilization
    • sources and amounts of finance used: savings, remittances, friends/relatives, money lender, ROSCA/ commercial bank, others
    • purpose of mobilizing credit
    • sources of information used to identify credit supplier: relatives, friends, co-workers, employer, neighbours, lender's agent, others
    • reasons for choosing sources indicated above.
    • roles of third party in credit transaction and reasons for their involvements. Third party involvement in intermediation, negotiation and guarantee.
    • terms and conditions for transaction: form of transaction record, repayment schedule (amount and period), type and value of collateral, place of collection of repayments.
  3. Credit Repayment
    • flexibility in repayment: repayment amounts, periods and rates of interest - original terms and modified terms.
    • no. of times a credit source was reused: source, amounts, reasons.
Supply Questionnaire
  1. Organizational information
    • name and address of the supplier/organization
    • year of establishment
    • type of organization: single operator, union, ROSCA, cooperative, others
    • number of employees
    • number of depositors/borrowers
    • type of registration (if applicable)
    • branches, if any
    • geographical area of opeation
  2. Credit Mobilization
    • sources of finance/money for supplier
    • terms and conditions from these sources: amounts, rates of interest, repayment schedules, transaction records, collateral ...
    • frequency of usage of credit sources: no. of times applied and no. of times accepted
    • flexibility and reliability of credit sources used.
  3. Borrower Evaluation
    • identification of potential borrower: borrower approaches ender, intermidiator links lender and borrower, lender's agent identifies borrower, lender approaches borrower, other ...
    • Evaluation criteria - details, ranking and reasons:
      • past repayment record: prompt repayment, changes in terms and conditions, other ...
      • social status: religion, place of origin, place of residence, other ...
      • acquaintance: no. of years, family friend, business friend, other ...
      • employment status: income (amount and cycle - daily, weekly, monthly, lumpsum etc.), job type, place of work, other ...
      • recommendations, collateral and guarantees: person proposing and relationship to borrower.
      • other criteria
  4. Target borrower Groups
    • borrower target incomes groups
    • borrower target occupation groups
  5. Terms and conditions for loan disbursal
    • terms and conditions for loan disbursal: amounts, rates of interest, periods, transaction records, repayment schedules, collateral.
    • flexibility in repayment schedules: amount, periods, other ...
Hari Srinivas - hsrinivas@gdrc.org
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