User Management on CS System — We did some chats on messaging platforms

Problem Statement :

How do we have a single User identifier mapped out to a single Entity in the system and how should all the identifiers talk to each other

This was probably one of the 1st problems that we tried to solve at Credit Saison.

The problem essentially looks simple to solve in a traditional system.

Solutions in Traditional Consumer-facing system -

1. We would allow a user to create an identifier for themselves on a web/mobile using a unique value like Phone number/email id that the User wants or
2. Assist the User to get an id created using Phone number/ email, e:g — The relationship manager of the user collects the details and gets a user id created for him.
3. Beyond that, all the Business related to the user has to start from identifying the id of the user

After that whenever the user interacts with us, he would directly use the identifier to identify himself. So what we are talking about is handling it at the top of the funnel and the funnel is controlled by us.

Why was it not so simple for us?

It was simply because of our Business model.

Business Model :

1. Credit Saison India provides loans by entering into co-lending agreements with other lending institutions who we call as our Co-Lending Partners
2. Co-Lending Partners can get loans sourced from various channels of their own. The sourcing technique of the co-lending partners varies and Credit Saison gets the Application post the Application has been submitted

So Credit Saison can’t control the source of the funnel. Also, we may get all identifiers only at the end of the application process

Credit Saison also does multiple lending Products which can be broadly divided into

1. Personal Loans
2. Business Loans

Challenges these variations brought

1. An Individual (loan applicant) can have multiple loans from multiple partners
2. An Individual can act in a different capacity for different personal loans without us tracking it from the source — For example, he may be a primary applicant in one loan from Partner 1 and Guarantor in another Loan from Partner 2
3. An Individual can be applying on behalf of a business as well as for a personal loan
4. A Business is an Entity and an Individual is also an Entity and both of them can be related in some way
5. An Individual’s relation to multiple Business may vary, for example, he may be the director of one Business and for the 2nd business he may be a CFO

In all the scenarios we wanted to maintain at least this

1. Each Entity needs to have the same identifier in our system throughout its lifecycle
2. Manage the Entity-Relationship between various entities so that their information can be available

The 1st problem we solved through a robust deduplication process, which I will save for a later time.

I will talk about how we solved the 2nd problem :

Inspiration and Solution :

We started discussing the solution like this

1. Individual <-> Individual Relationships
2. Individual <-> Business Relationships
3. Individual <-> Business <-> Loan Relationships
4. Individuals have properties of their own, like name, address, etc
5. Businesses have properties of their own like name, address, etc. but they contain a group of Individuals as well who are in various capacities
6. Loans have loan terms in addition to the group of Individuals and Business

Mental Model :

We tried to use the mental Model of Messaging Platforms in the solution

1. In Messaging platforms I as an individual can interact with any other individual
2. In Messaging platforms I can be part of a group

Let’s build the scenarios from the bottom to the top (or top to bottom — will explain this point at the end)

Build 1:

In Messaging platforms, I can set up an account of my own and not do any chatting with others

Equivalent Loan scenario, I am a individual applicant and just intend to apply for personal loan on my capacity, hence an applicant id is available for me

Build: 2

In Messaging platforms, I can set up a account of my own and start chatting with others individually

Equivalent Loan scenario -> I apply for a loan along with a co-applicant. Me and the Co-Applicant are associated in some way

Build: 3

In Messaging platforms, there is a Chat group Group with multiple admins. The Chat group is created for a purpose, has a name and people who serve a specific purpose. Also in this groups the members have equivalent powers

Equivalent Loan In Loan scenario -> There is a business with multiple Directors. The business in itself has certain information which are specific to the Business

Build: 4

In Messaging platforms, there is a Chat group Group with one admin and one member. In this scenario the members have differential power structure. The admin have more power then other members

Equivalent Loan scenario -> there is a business with one Director and one authorized signatory. The director has more power then the the authorized signatory

Sanctioning Loans : Once the setup of entities is done, we take this concept to build the next most essential identifiers in the Application Process — The Loan Application Identifiers. We extend the Chat group theory to group of groups/ individuals

1. Personal Loan without a Co-Applicant

2. Personal Loans with co-applicant

3. Business Loans

End result ->

1. If we see more carefully an entity relationship has been set up between all the identifiers.
2. Power users -> Say the CFO of a business who was part of the loan is no longer part of the company, the power user director can ask him to be replaced in the relationship diagram
3. With this approach does not matter which is the process of accepting entity information we adopt to, this is because the channels of loan applications are varied -> For example,
4. At 1st the Loan Application can come to us and then the applicant information comes to us. This is why at the start I had pointed out that we will have to do the last diagram at the start itself
5. The Applicant information is 1st available and then the loan application is done
6. Because of the above point if we even try to control the funnel, probably there will be no change in the system
7. And yes, this model has worked quite well for us till now !!! :)

P.S — Some Deduplication Fundas — https://medium.com/credit-saison-india/a-fuzzy-approach-to-solving-deduplication-of-your-customer-base-e2558cf53f05?source=collection_home---6------3-----------------------