Financial services Usage scenario

Repayment tracking and automatic reminders for a microfinance institution

Field agents recording collections on an offline phone, SMS or WhatsApp reminders and a late-payment view, connected to the existing core system.

Describe your project See the solution

Project overview

This scenario illustrates what we build; it is not a client reference.

This scenario shows how a microfinance institution with field agents can track the repayment schedule of each loan, record collections on a phone even without network, remind borrowers by SMS or WhatsApp, and give the manager a view of late payments. The existing core system stays in place: we connect to it, we do not replace it.

Client challenges & requirements

A microfinance institution with three branches manages a portfolio of group loans and individual loans. Fifteen field agents go through markets and neighbourhoods every week to collect repayments. Each agent writes the amounts in a notebook, then types them into the core system at the branch in the evening, sometimes the next day. In between, nobody knows who has paid.

Reminders are phone calls, when the agent thinks of it. The operations manager finds out about late payments at month end, when the arrears report comes out of the system, and by then it is too late to act on the first missed instalments.

Main objectives

Give each agent, on their phone, the repayment schedule of their borrowers and collection entry, even without network

Automatically send a reminder by SMS or WhatsApp before each instalment and a message when a payment is late

Give the manager a view of late payments by branch, by agent and by borrower, updated every day

Read from and write to the existing core system instead of replacing it

Project solution

We start with a short analysis with the operations manager and three agents: which screens of the core system they really use, which data comes out of it, how a collection is validated today. This work sets the scope and the list of fields exchanged with the existing system. The mobile app is built with Flutter.
Every morning it downloads the repayment schedule of the agent's borrowers, works without network all day and sends collections as soon as a signal returns. Each collection carries the time, the location and the agent's identifier. An integration layer in Laravel reads loans and instalments from the core system and writes validated collections back to it; if the system has no API, we use a scheduled export and import agreed with its vendor.
Reminders go out by SMS or WhatsApp Business API: if the instalment is due in two days, a reminder; if it is overdue, a message and a task for the agent. Every morning the manager opens a Metabase dashboard: late payments by branch, by agent, by borrower, and collections not yet synced. Access to each screen depends on the role, and every action is logged.

Indicators to track

Delay between a field collection and its recording in the system
Share of instalments paid on the due date
Share of borrowers reminded before the due date
Number of days between a first late payment and the agent's first contact
Gaps between recorded collections and amounts deposited at the branch

Tech stack

Application mobile: Flutter SQLite Synchronisation différée
Integration: Laravel API REST Import et export planifiés
Database: PostgreSQL
Messaging: Passerelle SMS WhatsApp Business API
Tableau de bord: Metabase

Frequently asked questions

Because it holds the accounts, the loan history and the reports the institution already produces. Replacing it is expensive and blocks the teams for a long time. We add what is missing, field entry and reminders, and we exchange data with it. If it has to be replaced one day, the mobile app and the reminders stay.

Each collection carries the time, the location and the agent. The borrower receives a confirmation SMS with the recorded amount; if it does not match what they handed over, they report it. The dashboard compares recorded collections with deposits made at the branch. The control rules and who validates what are decided with the institution.

No. Many borrowers have a basic phone. If the number is on WhatsApp, the reminder goes by WhatsApp; otherwise it goes by SMS. The text stays short and in the language chosen with the institution.