Evaluation of Impacts of Access to Credit and Loan Size for Microcredit Clients in South Africa

June 17, 2008 updated by: Innovations for Poverty Action
This study involves randomization of individuals who were initially rejected from a micro-lending organization in South Africa. Subjects were placed into two arms: (1) not receiving a loan; (2) being reconsidered for a "second look." Of those in the second arm, 53% were then selected by the organization's loan officers to receive a standard loan for first-time borrowers. Mental health and financial data were collected at one timepoint: approximately 6-12 months after the subjects first applied for the loan.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

3000

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • South Africa
      • Cape Town, South Africa
        • Innovations for Poverty Action
      • Durban, South Africa
        • Innovations for Poverty Action
      • Port Elizabeth, South Africa
        • Innovations for Poverty Action

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Subjects were recruited from those who had been rejected from a lending organization for non-fraudulent or non-overindebtness reasons.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • None.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: 1
Individuals who were rejected from receiving a loan from a micro-lending organization were randomized to continue receiving no loan.
Experimental: 2
Individuals who were rejected from receiving a loan from a micro-lending organization were randomized to receive a "second look," to be reconsidered for a loan by loan officers.
Other: Small loan
Applicants in the treatment group were offered an interest rate, loan size, and maturity per the lender's standard underwriting criteria, involving a 4-month maturity at 11.75% per month, charged on the original balance (200% annual percentage rate).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), a 20-item questionnaire (0 = no risk, 60 = highest risk)
Time Frame: At follow-up (6-12 months after subject enrollment)
At follow-up (6-12 months after subject enrollment)
Perceived stress, measured using the Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), a 10-item questionnaire (0 = no stress, 40 = high stress)
Time Frame: At follow-up (6-12 months after subject enrollment)
At follow-up (6-12 months after subject enrollment)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Household income, measured by a variety of questions that asked about all sources of income obtained by all members of the applicant's household.
Time Frame: At follow-up (6-12 months after subject enrollment)
At follow-up (6-12 months after subject enrollment)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Innovations for Poverty Action

Collaborators

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
U.S. National Science Foundation
Broadening Access and Strengthening Input Market Systems/USAID
Princeton University
Social Science Research Council Program in Applied Economics
Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Dean Karlan, PhD, Innovations for Poverty Action
  • Principal Investigator: Jonathan Zinman, PhD, Dartmouth University
  • Principal Investigator: Lia Fernald, PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2004

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2005

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 16, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 17, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

June 18, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 18, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 17, 2008

Last Verified

June 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IPA-2004-SA

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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