Volume, Balance and Cohort and the impact of multi-disbursements and restructures

There are three unique concepts on Cascade, and understanding the impact is critical to understanding the underlying calculations: 

1. Volume - the volume chart represents how much cash was disbursed in the month.  This does not always equal 1:1 with the value of a cohort due to multi-disbursements and restructures.  
   • Impact of Multi-disbursements: When a loan has multiple disbursements, the month the disbursement occurs relates directly to the month on the volume chart that the cash was disbursed.  Thus, a loan with two disbursements, in 2 different months, will have a disbursement on the volume chart for each month.  
   • Impact of Restructures: when a loan is restructured into a new loan and cash is not disbursed, but instead a new loan is created by carrying forward the balance from the previous loan, the latest loan is not considered as a cash disbursement, as the cash was disbursed initially with the first loan, not the restructured.  If the restructured loan is a combination of new cash + previous balance, the new money would be used in the volume chart for that month.    
2. Balance - the balance chart represents the outstanding balance of all disbursed loans at the end of the month 
   • Impact of Multi-disbursement: When a loan has multiple disbursements, the balance relates to the outstanding balance based on current disbursements and not future disbursements.  Thus, a loan with two disbursements, in two different months, in month 1, the balance is related to the first disbursement, and in month 2, the balance is related to the two disbursements (providing no payments have been made to reduce the balance).  
   • Impact of Restructures: When a loan is restructured, the balance on the original loan is reduced to 0 and closed, and a new balance is created on the second loan of equal or greater amount (depending on if new money was disbursed).  The new balance is used in calculating the outstanding balance on the new loan, while the original loan has 0 balance.  
3. Cohort - for all cohort-based charts, Cascade places the loan into a cohort, such as a monthly cohort, based on the original disbursement of that loan.  
   • Impact of Multi-disbursement: When a loan has multiple disbursements across multiple periods (i.e., two months), both disbursements are associated with the earliest month cohort.  This means the original principal disbursement for a cohort may not align 1:1 with the volume for that month, because it includes disbursements from multiple months but is associated with the earliest month cohort.  This causes some cohorts to grow over time, as numerous disbursements occur.  
   • Impact of Restructure:  When a loan is restructured, the original loan is closed and reduced to 0.  This loan remains in the cohort it was initially assigned to.  The newly restructured loan is assigned to the cohort of the period in which it was originated.  While the restructured loan might not disburse any new money, the original principal balance of the restructured loan is the amount carried over.  This will mean that the cohort's original principal balance does not match the volume chart 1:1 as it does not represent new money disbursed, but there is a principal balance assigned to the cohort.