What Do Seafarers Want From a Loan Management Tool?

We recently conducted a small survey to understand what seafarers would want from a digital loan management tool. Even with the small sample size, several interesting patterns emerged.

1. Prepayment decisions are a key use case

When asked what they would want to know before making a lump-sum loan repayment, 100% of respondents selected all the information presented.

This includes understanding the impact on:

1. Total interest payable
2. Outstanding principal
3. Remaining EMIs
4. Loan tenure
5. Potential interest savings
6. Time saved by repaying early

This suggests that a useful loan tool should go beyond simply displaying an EMI. It should help answer a more practical question:

What happens to my loan if I make a large lump-sum repayment today?

2. Loan information is available but not consistently

The survey showed that access to basic loan information varies.

1. 50% said their current outstanding amount is available in their app, while 33% said they could not find it anywhere and 17% said they do not keep track of it.
2. For interest paid so far, 67% said it was available in their app, while 33% could not find it.
3. For principal paid so far, 50% said it was available in their app, 33% could not find it, and 17% do not track it.
4. Remaining EMIs or tenure were easier to access, with 83% finding the information in their app and 17% calculating it themselves.

Simply having numbers available, however, does not necessarily make their financial implications easy to understand.

3. Understanding the cost of borrowing matters

1. 67% considered total interest paid so far a must-have, while the remaining 33% considered it useful.

For seeing how much interest could potentially be saved,

1. 50% considered it a must-have and 50% considered it useful.
2. Similarly, 67% considered knowing how much earlier they could finish the loan a must-have.

This points towards a tool that helps users understand the true cost and duration of their borrowing, rather than focusing only on the monthly EMI.

4. Tracking lump-sum repayments could add value

1. 83% considered the ability to record lump-sum repayments useful, while 17% considered it a must-have.

A repayment history or timeline could help users understand how their loan has changed over time and the impact of additional payments.

5. There are opportunities beyond basic loan tracking

The survey also surfaced ideas such as:

1. Notifications when interest rates change
2. Comparing loan repayment with investing surplus money
3. Understanding borrowing capacity based on income
4. Seeing how additional borrowing could affect existing obligations

These indicate that a loan tool could eventually evolve from a simple calculator into a broader debt-management and financial decision-support tool for seafarers.

An early signal, not a conclusion

With a small sample size, these findings should be viewed as hypotheses to investigate further, rather than definitive statements about seafarers as a whole.

The clearest early insight is this:

Seafarers may not simply need another EMI calculator. They may need a tool that helps them understand the consequences of their loan decisions, particularly when they have surplus money and are considering early repayment.