FairLoan — Transparent Digital Lending Prototype

⚠️ This is an educational portfolio prototype. It uses synthetic data only. No real loans, no real credit decisions, no real personal data is collected or processed. Not RBI-compliant. Not suitable for production.

Built by Vivek Nishad as a product-management portfolio project demonstrating fintech domain knowledge, responsible design, and full-stack implementation.

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What This Project Demonstrates

1. Product discovery and user research methodology
2. Fintech and digital-lending domain understanding (RBI Digital Lending Guidelines reference)
3. Transparent UX — no dark patterns, plain-language cost disclosure
4. Risk model thinking with explainable decisions
5. Privacy-conscious data collection and consent design
6. Full-stack implementation: Next.js 14 + FastAPI + PostgreSQL

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Architecture Overview

fairloan/
├── frontend/     Next.js 14 (App Router) + Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui
├── backend/      FastAPI + SQLAlchemy + Alembic + PostgreSQL/SQLite
└── docs/         Product artefacts — PRD, persona, journey map, research

Frontend → Backend communication is via a typed REST API (/api/v1/).
All monetary calculations use Python's Decimal type — no floating-point errors.
All data is synthetic. The is_demo flag is set to true on every record.

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Environment Requirements

Tool	Version
Node.js	≥ 18.17
Python	≥ 3.11
PostgreSQL	≥ 15 (or SQLite for local dev)
npm	≥ 9

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Installation

1. Clone and enter the repo

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/fairloan.git
cd fairloan

2. Backend setup

cd backend
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate        # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env            # Edit .env — set DATABASE_URL

Run database migrations:

alembic upgrade head

Seed synthetic data:

python -m app.seed.seed

Start the API server:

uvicorn main:app --reload --port 8000

API docs available at: http://localhost:8000/docs

3. Frontend setup

cd ../frontend
npm install
cp .env.example .env.local      # Set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:8000
npm run dev

App available at: http://localhost:3000

4. Run backend tests

cd backend
pytest tests/ -v

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Build Scripts

Command	What it does
npm run dev	Start Next.js dev server
npm run build	Production build
npm run lint	ESLint
uvicorn main:app --reload	Start FastAPI dev server
pytest tests/ -v	Run all backend tests
alembic upgrade head	Apply all migrations
python -m app.seed.seed	Load synthetic seed data

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Key Product Decisions

• Comprehension before conversion — users cannot proceed past any screen without having the information they need to make an informed decision.
• Prototype honesty — every screen carries a persistent disclaimer. No "instant approval" language.
• No dark patterns — no pre-checked consent, no countdown timers, no shame language.
• Privacy-first data model — analytics events are session-scoped, not user-linked by default.

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Regulatory Reference

RBI Digital Lending Guidelines (Master Directions):
https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=12957

All regulatory references in this prototype are labelled as either:

• Regulatory requirement — cited from the official source above
• Recommended product practice — industry standard, not legally mandated
• Portfolio-project assumption — prototype design choice

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Deployment

Service	Platform
Frontend	Vercel (free tier)
Backend	Render (free tier)
Database	Render PostgreSQL or SQLite for local

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Portfolio Context

This project is one of three fintech portfolio pieces:

1. FilingLens — Agentic RAG system over SEC 10-K filings
2. FairLoan — Transparent digital lending prototype (this repo)
3. Liquidity Risk Engine — NSE/AMFI quantitative analysis

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Last updated: September 2026