Class imbalance Bayesian model averaging for consumer loan default prediction: The role of soft credit information

Futian Weng, Miao Zhu, Mike Buckle, Petr Hajek and Mohammad Zoynul Abedin

Research in International Business and Finance, 2025, vol. 74, issue C

Abstract: This study investigates the predictive value of soft information for consumer loan defaults. We propose a novel framework to address class imbalance by utilizing the concept of Bayesian model averaging. Specifically, we assign unequal weights to machine learning sub-models that incorporate different combinations of variables, thereby creating an accurate and robust model for predicting consumer loan defaults. Additionally, this framework incorporates the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) method to estimate individual contributions and employs the Bayesian information criterion to assess the variable contributions of the sub-models. We validate the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed method using authentic loan data and publicly available credit default records from a prominent consumer platform in China. Our empirical research suggests that the characteristics of user online behavior are significantly predictive of loan defaults, demonstrating asymmetry at different stages of default.

Keywords: Consumer loan; Soft credit information; Class imbalance; Bayesian model averaging; Variable contribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531924005154
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:74:y:2025:i:c:s0275531924005154

DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102722

Access Statistics for this article

Research in International Business and Finance is currently edited by T. Lagoarde Segot

More articles in Research in International Business and Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().