Landing Page
Dashboard
Create Agreement
Agreement Detail
Pay Direct via UPI (India's Venmo) with prefilled Context

TrustFirst: Trust & Transparency in Informal Finance

🌟 Inspiration

TrustFirst was born from a common social friction: The Awkward Gap.

Everyone has been there—lending money to a friend or family member is an act of trust, but asking for it back often strains the relationship. Traditional financial tools are either:

Too cold and complex (legal contracts), or
Too limited (Venmo handles only the transaction, not the timeline or human context).

We realized that informal lending is a $2 trillion global market built on verbal promises. We wanted to build a bridge — a way to keep financial dealings professional without losing the human touch.

TrustFirst is our solution to digitize trust and remove awkwardness from informal finance.

🚀 What TrustFirst Does

TrustFirst is a comprehensive peer-to-peer lending platform that brings structure to informal lending.

Key Features

📞 Conversational AI Calling

VAPI AI integration for natural voice calls
Automated payment reminders via phone
Professional, empathetic conversation flow
One-click call initiation by lenders
Real-time call status tracking

✅ Digital Agreements

Instantly document loans
Clear due dates and purposes
Transparent expectations for both parties

🤖 AI-Powered Repayment Plans

Uses Google Gemini
Generates personalized installment schedules
Based on borrower’s financial capacity

⭐ Dynamic Trust Scores

Reputation engine tracking reliability
Incentivizes on-time payments
Builds social accountability

👥 Witness Verification

Adds third-party verification
Improves credibility
Protects privacy (witness cannot see loan amount)

📍 Context-Aware Reminders

Uses Radar SDK for borrower context
Detects sensitive locations (e.g., hospital)
Intelligently delays or silences reminders
Maintains empathy in financial communication

🤝 Group Lending

Multiple contributors can support one request
Enables community-based financial help

⚙️ How We Built It

TrustFirst is a robust full-stack Next.js application designed for scale and reliability.

🧩 Tech Stack

Frontend

Next.js 16 (App Router)
React 19
Tailwind CSS 4
Radix UI Provides lightning-fast performance and premium UI.

Database & Authentication

MongoDB → complex schemas for users, groups, agreements
Firebase Auth → secure authentication

AI Integrations

Google Gemini 2.5 Pro → smart payment scheduling
VAPI AI → conversational voice reminders

Real-Time Services

Radar.io → live location intelligence
NodeMailer / Resend → automated emails

Mathematical Foundations (LaTeX) Our Trust Score Engine uses a dynamic decay model to ensure accountability:

If a payment is delayed, the new Trust Score ($T_{score}$) is calculated as: $$T_{new} = T_{old} - \left( \alpha \times \frac{D_{delay}}{D_{grace} + 1} \right)$$ where:

$\alpha$ is the strictness coefficient (0.5 for lenient, 2.0 for strict mode). $D_{delay}$ is the number of days past the due date. $D_{grace}$ is the number of buffer days configured by the lender. For Group Lending, the contribution $C_i$ for a total request $R$ with $n$ members is balanced such that: $$\sum_{i=1}^{n} C_i \approx R$$

⚠️ Challenges We Faced

🔄 Orchestrating Multiple SDKs

Synchronizing Firebase, MongoDB, Radar, and VAPI AI in a serverless environment required advanced asynchronous lifecycle management.

❤️ The Empathy Algorithm

Translating human social nuance into logic was challenging. We refined detection of sensitive locations to ensure reminders are never sent at inappropriate moments.

💰 Group Transaction Logic

A single group request dynamically creates multiple one-to-one agreements. Maintaining data integrity required structured database transactions.

🏆 Accomplishments We’re Proud Of

✅ End-to-End Functional Product — Built a complete platform with 8+ user flows in 48 hours.
🤖 Seamless AI Integration — AI performs real-world actions like scheduling payments and making calls.
⭐ Unique Trust System — Proprietary Trust Score and Witness workflow for accountability.