Kiva.org - Lending Money To Small Business Ventures

[tropicalwaste]

I was introduced to Kiva several month ago and it has become a bit addictive not even sure how much money ive put out on loans :th_thimage_265775:but basically you setup an account browse through the business ventures and select to loan them some money which you can do via paypal. The reason I like this is that your helping people who are trying to do things with their lives and at the same time once repaid you can either lend the money back out again or take it out of the account and back to your paypal. Im going to slowly work my lending up to around $2000 personally and just keep it in there turning over. But for people wanting to make a difference its a good way to do it and one that seems to have a high success rate.

[tropicalwaste]

I was introduced to Kiva several month ago and it has become a bit addictive not even sure how much money ive put out on loans :th_thimage_265775:but basically you setup an account browse through the business ventures and select to loan them some money which you can do via paypal. The reason I like this is that your helping people who are trying to do things with their lives and at the same time once repaid you can either lend the money back out again or take it out of the account and back to your paypal. Im going to slowly work my lending up to around $2000 personally and just keep it in there turning over. But for people wanting to make a difference its a good way to do it and one that seems to have a high success rate.

Noticed something on Kiva.org the other day about its "lending partners". They dont publish it so highly but the "partners are charging interest" a nominal fee right?WRONG - I have money out on Kiva loans in the Philippines by one of the partners operating on 40% interest per annum. Not being funny but I am also the guarantor so there is no loss for the partner only me if it goes wrong.. So im pulling my money out of Kiva. But I did have another idea for the Expats Ladies Charity why dont they setup themselves? It could work in several ways to benefit everyone :-1. Initial loans from people on Kiva aswell as expats would only need single investment.2. 40% interest ? why not split it 20% for overheads and processing the other 20% for things like the Christmas party and projects.Cant be that hard to setup and I am sure Daisy would be able to work round the legislation process. Just a thought as I am more into investing once.

[daisy]

Hello Matt!Thanks for considering ELCI for this venture. Please let me know more about it.Thanksdaisy

[tropicalwaste]

Hello Matt!Thanks for considering ELCI for this venture. Please let me know more about it.Thanksdaisy

Hi Daisy, you will have to check with Kiva.org what the requirements are for setting up as one of their lenders. Basically you are setting up to lend money to small businesses and your group can take a percentage for administration and "risk". Which one of the current companies lending my money things 40% is a fair rate cant wait to get my money back :p Anyway I thought it would be an ideal way for your group to make commission for loans it gives out. Your group may already have most of the paperwork required as a charity and adding a lending part to it might not be as complicated as it seems. The advantage Kiva.org has to it is the way its setup as you just gather the information on the clients requiring loans e.g. photo, amount what they want it for and repayment plan. Advertise with a photo on Kiva.org and people put the money up for the loan no risk to yourselves financially as its the people who lend it that seem to absorb the default payments. Its just your responsibility to make sure there is a good chance of repayment and collect the monthly payments. The other major factor with Kiva is there are millions of dollars in there ;-)