Micro lending sites - Kiva.org - the borrower perspective.
Yesterday I looked at Kiva.org from a lender perspective and it all seemed quite rosy.
A couple of clicks as a lender and you are done.
There is more to this than meets the eye though.
If you click on the option to learn more a dedicated page is opened with emphasis on the borrowers story and the loan length.
In much smaller writing you can only see that the loan has already been made, there is an currency exchange risk and the borrower is paying interest. You have to drop down the V to see more detail.
Wow, now that's a whopper. The interest rate is 49% per year.
Plus there are all kinds of loss percentages.
No wonder at these kinds of repayment terms.
We will give kiva.org 10 points for transparency, but you have to be prepared to dig for it.
Selecting the repayment schedule you can even get right down to the nitty-gritty of details
But even that does not add up so well
No interest is shown in the calculations there and already the lenders have taken a 17c loss on exchange rates so far (which is minuscule sure) but illustrates that principle.
So clearly there is more than meets the eye of the lender in this case. Kiva is transparent but perhaps a little short on upfront disclosure by seemingly hiding the finer details.
But, one can also understand them wanting to shield lenders from complexity and make the lending process as quick and painless as possible.
So the next question is just who exactly is being funded? Will look deeper into that question next time.
All pictures in this post are screengrabs taken directly from the kiva.org website for illustrative purposes.
Hey, great post! Did you know that a couple of us here on Steem have our own team on Kiva? Team Steemit! Here, check it out: https://www.kiva.org/invitedto/steemit/by/oleg326756
And, since you are already on Steem and on Kiva, it would be awesome if you joined our team. If you want to, of course. :))
Thanks for the heads up, was hoping to generate interest in micro-lending through these posts, find some like minds, as well as generate some funds for lending.
Great to see we have some like minded people around! Will definitely join the team Steem.
I love your ideas! Yes, it would be great if we could channel some of the Steem’s income-generating potential into the credit capital to be used for micro-lending on Kiva.
I have been on Kiva for 8 years and I did a fellowship programme with them last summer. One of the most meaningful and memorable experiences of my life! And I loved meeting Kiva staff in their headquarters in San Francisco – what an amazing bunch of people they were!!
I look forward to connect with you on Kiva in the Team Steemit, @sme! Welcome!! :D
Wow you've stuck gold here. I've done quite a few KiVA posts and never come close to $60. That'll almost fund 2 loans. Not every load is as onerous as the one you've outlined but I guess the field partners need to cover costs as well. All I know is the loans usually get payed back and the same $25 gets loaned out again and again.
Yea, got me some whale support and looking to build up a nice churning fund to lend and create awareness.
I and a few others have big plans for a micro-lending/financing community on steemit. Just hoping to gather the like minds, build some SP and generate SBD for loans.
Great idea. Hope it all goes well. If your a kiva lender join the Steemit team.
This is extraordinary!
as i see most they loan to help 3rd world countries and with shelter,refugees,food,agriculture , education and so on, im not sure how they repay in 3rd country and how much risk.
traffic of site is stable for half year. so if its ponzi then it can die soon (without new vissitors/investors any ponzi die ) , so we will know in next half year.
How would you think it's a ponzi. KIVA is not for profit I've been a KIVA lender for over 7 years and my initial seed money has been relent many times to help people in many countries.
all easy, in internet you cant trust anyone , so we can consider anything :) plus i just gave evaluate of traffic so people will know how popular this service is
Well, have you ever seen a whale with a distinctive callus or like a panu in the head area?Yup!This whale has that trait.With a unique breath hole that looks like a V and black and also dark gray.Baleen which has thisthin body and amounts to about 400 in the North Atlantic and 25 in the North Pacific and 15,000 in the south, do not get me wrong.It weighs up to 100 tons with a length of 100 feet or 18 meters.
Beluga Whale
they lend to people who can hardly repay back anything.. new way to make people slave using technology.. ahh we are back to those few thousand years ago when buying and selling people was a very simple thing
That's a very ignorant comment. I have participated in many KIVA loans and almost all have paid back and several have taken additional loans.
UPVOTED.
very good.
I would be happy if you like to follow me and give your opinion about my posts.
Thanks.
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STOPwow. very interesting article. eye opening
Very interesting . Upvoted and resteemed :-)