New Milepoint Lending Team [general info]

Isn't Chadi #51?

Chadi showed up on the list before Dr. B. E. did. But I certainly admit that there is often a disconnect on the timing of when people and loans show up on Kiva's list. Actually makes little or no difference.

Doesn't anyone pay attention to mileposts in this thread? I was looking forward to the competitive rush to get post #1000.

Am looking at my Kiva account. $1.04 credit. Bits being paid back the next few months then one loan being repaid in full in July. I hope the borrower has been saving!!!!

I've contributed 2 loans to the MP group but the average for our group is 8.5 per member. I better find another loan or two.

Random posting!!!!!!!!

Maybe the goal should be our 1000th loan?

Strange actually that this is one of the few threads at mp where nobody has paid attention to posts, but only the content. Out of context! For that we'll just need higher goals for April!

We rock!!!!

Back to Kiva I just looked at a loan where a woman wants to buy a sewing machine. $875???!!! I can get one cheaper than that. But maybe she wants fabric and other items too. Maybe I think too much when it comes to choosing who I loan to?

or perhaps it is a commercial grade model that would cost thousands in the U.S. Like you, I also think too much.

Good point re the machine. Some days I look at Kiva and want to loan but just don't find the one for me. Then another day I find the one.

MP just told me I'm a helpful contributor!

My personal goal is to contribute to new loans on a monthly basis. Due to personal limited funds, and also being new to Kiva, I contributed and loaned $50 in March. My goal is to contribute $50 each month in new funds as well as reinvest any repayments received. I do not consider this an investment that will produce a monetary return but more like a charitable contribution.

This is what I was thinking, an industrial machine rather than one for home hobby use. It also could be a special machine for thick fabrics or leather.

I do not think you think too much. All three of you made good points IMO, although we must defer somewhat to the new His Goldiness! Seriously, the factors I would think about are taxes and duties (high in most of these places), other things in the loan, and whether it makes sense to you.

I have been making microloans since 1975, when I helped start a bank in Iran to lend to, among other things, carpet dealers. later I moved to Lebanon then Yemen and a few other places. I made lots of loans, bad ones too. One of the things Im like about Kiva is that you can examine the track record of the lender as well as the borrower.

There is no substitute for making your own considered judgements though. That is why the conversation you have just started excites me so much. This has been less common elsewhere IME, and worries me. if the sewing machine seems too expensive you need to know why, agree with it, or not lend.

I try to do most of my lending at the beginning of the month when the supplies are largest. Some Kiva groups do exactly the opposite.

Anyway, you people are making me very happy. I am proud to be associated with you.

Ok I just made another 3 loans. I'm going to try and do 4 loans a month for the rest of the year. I had to make a loan to Philomena in Rwanda as who can refuse a woman money when she wants to expand her beer business.

I'm too slow. Her loan is raised.

I never thought to look at the field partner. I usually just look at what the borrower is planing to do with the money.

Which of the field partner stats do you think we should focus on?

I prefer to loan to someone who is doing something I am interested in. First I always look to see if there are any loans for Health or Education. Then my next tier is agriculture. I've had some intersting organic farming for flowers in Central/South America over the years.

I have made probably 180 loans and have been burnt on less than 5 so don't focus too much on the field partner stats. I donate knowing it may never be coming back.

As to the monthly goals, what about growing members by a certain %, plus as someone said a goal like the 1000th loan plus a total that does stretches us but does not rely upon certain members having to donate all their beer money.

As Toula points out the loss rate for anything on Kiva is very low. Exceedingly low by microloan standards, one reason I like Kiva. These are the data available. I chose Finca Peru, one I like very much.
Portfolio yield is one I look at if I have local commercial rates for comparison. The Peru Prime rate is 23.67% at the moment and personal loan rates average 100%, so Finca with a portfolio yield of 57.8% is cheaper than any remotely likely alternative funding. Return of assets of 9.6% is excellent, showing they are managing to control the very high costs of administering tiny loans. Next average loan size is 5.66% of per capita income, suggesting Finca is not overloading customers with excessive debt. Finally, I look at delinquency rate and default rate both of which are zero, and that is exceptional. Currency loss rate I only look at for countries with very unstable currencies (not Peru).

I review these data about once every three months. Toula has a good approach too, but I cannot stand not knowing everything I can know. I have 88 loans outstanding now with one delinquency a few months back, that was cured, and no losses. Over time I would expect loss rates of less than 1/2%, much lower than commercial lenders would expect.

I show the link only because there are more than five images, a non-no for mp
http://www.kiva.org/partners/70

A final point. Lending on Kiva is a good way to save money too. The returns are quite good, so you can save money while helping people who really need it. It is quite possible to use Kiva as part of your long term financial planning, but you'll need to relend often because the tenors (contractual terms) of Kiva loans are rarely more than three years and usually much less.

one of my loans was for someone who wanted to wholesale and distribute beer. done and done.

That is a perfectly reasonable way to lend. I have lent to people just because I like what they do. There are lots less solid reason than that one, aren't there?

Team stats as of today at ca 18:30 GMT:
Number of Team Members: 51
Number of Loans: 436
Number of Loans per Member: 8.5
Total Amount Loaned: $20,200 !!

I appreciate all input from everyone for editing the first post with relevant content to help us explain what Kiva is and how it works, so we can get more members! Goal suggestions are also welcome!

.. and you are all liked

Thanks very much for your most excellent work, nime01. Next month will have some pleasant surprises for our cause, of that I am sure.

Wow. Impressive.Together we might not be able to save the world, but we can get a good start on the task. Think of the impact our loans have. We made 436 loans. These went to individuals and groups so likely 500 or more families benefitted. If each family was made up of four people that's 2,000 people benefitting. Then as the loan funds are spent, that is employment and profits for even more people. I am no economist, but I suspect the multiplier effect of the dollars loaned is high and that our inpact on local economies was between $200,000 and $500,000.Wow.Wow.Wow.

Thanks for starting the milepoint Kiva team and for your attention to this effort --

I am not anti-Kiva, but I'm wondering how many of you are aware that you aren't actually lending to the people you click on? Read this: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2009/10/kivaorg_role_model_or_cautiona.html

You're lending to the microfinance company that in turn is making new loans. I'm not making any judgment about whether or not this is a "good" thing; I'm curious if others were aware of this issue and if it altered your views on participating.

Old story. It's been well known that there are middlemen for several years and Kiva has been quite up front about that. They even "score" those entities. The money is still going all the way to the "entrepreneurs" and gets repaid from them.