New Milepoint Lending Team [general info]

I have some loans there and they are paying back fine:
https://www.kiva.org/lend/352088 (paying back)
https://www.kiva.org/lend/351671 (paying back)

These were both picked up as late lending about to expire loans.

Nice use of alliteration. Is it on a business card?

FCJapan, Flippant Forum Flyer.

I've had lots of Ugandan loans on Kiva. No major issues. There was a brief period when repayments were late due to net billing issues, but that got fixed.

Uganda is my latest country. Thanks all for the feedback.

At one stage one of the Ugandan MFIs (think it was BRAC) had some question marks over it due to deliquent repayments but that was some time ago. I no longer do loans to Uganda, but usually a good measuring stick for me is the default rate.

BTW has anyone noticed that the default rate for Accion us the US MFI is now up to 16%!! Loaning to the US borrowers would probably be your worst option.

I had notice the phenomenon, but not the actualy statistic. 16% is insane. Any speculation as to why? Could there be a different cultural dynamic than we find in other Kiva countries?

I have been having a quick think about it and for me the only reasons I can come up with are:

1. Poor vetting by the MFI. Some of the US loans I have seen listed over the years I've shrugged my shoulders and immediately thought they were doomed for failure given the economic climate and the type of business involved.

2. The lack of any personal shame or societal pressure to pay debt in the US. The foreclosure/short sale mess, no recourse loan debacle and the willingness to enter into bankruptcy rather than pay what is owed tells you a lot about the society in which most of us are living. I would think there would be some peer pressure in many of these traditional Kiva countries to make good on what they owe and not bring shame to the village or ruin opportunities for other.

I could be totally wrong on both these reasons tho.

I don't think you are wrong on this one. Many Americans feel "entitled" and "faultless". I shy away from the US loans because of that. I would much rather give to someone in Africa without two rocks to rub together because they will do everything in their power to pay back a debt.

A point of information to fellow members who withdraw money occasionally or regularly from their Kiva account. Since I have not read about this issue in our threads I decided to let you know that I received an email that suggested I am now a member of the Kiva/Pay Pal bad boy list for withdrawing money from my account too many times. The email stated that my account had too much activity. I inferred that the issue arose since my actions were causing me to be a poor pay pal customer since they do the Kiva transactions gratis. I was wondering why pay pal only wanted to debit my bank account when I loaned money to Kiva. The Kiva email informed me that I could be paid by a paper check if I chose to continue to withdraw funds in the future.

The generosity of Paypal was touched upon by Premal at the Do.

Joined the MP Kiva team this weekend, and made my first loan. Was a great experience sharing the concept with my daughters as well!

My teenager is a MPKL team member. She likes to spin the globe, choose a country and make her loan. It's also a great teaching moment to talk about the history and/or political climate of the country.

That is definitely the first I have ever heard of this. I have been withdrawing virtually all of my money for the past 4 1/2 months, and have had no problems whatsoever. I wonder what they mean by "too much activity"?

Welcome to the wonderful world of microfinance, GT! You are now a micro-venture capitalist. Glad to have you aboard.

Makes me wonder if I will get the warning slap on the wrist in the near future. I have been adding funds 3+ times a week for the past 6 months and then withdrawing some of my repayments. If they pull that paper check stunt on me I probably would not play the game anymore. Reason I tend to process my payments this way is I like to take a loan if it takes my fancy. I don't wait until credits arrive before I hit the juice hard.

Eek.

Speaking of paypal, the currency fees are about to go up another 1%

Ouch

Welcome to the team, Golden Toque (yay! another Canuck!)
My nieces are MP KLT members also. They usually have enough to make one or two repayments a month and it pleases me to no end when I see their faces show up on the team page's Recent Activity. As kellio mentioned, the teachables of Kiva lending are amazing.

That sucks! One thing that we wanted to get out of the Kiva Do was an end to the discrepancy of foreign transaction costs, but it looks like its going in the opposite direction!

Congrats and welcome to the team.

This has been a regular problem for several lenders, all ones who have had a lot of activity. I have regular discussions about this with them. You have a Conversation.

I apologize for not clearly stating my Kiva activity over the past few months. Here it is:

1. I make loans in groups of 5 or 10 three to four times a month. Occasionally make one loan in honor of fcj's more curious observations of life. All loans are $ 25.00 each. None of the loans are using Kiva credit. Nor have I been giving Kiva the $ 3.75 fee. I plan on giving them a sizable donation during the year. I am selfishly doing this for my own tax reporting purposes.

2. I withdraw repayment as they arrive as opposed to letting it bulk up. This results in Pay Pal sending my bank account many small payments.

3. Only use my miles cc for the lending.

Thus, I am adding and withdrawing funds on a regular basis which, as stated in my earlier post, reduces Pay Pal's bottom line since it is generously waiving transaction fees to Kiva.

I was not bothered by the email received. I thought the team should be informed about this "policy". I hope miles and smiles finds this post edifying.

Thanks for the clarification tondoleo. It is as I expected. You are funding all of your loans via credit card. My situation is different, hence Paypal has not emailed me. I have been withdrawing most of my funds since early January because of my change in finances. I have made only a few new loans each month. And now that my portfolio is down to a size that I feel more comfortable at, I may stop withdrawing after this month.

Please welcome michael to Kiva; he joined using my link. I have sent a message requesting that he join the milepoint team.

I have a repayment question.
I made loans using my credit card.
How do repayments work if Pay Pal was not used except from processing the transaction ?