New Milepoint Lending Team [general info]

That would be a nanoloan.

Excellent point DW. I would add that it is imperative that Kiva determine how to get all members to fund a loan. According to Kiva Friends statistics only 63.01% of members have funded a loan. The raw number is 341,588 people signed up and have not made a loan. That is a lot of people just gawking.

If these interested micro loaners can step up to the plate and put some money into the game it would be great for everyone. Or, perhaps Kiva should consider reducing the loan amounts into increments of $ 5 or $ 10 which may be more manageable. If each of these signees threw in $ 5.00 it would add $ 1.77 million dollars for loans.

Perhaps this should be the next issue to "discuss".

Good luck team.

The still on strike tondoleo

As a team we need to work on this also, last I looked about 10% (~100) of our own team members have not made a loan.

I'd personally like to hear from any MilePoint members (via PM) who did take the time to sign up for Kiva but have not yet made a loan - just so I can get an idea of how that happens and if there is anything we can do to help transition them to lending members.

On strike?

You could have fooled me with your good input.

I'm just going to throw out there that more new Kiva members would lend if their home page wasn't as cluttered. They should show the cartoon video. And then they should have a loaning "wizard" that asks a series of questions, "Male or Female, What country do you want to lend in? What sector is most important to you?" And then it could spit out a few loans for people to choose from.

The photos of 60 borrowers is just confusing in my very humble opinion

Agreed. Great idea, Dreamworks!

Perhaps you could suggest it on the Kiva Site Feature Suggestions message board, as well as via the usual contactus channel.
http://www.kiva.org/team/kiva_suggestions

Thanks mc. Strikers always throw out words. That is easy.

Exactly what I told them. A loaning wizard, a 3 step pick and find a loan, at the most. Were you at the table when we discussed this?

I was done in person to the developers and executives. and seemingly by more than one of us

You're right. I watched Stephen tell them this, and then waited until this moment to take credit for it. No goofy Matt Damon is going to outshine me!

We are thinking about developing a small video for lending, or even a powerpoint animation to aid lenders in the selection process. Input would be appreciated -- here or in conversation.

Kiva Technology is swamped with other work and has not had sufficient time to deal with many of the suggestions we offered at the Kiva Do.

My biggest problem with these megaloans is once they get to the top of the popularity sort they can not be budged. I'll bet there were an amazing number of people who loaned on the Barefoot monster merely because it was at the top of the page. Personally, if they are going to allow the bloat to continue I think they should tinker with their algo. to make it harder for the bigger loans to stay at the top.

Personally I think people would loan more if they were seeing a better selection. There was all the hoo-ha about not wanting the first page to be full of pixelated middle Eastern taxi drivers, but it doesn't look much more attractive when page one is full of loans that aren't very micro and see to have 30 people per loan. I think it is better when loans are moving to and from the first page, giving more exposure and hopefully capturing more dollars.

I'd rather see person’s taxi with the person’s face too small to identify rather than a close up with a masked face...

I think they can do a lot better on the pixelated photos. Agree they could make the taxi the main feature and just show the driver in the shadows inside. Would look more inviting.

Agree, if they're going to pixelate the donor, which is fine, then they should show the thing they want me to buy or help them fix (Charcoal, a cow, taxi, etc)

I like this idea. I think part of the video should explain the difference between Kiva and philanthropy. I think the idea of getting the money back is confusing. Even more confusing is getting $2.45 cents back every month. That would help people get through it. I also think some webinars on how to use the site and KivaLens would be helpful as well.

Happy to help, etc.

How are you going to help them fix a cow? I can see buying a cow, but fixing one?

Well, if one has the proper veterinary training...

Well one could say bulls are quite often 'fixed'....and become a steer.

I don't really understand the hangup they have with the need to display the pixelated face. There is an Iraqi baker up on page 1 of popularity at the moment. All they need to do is show a display of his yummy goods and his baking gear and peeps would be all over it. Bakers are one thing that your very rarely see on the expiring soon list.

The really weird thing about Kiva is it has made me mad for Tajikistan. Never knew where the place was before Kiva, now it is my number one country to loan to. Told DH last night I would like to take a vacation there and take a camera and help them learn to take better pictures. They are a lot better now than they were 12 months ago, but some of the agricultural type loans are dire. With the right positioning, lighting and better staging (ie throw a kid in the pic or something else warm and fuzzy) and their loans would sell so much faster.

Warm and fuzzy kids will sell a loan every time!

Any one like fresh fish and shellfish? Oscar Martin needs to make boat repairs and could use $250 over the next 17 hours.

http://www.kiva.org/lend/426362

Just a question. Does anyone have an issue with the interest rates that some of the partners charge. For example, for this loan www.kiva.org/lend/426362 the partner is charging over 25% interest. With the average loan at almost 60% of per capita income, that is a horrible burden to place on a borrower. It just bothers me to see people probably getting over their heads financially.

Off my high horse now but I would love to find a way to loan to the small guy at a lower burden to them.

Agreed. But it is really bad to have a hole in your boat!

Kivalens provides a way to screen loans according to the amount of interest charged. So, you may want to use kivalens to search for loans.