New Milepoint Lending Team [general info]

I've never had any problems withdrawing money. The longest I've ever waited was about 10-12 days. Usually I got my money back in a week.

Congrats to the team on lending $50,000 within the first week of the month. We should reach $4.3 M within a day or so.

Does it generally require someone at Kiva to do something manually, or is it an automated process just like funding an account is automated?

For me it was always automated. I only remember that people who were lending and withdrawing everything each month having to wait for manual refunds. Of course, my memory is sometimes a bit short.............

I think it is approved manually.

Not sure if there are any hard and fast rules. In my case, it is if the $ amount is over $1000 or I have had a few deposits into the account prior to a withdrawal request. In general, a check repayment will take about one week longer than the PayPal deposit.

I was told two or more weeks. money moved to PayPal in less than a week and on to my bank without an issue. I've done this several times and it's always gone quickly.

First page updated

I just learned that one of my loans is in default. Three of us were on that loan. Out of $25, I was repaid $20.83. So my loss was $4.17.

Of my total loans, my defaults (two loans out of 1,140) total just 0.18% of the amounts advanced. I consider that a part of the price one pays to play and feel it a real bargain.

It seems strange feeling good about taking a loss, however small. But the reason I loan through Kiva is to help those who cannot borrow elsewhere to have a chance to improve their lives and the lives of those around them.These loans are inherently risky. To me, a few dollars in losses is a reminder of the good we do through Kiva.

Take a chance today and make another loan.

Just helped out at a Kiva event tonight. They (we?) launched Kiva City DC, which is a resounding success. www.kiva.org/dc
Got to talk with Matt and Maika and some other folks and was again reminded of how awesome the people are behind this awesome thing we do. Oh, and Matt explained that they flag people loaning and withdrawing the same amount in the same month, so just something to keep in mind. And the reason as mentioned before is that they're worried that PayPal will start charging fees if stuff like this keeps happening with large amounts.

If PayPal starts to charge fees.....

At Zidisha, PayPal does charge fees and they are passed through to the borrowers. I fund my account there by check -- actually I use my Bank's BillPay to send Zidisha funds. For some, the interest earned offsets the fees.

Do not abuse PayPal's generosity by churning for points. I do make withdrawals at times but not often. I've never had a withdrawal issue.

Those blasted churners are going to kill a good thing.......

I've withdrawn money many times and never had a problem. But I have never churned (loaned and withdrawn the same amount each month). Now I am keeping the total in my account at a fairly steady amount, and as long as I don't hit any more financial hiccups, I will not be withdrawing for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for sharing this. I have long suspected that this is the reason some people get targeted for withdrawing their money.

Being in DC, I'll have to go check that site out and see what's happening.

You should. Also check out Causes, which is the bar that gives all of it's profits after overhead to charity. 9th and U.

Saw this graphic today, and it was interesting and thought-provoking even without its mention of Kiva:
http://www.upworthy.com/you-call-it-lazy-i-call-it-charity?c=upw1

Thanks for that. It gave me a number of "new" ideas/inspirations.

With Milepoint's approval fcjapan and I have started another lending group on crowd funding microfinance website, www.zidisha.org. Zidisha offers:

• The LOWEST interest rates in Microfinance.
• The only platform that offers true peer to peer lending. (All funds loaned go directly to borrower).
• TRANSPARENCY - speak directly with borrowers about business endeavors.
• 97.7% repayment rate.

We would love you to be part of our team on the Zidisha lending platform. To join us, please:

1. First create a profile with Zidisha. Log into Zidisha.
2. Click on “Lend.”
3. Click “Lending Groups” (last option under My Account). Join MILEPOINT.

Zidisha is small today. Your participation will be meaningful to both you and it.

Thanks.

Since this question of why Kiva's field partners charge such high interest rates, especially compared to an organization like Zidisha or Kiva Zip which provides loans directly to borrowers without a middleman, I would like to offer another perspective:

One of the primary reasons that Kiva's field partners charge higher interest rates is because they do so much more than just lend money. They provide training, financial counseling, education, a wide variety of social services, help borrowers connect with other borrowers for support and much more. Also, many of these field partners work in remote, impoverished and even war-tron areas that no one else will even touch. Kiva's field partners are MUCH MUCH more than lenders. They provide an entire support system. Comparing them to someone who only provides lending is very unrealistic. You wouldn't compare Bank of America to a small, local non-profit community development agency, so why compare Kiva's field partners to a lending agency?

Thanks for that.

One question: do you know if the charge for those services is a fixed fee for a given borrower or a percentage of the loan amount? In other words, does someone who borrows $1000 generally pay the same amount as someone who borrows $1200 from the same field partner?

My understanding is that the interest rates we see on Kiva are actually called Portfolio Yields because they are an average of interest rates and fees. So, I'm sure there is variation in the interest rates and fees charged to any individual borrower just as there is great variation in the interest rates and fees charged by each partner. I have no idea if the amount borrowed affects interest rates and fees.

From Kiva:

What does "Portfolio Yield" mean?

Kiva uses a calculation called “Portfolio Yield” to express the average interest rate and fees that Kiva borrowers pay to the Kiva Field Partner administering their loan. Portfolio Yield is defined as all interest and fees paid by borrowers to the Field Partner divided by the average portfolio outstanding during any given year.

The Portfolio Yield is generally based on audited financial information and is a better indication of the cost of borrowing money from a Kiva Field Partner than the simple interest rates reported by our Field Partners because it:

a) Includes any fees associated with loans and
b) Is expressed in one-year increments (similar to the way an APR works)
Please note that Portfolio Yield does not yet include the concept of mandatory savings.

Thinking about your question some more.
Given that Kiva has more than 200 different field partners, I would imagine that the answer to your question would vary a lot from field partner to field partner.

Given that the portfolio yield rates shown are a common concern, I wonder if Kiva has considered more transparency for a given loan by explicitly showing the Interest rate and fees a borrower is paying.

I expect that this would be next to impossible given the incredible diversity of field partners, policies, legalities in different countries, etc.