Saverocity Kiva Group!

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
Just heard that we got approved for the third card in my husband's mid-October mini-AOR. So before I slipped the card in my wallet, I made a Kiva loan. Now I am debating with myself whether my vow to make a Kiva loan for every new CC means one new loan per account, or one new loan per plastic card. If I include AU cards, I better make some more loans ;) !

However, I was sad to see we only have 12 members on the Giverocity Team. Come on you guys! Fork over a little of that OBC cash back and make a couple of loans!

We devote a lot of time to our first world goals and problems around here. Can't we devote just a little bit of our time/resources to folks with third world problems?
 

KyRoamer

Level 2 Member
I am a member of the milepoint team. It is extremely active and where small is number three overall is dollars lent. Since one can join multiple teams, I recommend milepoint as a second team. I will also join our team and give it credit for my next loan.

Kiva does have high cost to the borrower but that reflects the FPs cost of doing business. Lok at the return to FP and you will see that few are making big returns. These are small loans to borrowers who often are located in remote areas and have no credit history. FP due diligence and follow-up is the secret to a very low default rate. In addition to lending, FPs provide other services such as ongoing education and mentoring.

Still some PY costs seem obscene and I favor those with rates under 40%.

If cost to borrower is a concern of yours, check out zidisha.org or consider kiva zip. There there are no field partners and cost to borrowers are much less but lender risk is higher as delinquencies and write-offs are higher.

I loan some at both Zidisha and Kiva Zip as my goal is to help borrowers and I can afford the higher risk. Zidisha allows you to charge interest to borrowers to help offset some of that added risk.
 

KyRoamer

Level 2 Member
Kiva cost to borrowers can be high but the cost of making small loans to unsophisticated borrowers is high and even small fees push up the PY percentage costs. Still I stick with field partners where the PY cost is 40% or less.

Recently I started loaning on Kiva Zip. If already a Kiva member, just pick Zip at the top of the main Kiva menu. If not, feel free to you my link to join - http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/KyRoamer. Please note, other than bragging rights I get nothing for a referral. Once joined, select teams and pick one or more teams. Our team, Giverocity (http://www.kiva.org/team/giverocity), is new and only has 16 members. My favorite team is Milepoint (http://www.kiva.org/team/milepoint) which where small compared to the other top teams is in third place overall in dollars loaned. You can join more than one team.

Now whether new to Kiva or old, if you haven't tried Zip, do. While there, choose Ky for location and make a loan or two to a Louisville (my home town) borrower. The cost to borrowers on Zip is zip as no interest is charged. There are no field partners and the loans are slightly riskier. My favorite still funding opportunity is Gelato Gilberto (https://zip.kiva.org/loans/8341). I've been a fan of theirs since they opened in 2006. They are good people with a great product trying to expand the wholesale side of their business.
 

KyRoamer

Level 2 Member
I just made my first team (http://www.kiva.org/team/giverocity) loan to Zareena (http://www.kiva.org/lend/799414) from Pakistan. To fund she needs an additional $350. Please join me in this loan.

BTW the PY cost is slightly (42% vs 40%) above my maximum but this is a $500 loan and small loans have higher costs. Also this is my first loan to a borrower from Pakistan.

I have made loans in all 15 Kiva sectors ranging from food to personal use but only in 31 of its 84 countries. To get more countries I will have to ignore high PY costs to borrowers as many countries have just high cost field partners. Oh well, I'll have to think about that.

What makes Kiva fun is that you can relend (or take out) repayments. My goal is to have enough repayments to use them to make five to ten loans per month. Since I pick mostly short term loans this will mean that I will need to grow my outstanding loan portfolio to about $2,000. Based on current rates available to me, on an after tax business I will be able to help over 100 borrowers a year at a cost to me of under 25 cents each. Adding likely default costs, the costs of making a difference ought not exceed 30 cents per loan.

Join Kiva - a low cost way of making a difference.
 

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
@KyRoamer - Thanks so much for these informative posts. Although I have done Kiva loans, I had not investigated Zip loans until just now. I had spoken to folks at the Oregon Community Foundation re: Kiva-type loans in the Pacific NW, not realizing that I could actually do it through Kiva.

I was about to post something encouraging Forum folks to, after perhaps "earning" free money during SBS, share the wealth a bit via Giverocity. So your info is most timely! Thank you!
 

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fly like a beagle
I just joined too! :) I've been having issues with withdrawing from Kiva - every time I withdraw, it has to go to customer service and is super slow. :\
 

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fly like a beagle
It's related to expired loans that I've had in the past. I don't remember exactly the error but it's something along the lines of "There is a problem with your withdrawal. A ticket has automatically been submitted and we will contact you with further information." Then a day or two later one of the staff from Kiva will email me with the subject "Blocked Withdrawal" and write:

I was notified that your recent withdrawal request for $112.69 was blocked and I would be happy to help.

In looking at your Kiva account, I see that you deposited funds into your Kiva Account and one of the loans that you chose expired. We consider refunded/expired loans as unloaned Kiva Credit which our system typically flags when requested to be withdrawn. As a result I am going to be issuing a refund for $25 of the requested amount to the original method of payment. May I have your permission to process this refund? Alternatively you could make one more loan with these funds.

I will also process a manual withdrawal for the $87.69 in repayments, and you can expect to receive these funds in your PayPal account in 1-2 weeks.

Then I always have to tell them that the original method of payment was a gift card that I already threw away, so I need it refunded to my PayPal account and apologize for the hassle, and they always comply (always super friendly). Just takes weeks to get my money back, which is not a big deal since rest of my money has already been tied up for 6+ months anyways, what's another few weeks. :)
 

Chasing The Points

Administrator
Staff member
Is anyone able to get kivalens to ever work? I've tried different computers and operating systems and browsers but can never get kivalens to get the silverlight to work
 

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fly like a beagle
Is anyone able to get kivalens to ever work? I've tried different computers and operating systems and browsers but can never get kivalens to get the silverlight to work
It works for me...on Internet Explorer. >_< LOL. I think it's worked for me on Firefox for Mac too, but I had to reinstall Silverlight like every single time.
 

Chasing The Points

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks - I've done Firefox, Safari, and Chrome on Mac and those same 3 on Windows 7 and tried installing/reinstalling Silverlight and always fails the Silverlight check. It's funny because AMZN Prime videos uses Silverlight and works perfectly fine so I'm going to blame Kivalens for it
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Hey Folks,

I just got an invite to the Kiva NYC launch party, featuring Bill Clinton.. I think the ticket price is a donation of $25.

Unfortunately, I'm on vacation.. but maybe the link will work for you:

Code:
http://info.splashthat.com/wf/click?upn=vmkPJItR-2BoFnuuEHiQ5S8O9wUZcTUa22CT71lBSFKvS1ACtJToOmtwvWAma1EL-2BI4Pee-2BVPN09bUQY4Aw36a3V8yBClGeqdOaq6tL4PDB9c-3D_VmDvOqqNYeX3zxP8oASw-2FFlQHA27p43P-2BFtdzwrLPvsGAcn-2BTIOIYjjbB5YfSY6fTrsd7xaWNrZ2XrTStL5T2p-2FHVcf4xFO3gGpyzZgRgh-2Fcxg41L4tShmJa1XmYB1xW447anzMBnKGHznnOf2XyHzU10WQGwIqxtaB-2BBGmJdYEczPPWXWggyzgpz7xUXLQbwiBYRlTOWpRMkVB7HgAYgmoEi8xe4gNhg-2FpttxQl9cPRLqwFpnfck6BdYt8DQVHfu0twYMdO8iHFDb-2BNFJinHApzZOKbT81bJ1lVDeBYfiiM361lucf31Nw0e7CYRNIx
 
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