Saverocity Kiva Group!

inflightmeal

Level 2 Member
Sure! Any preference to group name?

Matt's Children?
Saverocity Level 2 Live Crew?
The Manufactured Mutts?

Or... Just... Saverocity?
 

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
If anyone's curious, here are Kiva's thoughts on how to best manage your team: http://www.kiva.org/do-more/playbook
The playbook suggests using themes:

It can often be difficult for new lenders to narrow down which borrowers to loan to. Monthly themes are an easy and fun way to help team members collaborate and focus on certain types of loans. Consider starting things off yourself or having team members vote on a theme. You might pick something like "clean energy" one month, and maybe something a little more random the next month, like "borrowers wearing hats." Have fun with it!

In my limited experience with Kiva loans, I have found it can be hard to narrow it down to select a Kiva recipient, so perhaps themes are a good idea, but they needn't necessarily change monthly. Should we consider using Hunger - the same need that was selected for the quarterly charity - as the first theme? Maybe we could match quarterly themes for the charity selected and the recipients of Kiva loans.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
The playbook suggests using themes:

It can often be difficult for new lenders to narrow down which borrowers to loan to. Monthly themes are an easy and fun way to help team members collaborate and focus on certain types of loans. Consider starting things off yourself or having team members vote on a theme. You might pick something like "clean energy" one month, and maybe something a little more random the next month, like "borrowers wearing hats." Have fun with it!

In my limited experience with Kiva loans, I have found it can be hard to narrow it down to select a Kiva recipient so perhaps themes are a good idea. Should we consider using Hunger - the same need was selected for the quarterly charity - as the first theme? Maybe we could match quarterly themes for the charity selected and the recipients of Kiva loans.
err.. yeah, great idea :)

Just did 40 loans though...
 

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
@inflightmeal - Thanks for getting this going. May I suggest that you change the question mark in the title to an exclamation point ?!

And...does anyone know if the charity category (which gets 5% cashback on the US Bank Cash+ ) includes Kiva???

Update - I just checked the categories for the Cash+ card and Kiva is listed among the charities for which the card holder can get 5% cash back.

I am not a big fan of US Bank but I do love this card. I can either give 5% more to a charity courtesy of US Bank, or give myself a little CB as a present for making a donation. You must apply for this card in the branch. I got mine by stopping by a branch after an AOR day to apply in person.
 
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inflightmeal

Level 2 Member
The themes can just be suggestions. Seems to me that team members could make any Kiva loan s/he wants to and still get team credit.
We could also come up with criteria with which we want to give.

For example:

- Repayment Term
- Currency Exchange Loss
- Preferred Countries (perhaps places we've visited?)
- Risk Rating (in advanced search: 0-5 stars)
- Delinquency % (in advanced search: 0%-29%)
- Default % (in advanced search: 0%-58%)
- Average Cost To Borrower (in advanced search: 0%-77%)
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
We could also come up with criteria with which we want to give.

For example:

- Repayment Term
- Currency Exchange Loss
- Preferred Countries (perhaps places we've visited?)
- Risk Rating (in advanced search: 0-5 stars)
- Delinquency % (in advanced search: 0%-29%)
- Default % (in advanced search: 0%-58%)
- Average Cost To Borrower (in advanced search: 0%-77%)
I agree with the idea of such criteria, but I haven't got the scope to track it, so I just give. If you (and anyone who wants to help) want to pick the loans from now on, that's cool.
 
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Matt

Administrator
Staff member
So I like this:

http://www.kiva.org/lend/778441

But the Average Cost to Borrower of 35% APR gives me pause. The field partner does offer a "24-week enterprise development-training program that ensures each borrower has basic business and loan management skills prior to receiving a loan." See: http://www.kiva.org/partners/388

Could that be why the cost to borrower is 35% APR?
Kiva is like this, they have very high cost to borrow due to field partners.
 

Haley

I am not a robot
In my experience currency exchange loss can be your biggest exposure (provided you are vetting field partners).

People need to know that you are floating the funds, so you need cash to pay off the credit card you loan with. Repayment is often delayed, so also keep this in mind.
 

taxicabnumber

Level 2 Member
Good stuff!

On another note, anyone have any idea why Kivalens seems to be down?

EDIT (Tues: 10/14/14) Kivalens is back up. (no idea when it came back)
 
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cocobird

Level 2 Member
Have joined the Giverocity team and made a few loans. I belong to another team, so I'll be splitting my lending activity between both teams. I think it's great that this group is active in giving back.
 

pillow25

Level 2 Member
Want to join this but I noticed there is a referral field when you sign up for Kiva. Does anyone have a referral link/code so that we can both get something out of this?
 

Mel

Level 2 Member
Kiva is part of my regular giving and points accumulating strategy.

Has anyone noticed any patterns on when loans are loaded? Like today I noticed that there were plenty of loans less than 12 months available and were green via kivalens. Normally when I use kivalens, I am in the green range and 12-16 months. This is the first time getting shorter loans has been easier.
 

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
Our household applied for three new CCs last week and as I think about the minimum spends ahead, I thought I'd suggest another Kiva idea.

I know some folks use Kiva to meet the entire minimum spend of a new card. That's not something I can commit to. But from now on, I do plan make at least one Kiva loan for every new card I get. Who wants to join me in doing that?

Since I started serious point collecting in late 2012, we've opened 20+ new cards. If everyone here who opens a new CC agrees to make at least one Kiva loan on the new card, Giverocity (and hopefully the borrowers) will thrive!

Let's do it!
 

cocobird

Level 2 Member
For the most part I do not have specific criteria. I want to be repaid, so I like to see prior performance, but that is not a requirement. I mostly have preferences - look first at shorter repayment terms (but again, some of my loans go up to four years). Also, I have a soft spot for animal husbandry, fishing, and farming because these people are the salt of the earth - feeding the rest of us.
 
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