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Kiva: I just reached 50 loans :))

vidurgupta — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:25:10 +0000

As I have posted earlier, I been lending through Kiva.org for about 2.5 years now. Recently, I reached a landmark of 50 loans. These are some of the stats. There are more stats and info if you are interested @ http://www.kiva.org/lender/vidur3752

The interesting things to me are:

I have no defaults till date and
I have been able to use a small some of money and reinvest it multiple times
I have loaned to folks all over the world

My Impact

Statistic Name	Me	Avg. Kiva User*
Number of Loans Made	51	6.5
Number of Successful Invitations	2	0.23
Number of Loans Made by My Invitees	13	1.07
Number of Kiva Cards Given	0	0.47

My Loan Statistics

	Me	Avg. Kiva User*
Total Amount Lent	$2,150.00	$217.87
Total Amount Repaid	$1,555.53	$171.17
Total Amount Lost	$0.00	$1.60
Total Amount Refunded and Expired	$100.00	$2.86
Outstanding Portfolio	$494.47	$42.73
Delinquency Rate	2.72%	2.01%
Amount In Arrears	$13.47	$0.86
Outstanding Portfolio	$494.47	$42.73
Number of Loans Delinquent	2	0.01
Default Rate	0.00%	1.06%
Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted	$0.00	$1.59
Amount of Ended Loans	$1,300.00	$149.30
Currency Exchange Loss Rate	0.00%	0.00%

Distribution By Country

Country	%
Philippines	7.8%
Afghanistan	7.8%
Mongolia	7.8%
Cambodia	5.9%
Pakistan	5.9%
Bolivia	5.9%
Azerbaijan	5.9%
Uganda	5.9%
Dominican Republic	5.9%
United States	5.9%
Lebanon	5.9%
Sierra Leone	3.9%
Nicaragua	3.9%
Peru	3.9%
Tanzania	2.0%
Togo	2.0%
The Democratic Republic Of The Congo	2.0%
Paraguay	2.0%
Guatemala	2.0%
Moldova	2.0%
Samoa	2.0%
Senegal	2.0%
Tajikistan	2.0%

Filed under: kiva, micro-finance, work

Kiva: The money multiplier effect

vidurgupta — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:26:08 +0000

It has almost been a year since I started lending at Kiva.org and it would be fair to say I can come a long way. The most interesting change that Kiva folks made during this time is that instead of crediting the loan repayments to lender’s account at the end of loan term, they do it as the repayments come-in. This has had a real money multiplier effect. Let me explain.

I funded my Kiva account with $500 last May. Of this, I have donated $55 to Kiva. And I have made loans worth $800 which as almost twice my investment and all this in less than a year I hope I am doing my part in helping the global economy.

I have made 22 loans till date out of which 2 have been repaid and no defaults. My Kiva page (link) has more info. I encourage everyone to explore micro-lending, as a lender and/or loan seeked. I believe it is way of helping people becoming self-sufficient and conribute to the society.

Releted Posts: http://blog.vidur.name/?s=kiva

Posted in kiva, micro-finance

Kiva: Where is mera desh, India?

vidurgupta — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:43:00 +0000

While I was looking for projects to lend to, I realized that there where no loan requests from India. I dug a little and Kiva doesn’t even have a ‘Field Partner’ there. The second most populous country, with a significant percentage of population below the poverty line, missing was bit of a surprise to me.

So, I dug up a little more and it looks like India already has a number of local Institutions, both public and private, involved in Micro-finance. I found this link on the Global Development Research Center site. It is a collection of links, including reports on micro-finance in India, institutions, etc.

I will read a bit more and blog about this again.

Kiva: you too can micro-lend

vidurgupta — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:35:00 +0000

I heard about micro-lending when Dr. Muhammad Yunus received the Nobel Peace prize in 2006. I should have heard of it earlier, being an Indian & student of finance/economics. The idea immediately appealed to me, a loan small enough that doesn’t effect your life but can change the life of another, simply beautiful.

The basic idea is to give a loan of a small amount ($50-500) to an individual, or group of individuals, in a under-developed/developing country so that they can start/expand their business. The loan recipient uses this money to uplift his/her life along with their family’s. The loan has to be paid back. This link provides more info micro-finance and its benefits.

As I said earlier, the idea had a lot of appeal to me but then I didn’t have the means. I was paying off my loans . Now, that I have some (a very small sum) to spare I went looking for a place where I can lend and I found kiva.org.

At Kiva you find folks from across the world requesting loans for various purposes. They mention the amount of loan, purpose and the terms of repayment. One or more lenders can give a loan (minimum $25 per lender). As a lender, you pay via paypal and once the entire loan amount is raised the money is sent to a field partner in the country of the requester. The field partner then disperses the loan to the person who requested it. For more details on how it would please visit http://www.kiva.org/about/how/.

As a lender, you don’t get any interest but for me the satisfaction that I helped someone become self-reliant is more that enough. Personally, I feel it is a step forward from donating as your money recycles and can influence more lives. A parent who does well financially will feed his children better, educate them better and lead to better lives.

So, my plan is to loan an ‘X’ amount to various folks through Kiva. Once, I get enough money back from these folks I will loan to another person. So, I invest ‘X’ today and hopefully, it will recycle for life. WOW!!!

My Kiva Page