Almost half the world lives on no more than $2 per day. Many are small business people--a fish seller in Tanzania, a mechanic in Lebanon, a seamstress in Vietnam. One way to help is to join the 65th Street Change Gang Kiva Lending Team and make a microloan on www.kiva.org. As we all know from the current economic situation, the availability of credit is essential for businesses. For as little as $25, you can join forces with others from around the world to combine funds to make a small loan (usually anywhere from $250 to $2500) to a needy business person to help grown their business.
Unlike many microfinance organizations, you can pick a specific person or group to lend to. The Kiva website makes it easy to search for borrowers in specific countries or regions, by gender, by repayment term, and by work sector (for example, agricultural, food production, retail). You will be notified by e-mail each time an installment payment on the loan is made.
This is not charity (although, if you prefer, you can donate to Kiva for its administrative costs and receive a charitable deduction). Nor is it a money-making proposition for lenders--you will not get interest on the loan.
Kiva cannot guarantee repayment. However, based on historical data, you have roughly a 98% chance of getting your money back, as the borrower repays the loan over time (typically between 6-14 months). I've made several loans over the past 2 years and so far, all have either been repaid or are in the process of timely being repaid.
As loans are repaid, they are credited to your account, where you can either add money and make a new loan, wait until the loan is totally repaid to make a new loan, or take your money back out. If you have more than one loan, you can combine the repayments to make additional loans before your original loans are fully repaid.
The 65th Street Change Gang Kiva Lending Team is open to anyone--we currently have 14 members, 4 of whom are not in the Change Gang. Lending teams are just a fun way to challenge yourself and your friends to make loans. Your money remains segregated from other team members' and you choose what loans you would like to make. So far, we've made 31 loans totaling $950. We'd like to get into the four figures!
How to start? Go to http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=4189 to join the lending team. Then browse through the loans available and select one. Occasionally, Kiva runs out of loans, but check back frequently, because borrowers are often being added around the world every few minutes.
You will need to be willing to use your credit card online. If you would prefer not to, please contact me and we can work something out. If you can't figure out the website or have other questions, please contact me.
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