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akudha • yesterday at 10:58 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

There is no profit/interest for lenders. I do it through kiva.org Kiva doesn't make the loans directly either - they partner with local organizations in the countries they operate in. Any interest these local orgs charge, is for their operating expenses. Lenders on Kiva do not get interest. There is also a chance of losing money if loans are defaulted, due to currency exchange loss etc (I have to check the exact amount, but I have lost some due to defaults)

https://www.kiva.org/about/how

I also tried a couple of other Microfinance orgs (can't remember the names now), but kept going back to Kiva. Been doing it for 15 years, so it slowly adds up, even though I wasn't consistent.


Replies

jjmarr • yesterday at 11:18 PM

Thanks for reminding me of Kiva. I used to be big on it when I was younger. Just sent US$50 to a Liberian to fund her clothing business, hope it works out.

codeforafrica • yesterday at 11:17 PM

There is no profit/interest for lenders

That's what I expected. Thanks. Your wording: "made almost 68K for ~2900 loans" had me confused. Making money means profit or income to me. You didn't make any money but you helped 2900 people.

68k/25=2720. That suggests that the defaults are less than 10%. That's not so bad I think.

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