Kiva Part 1

My family has recently become involved with a company called Kiva.

Kiva is an online organization, headquartered in San Francisco, California, used to allow people to give loans over the internet. Since 2005, they have funded more than 1 million loans. These loans total about half a billion dollars. Raising about 1 million dollars every three days since November 2013, Kiva has brought in over 1 million lenders from around the world. Kiva posts personal stories of each person asking for a loan to help loaners connect with their recipients. Interest is not collected by either Kiva or loan recipients. Kiva is only supported by grants, loans, and donations from its users, corporations, and national institutions.

Microfinance institutions, social businesses, schools and non-profit organizations around the world are allowed to post profiles of qualified local entrepreneurs on Kiva's website. As a lender, you may look through all of Kiva's posts and choose which you would like to fund. To transfer your funds you may either use a PayPal or a credit card. Once Kiva receives a user's money, they collect loan capitol from individual lenders and transfer it to the appropriate Field Partner, who then distribute the loans to the entrepreneur chosen by each lender. Although Kiva does not charge interest on loans, many Field Partners can charge interest rates. Interest tends to be higher on loans from microfinance institutions than interest rates on larger loans due to the administrative cost of overseeing numerous tiny loans and the increased risk. When recipients repay their loans, the Field Partners return the money to Kiva. Once your loan is re-payed, you can either withdraw your money, or re-lend to other recipients.

Thanks for reading!
Check back soon,
Kendra <3