Ah Finally... !! Someone seems to have figured out how to "lend" to Gangubai (a common name for domestic help in Western India) and not feel like we are never going to get it back - the way you'd feel these days in case you lend to Joe, who would use the money to buy his 3rd home as an investment in New York - and won't pay you back because of the housing crash in the U.S.
The following 2 videos will show why kiva.org is such good idea.
Video # 1: (for introduction)
Video # 2: (a PBS video in case video # 1 has kept you interested)
My recommendation:
Forget about being a saint to the poor, just think for a minute like an investor only. I have a feeling that kiva.org will make for a good investment opportunity
Note: There is no return on investment right now, because the interest paid by the recipient is used up in administration activities - so the lender doesn't get back anything except his principal. I am talking about the future when I see lenders get a return comparable to investments elsewhere.
I am stopping short of recommending kiva as an investment, as I haven't invested in kiva myself. I'll say this much though: Wait out another 6 months so that you have a better track record of folks that have borrowed. Apparently, a large number of new lenders have just shown up because of the publicity received through the PBS video above.
If any of you has good/bad experiences with kiva.org, please do share them with me by posting a comment on this blog.
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