Today I start to look at Kiva.org.
It can be found following the URL below.
https://www.kiva.org/
It's simple to use and its mission is “to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.”
According to Wikipedia:
Since 2005, Kiva has crowd-funded more than a million loans, totaling over $1 billion, with a repayment rate of between 98 and 99 percent. As of November 2013, Kiva was raising about $1 million every three days. The Kiva platform has attracted a community of well over a million lenders from around the world.
That data seems old but it seems that there is no doubt that they have raised a lot of money, helped distribute many loans and most people that lend through kiva get their money back.
The site is dressed down to make it a simple to use as possible.
You start by selecting a category.
Select a story or cause.
That puts it in you cart
You can edit the amount you wish to lend and there is a kiva default donation you need to click on if you wish to alter it.
If you are signed in that's pretty much all there is to it.
Nice and simple... You have done your good deed for the day and you can walk away patting yourself on the back with a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
or, can you...
But you found a nice cause and sent them some money...
What could be wrong with that?
Tomorrow I will look at kiva from a borrower perspective and then it will be seen that the picture is slightly less rosy than the one painted to the Lender.
All pictures in this post are screengrabs taken directly from the kiva.org website for illustrative purposes.
Micro lending is a big help to those who is in need. But sometimes it was abuse by giving a high interest rate.
exactly
Good facility for lower level people for improving their living standard.
Yes, you are right! Spreading the love my friend.
@sme, thanks for bringing this to the community. I agree with @cloudspyder. Micro-lending sounds great in theory but then let's not forget that these sites were not created solely for the "good of the poor"...they were created to make money and so I look forward to your post from the borrowers perspective. Great job!
👆 Support and Reject 👇
Great
Faith in humanity restored.
Right!... It's refreshing.
Wow...
Thats so cool
Kiva would be a great solution to africans
So it would seem, until you dig a little deeper, but more on that tomorrow
I think microcredit is a great way to get people into a better life position for the long term. I wonder what the downside would be as this looks like a great initiative to me. Please tell us more :)
I is a great initiative, just has some nuances that are hidden to the casual observer, but more on that tomorrow.
Good post bro .i m new here
This is my first post on steemit.please go my post link and upvote my post
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@cryptomaker/first-introduceyourself-on-steemit
Hey man, maybe you didn't realize because you're new here but begging for upvotes is not cool. If you just comment and make friends people will follow and upvote you without asking. If you ask too much you might even get flagged. Have fun on Steemit!
This was a terrific Post 'sme' ... You got a follow from me because of it.
I think these micro loans are so terrific.
The internet is allowing people to connect and solve problems easier and more efficiently, ourselves!
I really like your post, I will wait for the next posting