Thursday, January 10, 2008

This could get addicting

So I found this cool site the other day. It is called KIVA. It allows everyday people to loan money to burgeoning businesses in 3rd world countries. It is so cool. You can read a story about the person, their business, and see the record of the sponsoring agency in repaying the loans. And all you have to contribute is $25. In fact, that is their current limit on individual (although you can go over by just increasing the amount on the pay screen). Then, over a pre-set amount of time the loan is repaid, and you get your money back. You can invest in someone else, or take you money out. The overall default rate for KIVA loans is .17%!! The average loan time is just over 10 months. So while you won't get any interest on your loan -- you will get the good feeling you get when you donate money to a charity -- but chances are you will also get your original investment back again! How cool is that??? I highly recommend you check it out!

3 comments:

Courtney said...

I've heard about this. Sounds like a really neat concept.

Misty said...

that is the coolest thing!

Julie said...

The TODAY show, at least I think it was them, did a piece on it today. They went to visit people who had borrowed from KIVA - very cool.