Kiva and Microlending

[Phoenixdown99]

Has anyone ever used Kiva or other microlending platforms?

I like the idea of loaning money (teaching a man to fish etc.), especially to those in the developing world. I have continuously re-loaned $1K since medical school about 5x and now that I am an attending and comfortable I'd be interested in increasing the amount, but I am not sure if it is very effective or if there are better options. They do charge the borrowers a significant amount of interest.

[Zaphod]

I went to the site, and its very vague on how it works. Some loans have no interest, while some do but zero is paid to lenders. It seems more like a charity, than true lending. Yes, you're lending to those projects, but from a tax type standpoint its charity.

[Donnie]

My advice - don’t mix charity with business / investing. Stay away if you value money.

[Peds]

I think my wife has an account. The same $25 has been reinvested for 10 years....I think.

[hnnguyen3]

I've been lending monthly on Kiva since 2008 with (almost) same amount of money in the account.  These field partners of Kiva do charge interests on these loans to cover operating costs.  Some more, some less than others, but overall the interests are not as high as sharks or local banks.  Kiva sends out people to make sure these field partners are doing their job and not cooking their books.  I have no problem lending on Kiva.  Usually I lend to partners with 3 stars or higher just to safer with my investment.