Kiva in 2010

Happy New Year!

2010 was my first year using Kiva.  Over the year I made a total of 14 micro-loans to people in 14 different developing countries.

Total Amount Lent                                            $350.00

Total Amount Repaid                                        $155.19

Total Amount Lost                                            $   0.00

Total Amount Refunded and Expired                 $ 18.13

Outstanding Portfolio                                        $176.68

Delinquency Rate                                              2.02%

Amount in Arrears                                            $3.57

Number of Loans Delinquent                            1

Default Rate                                                     0.00%

Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted                    $   0.00

Amount of Ended Loans                                   $ 75.00

Currency Exchange Loss Rate                          0.00%

Amount of Currency Exchange Loss                 $  0.00

Donations to Kiva                                             $11.25

In a group I belong to on Kiva these was a question about the amount of interest charged some of the borrowers for these microloans.  While some of the interest rates may have seemed excessive I believe that might be more due to the fact that many of these developing nations have interest rates that America has not seen in a long time.  A high inflation rate would drive interest rates up, a lender has to at least get the purchasing power they loaned back from the borrower.

Given that default rates are still very low it appears that few of the borrowers are having major problems paying back their loans.  Still this is all something I should take a closer look at in the coming year.

One final note, I did withdraw an amount out of my Kiva account.  It was not as instantaneous as the donations, but within a week or so I did get some of my money back.