New Loan Countries or Countries that haven't been available in ages!!!

[Guest]

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[Skimmis]

Australia ! http://www.kiva.org/partners/212

[waywardcats]

Zambia
http://www.kiva.org/lend?partner_id=210&status=All&sortBy=Most+Recent

[JenniferK]

Cambodia, Ethiopia, and more from Viet Nam (they're too much of a rarity)

[Amy-in-PHX]

Here is something new, which I think is interesting.  Kiva has three loans posted now, all for young women (eldest is 25 years old) in Zambia, who have recently contracted to become part of a "mobile payments" network in that country.  The network is called Mobile Transactions Zambia, or "MTZ."  The Field Partner for these loans is not the traditional "MFI," but is the franchisor of the mobile payments network, I think. The borrowers will not pay a fixed interest rate for the loans, but instead will pay 25% of their money transfer business revenues for 36 months, after which any balance remaining on the loan will be due.

Here is the Field Partner page link:  http://www.kiva.org/partners/210. 

And here is a link to the home page of the Field Partner, Mobile Transactions Zambia ("MTZ"): 
http://www.mtzl.net/default.asp?id=33

[carien]

 I took two loans from Zambia but I don't like 38 months loans payment at the end of the term you will never know what's going on The first time you will find out is after 38 months. For me two is enough. I try to balance 10 in every country except Lebanon I have a few more there.

[David2051]

Just for the record, I'm not a fan of these loans in Zambia. They seem to be very confusing...

The loan page field partner information indicates that interest & fees are charged on these loans, but the amount or rate of interest is not disclosed.  At least I have not been able to find it.  Whatever rate of interest they are charged, I believe that is a separate issue from the 25% that is mentioned.

Also, "to simplify reporting" these loans are listed as 38 month end of term loans, but that is not really accurate.  These borrowers will make monthly repayments, but the repayments are not a fixed, scheduled amount.  Instead they will pay 25% of their income each month so the monthly payment can vary up or down.  Evidently the borrowers are essentially running an atm machine which is used to deposit or withdraw money using cell phones.  The borrower will make monthly loan repayments equal to one fourth of the fees they collect from this atm machine business.  I think...

The partner page states "After a repayment period of 36 months, the remaining balance on the loan will be due in full."  My assumption is that they believe the revenues generated will be sufficient to repay these loans well before the 36 or 38 months, as I can't see how the borrower could make a balloon payment at the end if it weren't paid off before that time.

I hope this helps clear things up a bit.

[Amy-in-PHX]

Re the MTZ loans from Zambia, this is what it says on one of the individual Kiva loan pages (http://www.kiva.org/lend/389468):

Mobile Transactions Zambia (MTZ) is a non-traditional Field Partner, and Kiva's first mobile payments Field Partner. As such, lenders to this loan should be aware of the following:

1 - This loan is due in full in 36 months, however repayments due on this loan are tied to the borrower's revenue, not to a fixed repayment schedule. Each month, 25% of the borrower's revenue will be collected by MTZ, as a repayment on this loan. As a result, the repayment amounts are expected to fluctuate according to the health of the borrower's business. To simplify reporting, the repayment schedule for this loan has been listed as being due in full in 36 months, and all repayments received before that time will be treated as a prepayment.

2 - MTZ will charge this borrower a monthly fee of ZMK 250,000 (approximately USD 50) for administering this loan, as opposed to an interest rate.

It sounds to me like the "25% of revenues" payment all goes to principal balance reduction.  A borrower may or may not have a principal balance still outstanding at the end of the three years, depending upon how well the business goes.  MTZ gets a flat $50 (appx) per month, which initially is 1% of the $5,000 loan (or a "rate" of 12% if you annualize it), but as the principal gets reduced this flat fee will become a larger percentage of the principal outstanding.  It looks like there is no "interest" charged, apart from this flat fee for administering the loan of about $50 per month.  I don't believe my prior post said anything inconsistent with the above, though I may have been unclear.

I thought this model might appeal to those lenders who feel that the interest & fees charged by traditional MFIs are "too high."

[David2051]

The borrowers will not pay a fixed interest rate for the loans, but instead will pay 25% of their money transfer business revenues for 36 months, after which any balance remaining on the loan will be due.

I'm sorry if I misread your sentence, but it seemed to be linking the 25% figure with their interest rate.  I think these loans are rather confusing and the lack of the normal information provided for every other loan just adds to the confusion.  i.e. no risk rating stars, no info for interest rate, portfolio yield, profitability, etc., confusing or misleading repayment schedule etc.  I don't plan to be doing any more of these loans...

It will be interesting to see how large the monthly repayments will be.  I hope for the borrower's sake that their business does well and they repay the loan very quickly.  I found one APR calculator online that indicated if they repaid $5000 over the full 36 month term with a total fee of $1800 at 0% interest, the APR would be 31.727%.  For whatever that's worth...

[Amy-in-PHX]

I hope for the borrower's sake that their business does well and they repay the loan very quickly.  I found one APR calculator online that indicated if they repaid $5000 over the full 36 month term with a total fee of $1800 at 0% interest, the APR would be 31.727%.  For whatever that's worth...

Wow, that percentage is very interesting.  It doesn't sound like the great deal for the borrower that I was thinking, if that APR calculator is right.  It would be good if they could pay their loans off fast, all right -- though they are always going to need a growing amount of working capital, as long as the business grows, since they can't "take deposits."  I wonder how many will seek additional "rounds" of financing.

[Amy-in-PHX]

Haiti!
ww.kiva.org/lend/396792