Gift cert question from new member

[Guest]

.

[abc]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to Kiva. In the past several
months, I have made some loans, gone
waaaay over my intended loan amount
schedule (one a month? ha! sound familiar?),
and I just gave my first gift certificate to a
granddaughter for her 14th BD. She has
already made her loans -- good girl that she
is.

My question is this:
When her loan is repaid, what is the status of
that money? I assume that she is free to re-lend.
But can she, um, cash out, for want of a better
term, the funds for her own personal use?

I don't remember that being addressed when
I bought the gift certificate, and I'm having trouble
wading through all the posts here on the friends site.

Thanks for any help you all can give me on this.
It will impact any future gift certificates I give,
so it is somewhat important information for me.

ABC

[Eli]

Greetings ABC and welcome to KF!

You are correct, the money will show up in her account for relending or for cashing out.  But she will have to have a Paypal account to cash it out.  (Someone correct me if I am wrong on the Paypal account . . .)

If you fear not relending, maybe the two of you can pick the next loan together!  Make it a new tradition!

Eli

[QueenOfHearts]

You are correct Eli....she (the granddaughter) has the option of relending her money as a Kiva Credit or withdrawing to her Pay Pal Account.  So Grammie....don't let her ever have a Pay Pal Account and you will solve your dilema...

I also have given out gift certificates to family members to get them started in this all consuming process of lending through Kiva.  So far no one has withdrawn the funds once the loan has been repaid...they have all relent.

And welcome to KF ABC!!!

Queen

[Eli]

I, too, have given just one Kiva gift certificate, but knowing my friend would be intimidated with the process, I made a date with her to 'do it all together'.  So I talked her through opening her Kiva account, we went through the loans and had fun reading them together.  She chose the loan, and then I just couldn't resist and joined her on the loan.  It certainly made it much more fun, and eased her stresses of 'the unknown' along the way.  It set up a tradition for us because that loan has since come full circle and we went together on her choice of her second loan.  Come September 15th when the loan matures, I'm sure we'll be on the phone again choosing another loan!  She already knows what she wants and is hoping for a seamstress in honor of her Aunt.

[NevadaStars]

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I emailed my son a gift certificate.  Then, I immediately called him & told him to check his email.  We were both on-line together as he checked out KIVA and after we discontinued our conversation, he made his loan selections.  It was fun sharing the experience with him! He now has 40 loans and, like me, is unsuccessful at staying within a budget! 
I guess addictions are hereditary! 

[abc]

Thanks everyone.

That's pretty much what I expected, the bit about being able to
retrieve the funds when the loan is repaid. I'm okay with that for
our granddaughter and, when the time comes, her brother,
because I think they are the type to keep re-lending and possibly
even to contribute to their accounts out of their own money.
Their folks helped them set up accounts to make their loans and that's fine
with us.

This definitely *will* color my decision-making in other gift-giving, however.

I wish there was a way for the person making the original gift to stipulate from the
beginning where the funds should go, i.e.:
- Keeping the option of cashing out
- If another loan is not made, the funds go back into the original donor's account
- Any funds that are not re-loaned are to be thrown into Kiva's general fund kitty.

Thanks again for making me feel welcome, everyone.

I didn't expect this to be so (I don't know why), but  I am finding a lot of good and helpful info on the
KF site that I will use in deciding on my next loan recipients.

Later,

ABC

[Jan & John]

  thanx abc, for starting these thoughts in my head...

I do accept the fact that a gift is exactly that - a gift.  I no longer have any control of the end term use of that money.  The recipient can do what they like once it belongs to them.  Christmas and birthday gifts are being regularly sold these days in neighborhood garage sales.  Interests change and people move on.  It happens

Having said that - I am thinking now about the Kiva gift certificates I gave at Christmas.  The kids have chosen their loans and are getting updates showing payments and they are enjoying the experience.  As long as I am around, they won't forget Kiva.  In fact, they think I HAVE GONE NUTS on the subject of Kiva 

My concern is down the road, if they move or change email addresses and totally forget the money that was invested in Kiva.  When those loans pay off - will that money then sit as Kiva Credit in that black hole of Kiva forgotten funds?

We can long for the day when Kiva changes the terms of use to let Kiva use the funds forgotten for a specified length of time.  I am sure that day will have to come - after the laywers get the wording correct

jan

[KivanSteven]

Hi ABC, hope the Kiva experience is as incredible for you as it is for all of us--hope to see you around