Given that it's now March 15, can we assume the loan has already been repaid? In that case, why are we funding the loan?
The repayment details show that the repayment isn't due to be back to the lenders until May 15, although that probably means it will be returned in the netting out that occurs on April 15.
That is consistent with the following events happening:
- Feb 13 - money provided to borrower by the MFI, who hopes to obtain funding from Kiva
- Soon after - MFI submits details to Kiva, but probably delayed release to website because it would require translation and possibly other information to be finalised
- Mar 13 - borrower repays money to MFI
- Mar 15 - Details are posted to website
- Apr 1 - MFI reports to Kiva that borrower has repaid $325 during March
- Apr 15 - Kiva issues bill to MFI asking for the $325 to be paid to Kiva
- Between Apr 15 and May 15 - MFI forwards the $325 to Kiva, or Kiva offsets the amount against monies owed by Kiva to the MFI
I know some people don't think it is appropriate for MFIs to post details of loans on Kiva where they have already loaned the money to the borrower but my personal opinion is that, by temporarily using its own money to issue the loan, the MFI is doing the right thing in not making the borrower wait for lengthy periods (in this case, over a month) before the borrower can have access to the money they need.
In this situation the MFI isn't getting access to our interest-free money for as long a period as they would have if the loan had managed to be posted immediately, but I think the MFIs are probably appreciative of even 4 weeks of interest-free money.
Ian
Edit: To change posting date from "Mar 16" to "Mar 15" - I was looking at the XML details, which show everything in GMT.
