USA loans

[Guest]

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[YowieFreak]

When you say "them", do you mean TCU or NAB?  I would hesitate making NAB a Field Partner, since they are a publicly traded company with deep pockets of their own.

By "them", I meant NAB.  And I wasn't really thinking of the NAB/TCU arrangement (where NAB is just making an interest-free loan to TCU so that TCU can open bank branches) but more about the NAB/IBA partnership which is providing loans to individuals / businesses and providing training, and the NAB/NILS arrangement.

And, in defence of NAB, although it has deep pockets it also has shareholders, and most shareholders don't appreciate the companies they own just giving Nil-Interest Loans when they could just as easily give Non-Nil-Interest Loans and make a profit (or, at least, less of a loss on the loan), so NAB can't give away too much of their profits in this way.

[YowieFreak]

P.S.  Here's a better web-page re all of NAB's microenterprise loans, not just the ones for indigenous Australians.  (Urgh!!  I hate using that adjective - it makes it sound like some Australians aren't normal Australians; that they aren't quite good enough to be classed as "true" Aussies.)

And, for comparison purposes (to the 5.99% interest rate on those loans), NAB currently offers a 3 year term deposit providing 6.8%p.a. interest (paid monthly) - so they are paying people more to obtain the capital to provide these loans than they are getting back.  (That probably means Kiva can't partner with them - because it's not a "sustainable" business.  )

[maiforpeace]

Opportunity Fund, based in San Jose, CA USA lends to undocumented workers.  This means that illegal aliens who have settled here actually have an alternative to working under the table and being exploited by unscrupulous employers.

To do that requires that the undocumented worker gets an ITN number.  This number is given to undocumented workers to begin paying income taxes.  Doing this begins the long process to become a legal resident and ultimately citizenship. Knowing they could qualify for a loan if they start this process is a great incentive to for illegal immigrants to get legalized.

From my perspective, as an American I think this is an invaluable service.  I see nothing wrong with using Kiva as a conduit for supporting an MFI that clearly is helping the disadvantaged, in this particular case, non-Americans in my community.  For those folks from other countries, I do understand that you wouldn't be interested in making loans to Americans, but you do realize that some of those people applying for loans may not be Americans? I would venture to guess that could be a reason why they didn't qualify for a loan from a regular US bank. 

[Kathy]

Do you think people from Uk, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark etc should also get loans on Kiva ?
Even if this takes about half the the amount available on Kiva, so that more loans to devloping countries went unfunded ?
Isnt there a great difference between the rich countries with a working financial system and developing countries?

"I'd love to see every country on Kiva if they've a need." Quote from Kathy on November 27, 2009, 07:31:27PM


And again, Kiva doesn't tell me who to loan to. Kiva merely shows faces for possible entrepreneurs and I can pick the ones I choose to fund with my hard-earned money. Besides, even though I don't fund US loans I do believe that a US funded entrepreneur has more means to get more people involved with Kiva than a farmer in Togo.

Meaning?

I believe a US funded entrepreneur who is successful will:
a) give money back to Kiva via donations and/or lending,
b) family members seeing the support from Kiva will get involved with Kiva via donations and/or lending,
c) suppliers working with the entrepeneur will donate and/or loan to Kiva, plus maybe even funnel more entrepreneurs through Kiva, and
d) customers benfitting from the Kiva entrepreneur will want o get involved through donations and/or loans.

More people will benefit from 1 $10,000 US loan than from a single loan to Africa. Yet, I still do straight donations to Africa while I support US loans. I'd fully support Kiva being in every country even though I pretty much loan to Africa/Asia.

Like Jan said:

"I see no difference between a mother in Canada or a mother in Kenya who have no milk to give their children.  Both of them have an annual income lower than mine.

I cannot help all.
I try to help the ones I feel called to help.

and the best part of Kiva, is the repayments and the opportunity to relend and stretch my own $$$."

[wthepoo]

As I stated before, there is a long waiting period for any data to enter the Contractors State License Board and they have a system set up that immediately registers their paperwork as being 'received' when it arrives while it is awaiting processing.  There was no paperwork in the 'pile' awaiting data entry as of the end of the work day on the 13th of October.

Just a quick update - the business in question is fully licensed, again, (don't know since when) and is listed as having worker's comp insurance since October 15, 2009 after going about six weeks without (my guess still is that it was a financial issue).

This - of course - doesn't make the apparent indifference on the Field Partner's and also on Kiva's part much better.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.