Has anyone heard of Lendrr? (livingsocial for kiva)

[Guest]

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[Anhthu_Ahkun]

Hey everyone,

A friend of mine recently sent me a link for lendrr (www.lendrr.com) and I wanted to see if it was legit or not. Basically, the site appears to be an referral type site, where if you buy a coupon from livingsocial, they get a cut (it looks like 12%), which they did donate to kiva. I haven't seen anything on the website (news, etc) that references them, and they are affiliated with "Worldwide Imagine Network, LLC," which I also can't find any info for on the internet. Has anyone heard about/used Lendrr?

[iampaul]

Has anyone heard about/used Lendrr?

Never heard of it. Whois lookup lists the name of the person presumably behind it, a residential address in Omaha, NE, and a telephone number that appears to be a cell phone. A little hunting online for Worldwide Imagine Network LLC also brought up another URL which appears to be non-functioning at the moment but for which Google includes the cached line

ThroughTheEars.com is a subsidy(sic) of Worldwide Imagine Network, LLC

As a website, worldwideimaginenetwork.com appears to be just a placeholder.

Lender page on Kiva:
http://www.kiva.org/lender/lendrr

Basically, the site appears to be an referral type site, where if you buy a coupon from livingsocial, they get a cut (it looks like 12%), which they did donate to kiva.

Hmm. Did they donate or just loan? There are four loans listed to that user name but I don't think there is any way for us to tell that they actually received the funds that supported those loans through the means they describe or that they don't get to withdraw the funds back out for their own use as they are repaid.

Not saying it isn't legitimate, but I'm not keen on sudden appearances like this. If I were considering supporting such a venture (I'm not because I seldom find these coupon deals of much use) I would be inclined to start with a phone call to the listed contact. E-mail might be okay too, but I like to get a feel for the voice on the other end more than just reading the words.

My $.02 (I have lots of pennies laying around to spare. If you want me to share the physical ones with you, though, you have to pay the postage.)

Paul

[Amy-in-PHX]

Hey everyone,

A friend of mine recently sent me a link for lendrr (www.lendrr.com) and I wanted to see if it was legit or not. Basically, the site appears to be an referral type site, where if you buy a coupon from livingsocial, they get a cut (it looks like 12%), which they did donate to kiva. I haven't seen anything on the website (news, etc) that references them, and they are affiliated with "Worldwide Imagine Network, LLC," which I also can't find any info for on the internet. Has anyone heard about/used Lendrr?

Hi Anh-thu, Someone connected with the entity whose link you asked about, has been leaving "lender" messages on some of the Kiva Lending Team message boards, eg, Team USA, saying this: 

 lendrr
Joined: Sep 23, 2009

Just wanted to let everyone know about the new website I just started to help raise funds for Kiva. If you use LivingSocial then you should like this!

www.lendrr.com

So how does it work?  {snip}

Get out of your house, enjoy your night, and know you are helping the world.

Would appreciate if you could help spread the word to other Kiva users as I know LivingSocial is quite popular.

This is not of interest to me, and I am hoping the team message boards do not start to get used often for this type of thing.  As for their bona fides, your guess is probably better than mine.  They appear to have had a Kiva account since Sept 23, 2009, but it may be possible for a really good IT person to fake that date somehow.  The account has made 4 loans, and the oldest was listed on Kiva Jan 28, 2011.  Looks to me like the account sat idle for a loooong time, if it existed at all, in Sept 09.
  Cheers to you and Ahkun!

[Anhthu_Ahkun]

Thanks Amy and Paul! I was contacted on Kiva by the Lendrr person after I posted this, and he/she basically wrote much of what Amy pasted from the boards. Colette also got in touch with Kiva as well, and I am guessing that they are dealing with this.
Thanks for the well-wishes Amy!

-Anh-Thu

[Anhthu_Ahkun]

I just received a message from Craig, the person behind Lendrr, on my Kiva account. Here's what he has to say:

Hey,

I just wanted to touch base with you again because I saw you made another post on KivaFriends.org about lendrr.com. I have still been trying to get access to the forums to make a post about it and assure to the community that this is not a "scam" website.

The reason that this site is not well known or the LLC is not known is because it is in fact new. I am from Omaha, NE and thought that this idea would be a good one considering how many people use LivingSocial and how easy it is to just click on a link before a deal was bought. The intention of this site was in the same mold as KivaShoppingClub. I am just a person who loves the concept of Kiva and was trying to use my programming knowledge to find an easy way to raise money for loans. I am not a business trying to make a living off Kiva!

This site has been a member of Kiva.org since 2009 as my personal account. I just recently switched the username over to lendrr. I haven't made any loans til this spring however which I have made out of my own pocket. the loans you see on the website are linked to the account. Lendrr.com was just launched in early May and so far has made less than $20 on the affiliate links (I will give you a screenshot of the current earnings if you give me your e-mail address).

I apologize for using the team message boards and individual messages to promote the site as I now realize it is against the Kiva terms of use. I will not use these means to promote.

I just wanted to see how the site will do and if it is worth the time and effort to run or maybe someone else in the community would like to promote it and co-run it to make it more transparent. I would have never considered launching this site if I didn't think it would garner support from the Kiva community and am starting to second-guess creating this idea.

If you do not think this is a good idea for the Kiva community as I see you are very active within it, I would more than gladly take the site down and donate whatever funds were raised in the few days this site was up to Kiva and give you screenshots of me doing so.

It was not my intention for people to think that this website is a scam, but I understand with it being a newbie to the Kiva community, people may be skeptical.

Thank you for taking the time to listen,
Craig, Lendrr.com
 

I told Craig to register at Kivafriends under his personal name, and then explain Lendrr to the community after he introduces himself. It seems that Craig has a pending account with kivafriends under lendrr. Maybe he can explain himself better once he gets approved?

Anh-Thu

[waywardcats]

I just received a message from Craig, the person behind Lendrr, on my Kiva account. Here's what he has to say:

... I apologize for using the team message boards and individual messages to promote the site as I now realize it is against the Kiva terms of use. I will not use these means to promote. ...

I told Craig to register at Kivafriends under his personal name, and then explain Lendrr to the community after he introduces himself. It seems that Craig has a pending account with kivafriends under lendrr. Maybe he can explain himself better once he gets approved?

Anh-Thu

The moderating team has  just approved Craig's application for membership.  Please note that this should in no way be construed as an endorsement of Lendrr, the moderating team feels that as of this time the lendrr website provides insufficient information for us to be able to approve publicity for it on KF.  We have informed Craig of this decision and approved his application based upon his acknowledgement that he understands the Kiva Terms of Use. Therefore, we believe that he will also recognize that the KivaFriends TOU carry the same restrictions and honor his promise here as well.  He is welcome to discuss and explain further his intentions, and we hope that the discussion will be educational for all involved.

-Kerry-
On behalf of the moderating team - Wolfgang, Diane, Peter and Natasha.

 

[craig_lendrr]

Hello KivaFriends,

This is Craig, the creator of Lendrr. The plan of the site was to create a platform to raise money for loans and then to keep relending the money using LivingSocial as an affiliate. I am sorry if I sent you a message about the website through a PM on Kiva or on your team boards. Due to a multitude of reasons including advertising means & budget/server demands/time etc., I have decided not to pursue this website over the long term and have just taken the site down. It has been getting sparce traffic since the first few days of launch. I think using this affiliate idea with LivingSocial/Groupon is better suited to be part of an already established entity such as the KivaShoppingClub, that lenders already know about.

You can easily apply for groupon through commission junction and separately through LivingSocial which I think would be a better route then a separate website.
The payout from the LivingSocial affiliate program was $21.90 since the launch (attached a screenshot). I have decided to send a $25 Kiva Gift card to the KivaShoppingClub lender group which they can use to make a loan as part of their program. Can someone please PM me the e-mail address of one of the main members so I can gift the card for them to use as a loan? Thanks to the few in the community who helped me over the past month. I hope to continue to be a lender in an individual format.

Thank you,
Craig

[waywardcats]

Craig,

The best email address to use would be admin@kivashoppingclub.com which will reach all of the volunteers working for KSC.  To my knowledge however, the KSC has never taken a donation (other than some operating expenses donated by our founder, Henry).  You might consider gifting the money to the Mark Agwonah Fund instead, but of course it is your decision.  Thank you for the explanation, it is very much appreciated.

-Kerry-

[craig_lendrr]

I just gifted a $25 card to the admin@kivashoppingclub.com address. Thank you!

-Craig

[Henry]

oh KSC takes all kinds of money!!!!   and Craig, since your being so generous! when it's received I'll match your donation of $25 into KSC.   

Anyone else want to match Craigs donation?