Social Lending

djfizz

Hi! Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but.......

Have been looking into making and/or saving money, but without making fat cat companies fatter, or with little or no harsh enviromental impacts. Did some googleing and came across what seems to be a relatively new idea - Social Lending. This link explains the general gist of it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6623267.stm

Seems like a great idea, but has anybody tried this yet?
Any feedback welcome!

cazrobinson

check out your local credit union...

asea

is this like Zopa?

Hapless_2

I am a member of Kiva. it supports businesses in the developing world. There is no interest so you don't make any money, but the repayment rate is 100% and it gives you a good feeling that you are helping someone out without just giving the money. When the loan is paid back (usually about 18 months) you can either take the money back or loan it again. Loans are in $25 (approx£13) increments/ I have currently lent 2 $25 amounts out to farmers in Samoa.

djfizz

Hapless wrote: »

I am a member of Kiva. it supports businesses in the developing world. There is no interest so you don't make any money, but the repayment rate is 100% and it gives you a good feeling that you are helping someone out without just giving the money. When the loan is paid back (usually about 18 months) you can either take the money back or loan it again. Loans are in $25 (approx£13) increments/ I have currently lent 2 $25 amounts out to farmers in Samoa.

Thanks for that. Do they have a web site, or do you have some info on how to conact them? thanks.

Hapless_2

https://www.kiva.org is the website. you get to write a bit about yourself and you can get in touch with other lenders if you like. Paypal does the payments but take no fees.A lot of the places which they cover are places you forget about like Mexico, Samoa, Ghana, Kenya, Azerbaijan,Ukraine and Ecuador, places not really in the public eye.

razbox

I've been lending on Kiva recently at it's fantastic...such a direct way of helping people to help themselves...please take a look at the site

https://www.kiva.org

sociallendingwatch

Hey there! I was wondering if there any stories on SocialLending out there! Has anyone on here had a good/bad experience regarding social lending services like prosper?

I've been learning a lot about it and created a blog www.sociallendingwatch.com to track the sector - if anyone wants some advice - please email me as well ! Love to hear from any folks!

[EMAIL="contact@sociallendingwatch.com"]contact@sociallendingwatch.com[/EMAIL] !

Cheers

Ethan