Husband and I just rolled over another successful loan two nights ago. This was our fifth time donating (our first loan has been turned over three times, our second has gone out twice), no defaults yet.

It's such an ambitious venture I'm surprised they haven't had more problems. However, after reading this, I might pay more attention to the organization ratings than I have before.

Kiva is an incredible organization. I joined about the same time - December 2006 - after being tipped to it by a Broadsheet post. Now in my zeal to spread the joy of being an international financier, I "inflict" my friends and family with Kiva gift certificates for Festivus and birthdays.

Many of my initial loans were made in Kenya and the WEEC ones have all defaulted. Even so, the majority of the twenty-five dollars I had pledged to each had been repaid before the default. So my "loss" was under ten bucks. Kenya has been a mixed bag. I still have a handful of loans there that are in trouble, but I've also had several that were made by a medical foundation pay off with no problems.

One of the things I really like about Kiva is the opportunity to make loans to entrepreneur's in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Vietnam and Cambodia. In a small way, I fell like I'm righting a little of the wrong our government has done there.

I heart KIVA too. I joined shortly after the giant server failure in the aftermath of the first Frontline broadcast that featured them. I guess that was Halloween 2006. I think I have made 13 or 14 loans so far with about $300. They keep rolling over. I have not had any defaults yet. Most of mine have been in Latin America. But the current ones in payback right now are spread out all over. Cambodia, Pakistan, South Pacific, Central Asia, Latin America... I think it's a brilliant concept. I suppose growing so big so fast was going to have some problems associated with it.

I've had 3 loans successfully paid back, with two currently outstanding. I suppose I'm not really bothered by the prospect of default, since the only thing I expect to do with money paid back is send it out to another borrower. 3 of the 5 are in Africa.

I am glad Kiva is taking steps to make steps to protect the money it's been entrusted with, but these sorts of issues are what you expect in dealing in developing countries. The infrastructure simply doesn't exist to do background checks on everyone involved, so there's a certain level of trust required. Luckily, trust is usually rewarded.

I love microfinance, but I've been on the Prosper system instead of KIVA. From that experience, I can say that even US based folks who are not part of an organization led by a charismatic founder can, and might well, default. I've concentrated my loans to help business owners with some experience and are looking for capital to expand their business. Two of my three loans have defaulted.

Okay, you convinced me to go over there and now I'm hooked. Them being honest about problems makes me trust them more.

I'm going to give gift certificates to friends and family, I think they'll be hooked, too, and most of them don't need more "stuff" anyway.

I need to head over to Kiva and roll over yet another loan that just repaid in full. No system is perfect, but this works pretty darn well.

KIVA's problems are small. Add to that the fact that they are helping to enrich 'the little guy' instead of a few Wall Street bankers and I'd much rather stick an extra $25 or $50 there, where it does some real good, than in a bank account that doesn't even keep up with inflation.

Go KIVA.

Just got my very first loan repaid in full yesterday; I felt warm and fuzzy. I immediately rolled it over into another loan.

Assuming their overall numbers are accurate, I'm pretty amazed at how low the default rate is. Of course there are going to be people who are fraudulent, incompetent, or just plain unlucky. As long as the default rate is low enough, it's pretty tolerable.

At first I was a little concerned about whether the money I loaned out was likely to get repaid. But here is how it worked out for me so far:

Out of 26 loans ($25 each), 6 have been paid back (and of course reloaned). 19 loans are currently active, and 1 defaulted.

I might be boasting, but I guess it has just gone to my head a little. For me this is something that is easy to do and makes perfect sense - helping people who are willing to work hard and want a chance to do something to make their lives better. I truly do feel that these loans actually help real people make their lives better. I have loaned to a mix of individuals and collectives. The collectives sound like they are a bit less risky than loaning to individuals. Also I do pay attention to the ratings given to the local group that Kiva disburses the loan through.

I'm also one of those who first heard of Kiva through Mr. Leonard's post some 6-7 months ago. I made one $25 loan to a woman weaver in Bolivia, who was asking for a second loan through her local Kiva partner agency. She repaid that loan a couple of weeks ago.

When checking in to recycle that loan I spent a long time browsing the Kiva site. Like AL said, the transparency of their organization and processes are remarkable. Given that a loan through Kiva runs a risk of default, it's probably best to view each one as a donation. If the loan is repaid and you roll over the amount into a new loan, it's like being able to make another donation without actually spending any money. A glance at a few of the many Kiva lenders seems evidence that many people have been recycling their funds over and over. Since the funds are already gone from one's own bank account, it's a painless way to keep that money working.

According to their web site, Kiva has a cumulative overall loan delinquency rate of 3.58% and a cumulative default rate of 1.78%. Many of their local partners have 0% rates in both categories. I encourage anyone with a spare $25 (or more, of course!) to visit Kiva (link through my sig below).