I recently posted about lending through Prosper.com. Today, I read a similar article on GetRichSlowly (thanks J.D.!) about the Grameen Bank, microlending, and Kiva. I hadn't heard of Kiva before and noted a few interesting differences between it and Prosper:
- Prosper is domestic; Kiva is for foreign lending
- Prosper loan requests are often for debt consolidation/relief; Kiva is focused on lending to entrepreneurs
- Prosper loans pay the lender interest; Kiva loans do not.
Interesting side note: compare our early "Basic Rules of Finance" at right with the Grameen Bank's 16 decisions. It's a nice reality check and a reminder of how lucky we are in our country that I have to worry about my retirement investments and not about clean drinking water or setting up a pit latrine!
1 comment:
Prosper is plain old capitalism. I'm the banker to some other person's borrower and Prosper is facilitating it all. I approach Prosper as an investment.
Kiva, however, is a non-profit focused on improving the world. They're doing microloans to entrepreneurs in an effort to improve conditions in their native countries. This is interactive charitable work. I approach Kiva as (worldwide) community support. Eventually the money will poof, but it will hopefully do some good before that happens.
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