Kiva Detroit = small business loans

**maxx** · July-02-11, 10:15 AM

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/mone...-20110630-wpms

"...Kiva is a website designed to help small business owners connect with individual investors. Anyone can offer a microloan starting in $25 increments..."

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · July-02-11, 01:03 PM

I have been lending though Kiva for several years now. I started with an account of $75.00, and made three $25.00 loans. As they are repaid, I simply re-lend the funds. I think I am up to about 13 loans now from that original $75.00 as nobody has defaulted. I hope I get a chance to help fund someone in Detroit

**East Detroit** · July-02-11, 06:28 PM

You're saying that your $75 grew to $975...

Do they pay interest, or did you just keep loaning more?

**Jimaz** · July-02-11, 07:03 PM

I assumed the 13 loans were made over time with the same $75, not all at the same time. Still, 13 loans over time is 10 more than 3, or 11 more than 2 or 12 more than 1, whatever.

Also, the website mentions a matching loan:

To double your impact, your loan to a Kiva Detroit borrower will be matched 1-to-1 by the Knight Foundation.

When I first heard of micro-loans, the story was about the popular misconception that smaller businesses were more risky than large ones. The actual numbers showed the opposite. The large borrowers defaulted more often.

Heh. That was before the phrase "Too big to fail" was coined.

**skyl4rk** · July-02-11, 08:16 PM

I have $150 that I keep loaning out as it is repaid. So far I have made 33 loans. I have never lost anything on Kiva. I have lent money to a brewery in Uganda and a bakery in Lebanon. I'm looking forward to lending to Detroit businesses too.

http://kiva.org/invitedby/paul1226

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · July-02-11, 10:41 PM

Yes, its the original $75.00. I initially made 3 $25.00 loans from my Kiva account. They each started making repayments, and once I had $25.00 back in the account I lent that out. And so on. If you fund through Kiva, you do not earn interest, so its not done to make money but rather to do some good - but potentially you can get all of your money back as well.