Originally Posted by
skitch23
I've done $25k+ with Kiva thus far spread over two calendar years. If you are planning to do more than $20k, set up an extra PayPal acct in a family member's name. Kiva did make me go thru a few extra steps to withdraw money a couple times... they obviously want you to leave the money sitting in your account with them and then fund more loans.
The bulk of the repayments post on the 17th of each month and then a few of the others trickle in several days later. To avoid scrutiny, I just make one withdrawal per month (usually around the 20th or 21st), then I let Kiva hold onto whatever else rolls in until the next payment day. You can fund new loans via cc and do not necessarily have to deduct from your repayment balance.
Do your research before you make your loans as some countries/lenders have greater risks than others. I've found that loans to Peru, the Philippines and with the lender Novica are typically safest and they offer short repayment cycles.
Be sure to join the FT team when you finally make the jump. The link is in my signature
Great suggestion on withdrawing once a month. I have doing Kiva loans for a couple of years as well but would have certainly crossed the 20K withdrawal this year but for the timely suggestion here.
I was seriously considering ramping my loans even further next year, but I think for the next 14 months or so, I won't be able to make any based on the way my current loan repayment is structured.
The problem with Kiva loans is that it will be hard to find a CPA who knows how to classify PayPal 1009s from Kiva loans and I am not sure what kind of details does PayPal send to the IRS of where the money came from i.e. it was not an income, just non-interest loans getting paid back.