Originally Posted by
Veiled
I'm new to MS and most interested in using Kiva for this purpose because I love Kiva and love the idea of helping others while doing this. Kiva also seems easier than running around to WMs and banks.
But I'm doing the math and I'm confused. If I donate 10k to Kiva, even if I have no defaults and eventually withdraw 10k to paypal, I pay $290 in paypal fees. I may earn 10k points for $290. But considering most points have a value around 1.5c (using tpg's valuation from 11/3/17), I've paid $290 for $150 in points.
Can someone help me understand why this would be a good idea?
Welcome to FlyerTalk!
So just to be clear: you can either make loans (which are then repaid back to you - minus any defaults or currency loss) or you can openly donate to their nonprofit organization.
If you simply donate money to Kiva, there's no withdrawal. It's a pure donation.
If you make loans, the lenders will repay (generally monthly or at the end of the loan). As money comes back into your account, you can then withdraw it back to your PayPal account. Note: all money added to your Kiva account must be cycled through at least one loan. That is, you can't just fund your account with a bunch of money and then immediately withdraw. (All account withdrawals go through an auditing process, so your transaction/account will get flagged.)
And as mentioned, PayPal waives all fees for Kiva transactions.
If you have other questions, feel free to ask!