I usually post my batting average in January, but given the current world situation I figured I'd update my stats a month early. As I mentioned earlier, in times of uncertainty, cash is king and I had pulled back on my Kiva investing. These stats will reflect that. At the same time, given the current world situation and that many of my loans were to countries with absolutely draconian pandemic restrictions, I don't feel too bad about it.
Started in Dec 2015.
Amount Lent: $19,400
Amount Defaulted: $47.55 (was $22.97 in January 2020)
Amount of Currency Rate Loss: $15.64 (was $0.41 in January 2020)
Total losses: $63.19 (was $23.38 in January)
$63.19/ $18,900 = 0.0032572 or 0.326% (was 0.124% in January 2020)
US inflation for the same time period was 10%. DAL stock price for 2020 is still down 26% YTD. I'm actually up 23% YTD on DAL only due to some heavy buying when it bottomed out.
So, I've made 702 loans, got the chance to help out at least that many people, and earned ~77k UR points for $63.19. Definitely not as "profitable" as previous years, but given what's happening still a good deal.
Defaulted loans: 4 total as of Jan 2020. 6 as of Dec 2020
2015-2019:
1) Total loan was $8050 in Rwanda. $2.05 loss for me. I'm not upset about this one.
2) Total loan was $500, in the Philippines. $12.92 loss for me. Annoyed by this, but still they paid back 74% of the loan, so I can't be too upset.
3) Total loan was $900, in Ghana. $1.75 loss for me. Not upset at this.
4) Total loan was for $1,000 in Lebanon. $6.32 loss for me. Still works out to 74% paid back.
2020:
5) Total loan was for $9,000 in Ecuador. $1.54 loss for me. Arguably, the lowest loss I've had on a loan
6) Total loan was for $6,150 in Paraguay. $7.39 loss for me. Largest loss on a loan to date. Still 70% paid back.
So, easily the "worst" year I've had on Kiva, but I'm not complaining. Currency losses were the big hit this year at $15.64 and I can only blame politicians for that, not the borrowers. Fortunately all of my "old" pre-COVID loans will be fully due by February. For now I'm just making short-term (≤4 mo) loans and all of those will be due by May. Certainly putting in a lot less than I did in previous years. I've not given up on Kiva, but am certainly reading up on countries of lenders before lending. When the waters get a bit more favorable, I'll be going back in full strength.