KyRoamer

Ever thought of starting a Zidisha team. Milepoint has and until a Flyertalk team is formed, you are invited to join the milepoint team. BTW, it appears (I could be wrong) that if you do and a later Flyertalk team is formed, you can join it and all of your loans will count for both teams or you could resign the milepoint team and your credits would only show in Flyertalk. Anyhow, give Zidisha a look.

Zidisha is like Kiva zip except Zidisha pays interest. It is riskier than Kiva (2.77% loss ratio vs less than 1%) and where I have a few dollars with Zidisha, Kiva remains my first love.

Here's what I posted at milepoint.


With Milepoint's approval fcjapan and I have started another lending group on crowd funding microfinance website, www.zidisha.org. Zidisha offers:

The LOWEST interest rates in Microfinance.
The only platform that offers true peer to peer lending. (All funds loaned go directly to borrower).
TRANSPARENCY - speak directly with borrowers about business endeavors.
97.7% repayment rate.

We would love you to be part of our team on the Zidisha lending platform. To join us, please:

1. First create a profile with Zidisha. Log into Zidisha.
2. Click on “Lend.”
3. Click “Lending Groups” (last option under My Account). Join MILEPOINT.

Zidisha is small today. Your participation will be meaningful to both you and it.

Thanks.

brooklynmatt

+1 for Zidisha, I signed up this week and wrote a quick report on comparing Zidisha and Kiva here: http://saverocity.com/blog/zidisha/

The repayment rate is mitigated by the interest earned as a lender.

TheDream

Zidisha looks interesting, but I don't like having to pay 3.5% to add money with a credit card. Looks like I'll stick with the more established Kiva for the time being.

I didn't realize how addicting making the loans can be. It's fun choosing a borrower from each country! I'm up to 32 loans since I joined last week; hoping to push it to 42 in the next few days. Gotta push the FT group higher!

brooklynmatt

Hey good luck getting the push to 42, there are a lot of awesome folk out there and we are helping to change their lives with these loans.

For Zidisha, they do have 3.5% on the way in but not on the way out. And if you simply bid an APR above 5% you will break even the same way as Kiva. I'm personally holding about $4K of Kiva loans and have just dipped my toes in with $150 for Zidisha to try it out. I'd recommend a similar sort of mix for people. Just go in for one new loan (without taking from your Kiva money) of say $50+$1.75 some time to give them a shot. Take it as a nice B/D present if funds allow.

Whatever Org you go with, thanks for being awesome and helping people out.

brooklynmatt

In an effort to kick start Zidisha lending, I'll match 200% to Kiva for every new loan on Zidisha up to $1000 ($2000 matched). Post your loan and I'll post my match.

Only Caveat - has to be a new lender for them.

KyRoamer

Very generous.

Remember that Zidisha charges nothing for payments made by check. Also where PayPal payments incur a 3.5% fee, you can recoup some of it by using a reward credit card.

Until Flyertalk establishes its own team, please join the Milepoint team. We travelers need to stick together.

A suggestion: use PayPal for your first couple of loans then use your bank's BillPay option to send a check to Zidisha. That let's you make immediate loans as you get started while saving fees if you continue.

brooklynmatt

The 3.5% fee is offset rather well by the fact that you are actually paid interest by these lenders too - up to 10% if you chose. Just earning 5% will cover the fee and factor in the marginal difference in default rates.

I hope I get a taker on the challenge - I reworded it slightly and put it up on my blog here. I think to get maximum effect the $2000 should be spread around many people rather than just one or two, ideally if we can engage 40 new lenders on Zidisha we will have more than enough for a Flyertalk group!

So the offer is:

For any new lender who loans $25 to Zidisha I will loan $50 to Kiva, upto 40 loans for $2,000 from me.

If you leave the details of your loan to Zidisha and also who you want me to loan to on Kiva as a comment on this post http://saverocity.com/blog/the-zidisha-challenge I will lend to that person on your behalf, or if you like will just pick, a random loan to fund.

When picking your loan on Kiva please select one with a day or more before it expires so I have ample time to go in and lend for you.

I'll also make sure the new Kiva loans are dedicated to the Kiva Flyertalk group.

Hoping to get my first taker on this soon!

Jenbel

That's generous brooklynmatt - and I had a look at Zidisha. I'm nervous about it, but I was with Kiva at first... so I'll have a look this evening and even though January is an horrendously long month I'll see what I can do.

Hoping the US/UK exchange rate is favourable currently!

TheDream

Yeah Matt, it's something I might give a try in the future. Right now I pretty much maxed out what I can afford to give with Kiva, but maybe if the offer is still around a few months from now I can give it a go.

As for Kiva, right now they have 7 loans up with borrowers in Mali. This is a great opportunity to lend to people in a country with plenty of unrest right now. I just put $25 in for Nana Siata if anyone is interested in joining that with me.

KyRoamer

What a deal. Join Zidisha. loan $25 and Matt loans $50 at Kiva. So Kiva fans, you can help out in a big way by making a Zidisha loan. While at Zidisha, join with your ofter frequent travelers and join the milepoint team. Flyertalk doe not have a Zidisha team. If it did, you could have your loans count for both.

brooklynmatt

Yep ready to loan whenever someone takes me up on this - and if things are too tight now no worries, but hope someone will at some point.

Just added a bit to Sufikhon on Kiva, I'm a sucker for a Tajikistan with a cow.

KyRoamer

zphelj just joined our Zidisha team and loans are up. We need others to trigger Matt's offer of two loans to Kiva for every new member loan on Zidisha.

We are now 10 strong. Please join us.

KyRoamer

Join Zidisha and the milepoint team (Flyertalk does not have a team yet but when it does your loan can be credited there as well) and others will make matching loans (enough to double or triple your impact) to Kiva or Zidisha!!!

JOIN TODAY.

brooklynmatt

Awesome. Welcome to the team!

Zphelj, if you would like to nominate 2 Kiva Recipients for a $25 loan I'll be happy to make these in honor of you joining Zidisha. Or if you want I'll just pick 2 random ones that the FT is seeking to fill at the moment.

Cheers,

Matt

JDiver

This has been 1) moved from the Kiva Team thread as it is off topic, and 2) it will remain closed until we get a chance to catch you and so a little research, as required.

Thanks for your patience.

JDiver, Senior Moderator