I Will Match up to $1250 Kiva Loans This Weekend

I will match up to $1250 of loans, up to $100 per person who joins my team and makes a Kiva loan this weekend.

Why?

I love to travel.  I love to see amazing and beautiful places and believe everyone needs to travel more.  Many of these amazing places are surrounded by poverty.  By funding these microloans (a minimum of only $25 at 0% interest) I hope to make an small impact and with your help, a larger impact.  Spend even just a few minutes reading some of the profiles and you will get an idea how how much these small loans can help.

In addition, I have a new Amex Platinum where I need to hit the spend to get 100,000 point sign up bonus.  Below is an explanation about why Kiva is not a great idea if you are in it just for the points.

I did this last year and a friend suggested that I offer more to get more people interested.  Ok, how much more?  He said $1250.  Ok, this year, I'm bumping up my total loan matching amount from $500 to $1250 (and per person match from $25 to $100).  Within 3-7 months I expect the loan to be repaid in full.

HOW THIS WORKS

1. Click here to Join TheRewardBoss Kiva team
2. Make a loan (min $25) and assign it to TheRewardBoss Team.  Post a comment below to let me know.
3. Get Repaid (its a 0% loan).  Withdraw or lend again.

MY MATCH

• For every person who join my team and makes a loan (assigned to the TheRewardBoss team) by this Sunday 11:59pm EST, I will match your loan, up to $100 per person, maximum of $1250
• Kiva no longer gives a sign up bonus to either of us unfortunately, but I don't care. I still believe in the cause
• Existing Kiva members are also eligible: simply join my team and make a loan of at least a $25 and assign it to the TheRewardBoss team.
• MATCH CHALLENGE:  I challenge anyone else to join and pledge to make the same match.

 

WHAT IS KIVA?

Often only a relatively small amount of money stands in the way of Kiva borrowers and their dreams. Whether it’s a Kenyan farmer who needs $500 in order to double her grain production, or a young Bolivian woman who lacks the $1,500 tuition for nursing school, Kiva lenders provide a hand up (not a hand out) to these and countless other borrowers.

The story of a Kiva loan – watch this quick video.

 

The short version:

Together with like minded people, you are making small loans $25 at a time to people all over the world for various purposes.  You choose the  borrower (sometimes a group of borrowers in a village) who explains why they need the money and when they will pay it back.  Your $25 is combined with other lenders to fund the loan. These are 0% loans and while they have a good repayment history, there is no guarantee that you will get your money back.  Some loans also have some foreign exchange risk.  All risk and no return?  Think of it as a donation to a charity that you will most likely get back. That's right, you are giving a loan at 0% and there is no guarantee you will get your money back.

It might sound crazy, but I've done this a many times over the past couple years and always got 100% of my money back (but only $25 each time).  I want to do more.

WHICH LOANS TO SELECT?

So many options.  My simple strategy:  after I click the LEND button, I sort by ‘REPAYMENT TERM' to see the shortest loans first – usually around 6 months.  I quickly read the profile and check the “% default” on the bottom right corner.  If I like the story and there is a very low default % (as close to 0% as possible) I make the loan, $25 at a time.  Keep adding loans to your cart and checkout/pay when you have loaned the amount you want.

MATCH BADGE:  When you see the x2 match badge , that means someone else (not me) is offering to match your loan. Choose this loan and you will be getting a double match (your loan + someone else matching + me matching).  Your $25 loan + someone else's match + my match = a $75 impact.

MANUFACTURED SPEND OPPORTUNITY?

Some people think of this as a way to manufacture spend to get credit card sign up bonuses.  Well, its not a very good way to manufacture spend.  While it is true that you can charge the loan on your credit card and when it is repaid, you can withdraw it then charge more loans to your credit card again.  Don't forget that you will have to wait 5-7 months or longer to get the money back and there is a chance you won't receive all of it.  My advice: Only charge on your credit card an amount you can pay in full (and think of it like a donation to charity that you will probably get back) so you don't pay any interest charges.  It would be foolish to borrow money from the credit card (and pay interest) then lend it to someone for 0%!

 

Want to see how I earn enough points and miles to travel for free? Read this first.  Be one of the 10s of 10s of people who subscribe to receive email updates whenever I post a new article. Enter your email address in the top left corner of the site (mobile users scroll down) and that’s it.  Cancel anytime.  Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or RSS feed.