Yep -- same problem I'm having

Thanks again for setting us up at Kiva Dave. I am grateful to those of you who have gotten involved there. There is no lack of deserving places for you money these days and who you choose is indeed a very personal decision. I just figured out that I've only been involved with Kiva for 14 months now. It seems like it's been much longer. For me, I'm impressed with how low the failure rate is. It says a lot about the model Kiva uses and the people we are helping. Still, it's not impossible to lose some money with this. I finally had a second loan go late. Two out of 66 is pretty good and the two still haven't defaulted. With the economy like it is around the world, that is quite impressive. While I've made loans to many parts of the world, I have tended to "specialize" in South America (Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay) though I have focused some lately on Tajikistan. These are all areas with plenty of poverty though there are plenty of others. From what I've read lately, I'd love to see them with a field partner in Nepal. Kiva's grown tremendously since I started. Originally, you didn't get credit for repayments until the entire loan was repaid. Now you get credit as repayments come in so you can turn around and lend that money back out. That's how I've gotten up to making 4-5 new loans each month. They do rate their field partners but I don't recall seeing any that weren't at least four out of five stars unless they were brand new. It does seem that they vet and track their field partners well. I'm aware of only one real problem with one in Kenya that they dropped as a result. There are parts of the world where the political situation can cause problems. The border closings and instability in the Middle East has caused problems for the borrowers there at times. Still, there's plenty of opportunity and lots of world out there. Personally, I do tend to work with the same Field Partners in a country. When picking a new one, I do look at how they rate. I've had one in Bolivia that lately has had their delinquency rate soar. That looks like a technical result of a change made on Kiva's end so it should drop just as fast. The default rate is non-existent though I'm sure that does happen. I'm learning a little about the areas of the world I lend to and will probably expand more into Asia. I would imagine though that there are plenty of banks here in the US that would drool over having a group of borrowers like Kiva has. We hear about the impact small businesses have on the economy here. Where Kiva lends, you're talking about some very fundamental impact. Thanks again folks!

Hey Blizzie -- we have missed you around here, but school and work do have to come first. I am still recovering from an infection that sent me to the hospital and am sleeping most of the time. Up for a pee break at the moment

http://blizzie.com/kiva-loans-that-save-lives/

As Keith said, welcome!