Kiva – Year 2 Report

Posted on by under Me

Another year older, another year wiser – or so the saying goes – and while 2014 has been eventual I’m glad that I’ve continued playing with Kiva. I did stop adding new credit about half way through the year, but I have continued to fully re-lend all existing credit, which with repayments of ~$100 means I can fund 4 new loans a month; which is enough to make myself feel good / do something positive (delete as appropriate). When I wrote the Year 1 Report I can remember being surprised at the total value of deposits I’d managed in 2013, so I’m not surprised that re-lending, over continuing to add more credit, became more desirable this last year.

So, what do the figures look like now?

  • Total Loans = 132
    • 2013 = 58
  • Total Deposits = $1,209
    • 2013 = $829
  • Total Lent = $3,450
    • 2013 = $1,600
  • Total Repaid = $2,148.72
    • 2013 = $751.82
  • Number of Fully Repaid Loans = 52
    • 2013 = 10
  • Total Value of Fully Repaid Loans = $1,600
    • 2013 = $375
  • Total Outstanding = $1,148.36
    • 2013 = $797.18
  • Total Amount Lost = $27.92
    • 2013 = $1.00
  • Amount Lost due to Default = $16.23
    • 2013 = $0
  • Amount Lost due to Exchange Rate Changes = $11.69
    • 2013 = $1
  • Countries = 49 / 85
    • 2013 = 45 / 73
  • Total Refunded and Expired = $125.00
    • 2013 = $50
  • Number of Loans Delinquent = 6
    • 2013 = 5
  • Amount In Arrears = $30.09
    • 2013 = $8.96
  • Delinquency Rate = 2.62% (arrears / total outstanding)
    • 2013 = 1.12%

There are a few interesting points, especially around losses, that I’ll take a few seconds to briefly explain.

Firstly, losses caused by the exchange rate fluctuating are something to be expected as part of lending on Kiva – I mention this briefly in the Year 1 Report – and these loans were located in Liberia, Ghana (x2), Columbia, and Mongolia with durations of between 8-20 months, each loss averaging to ~$2.40, or a cheap cup of coffee. I admit that as a percentage of $25 it’s more than you’d like to see, but contrast those 5 losses totalling less than $12 to the $2,148.72 in total repayments and that percentage is no longer a concern, a minuscule 0.5% of the total value of repaid loans since I started this two years ago.

The other loan, the default, is a bit more concerning – but not for the reasons you’d think.

You see, I mentioned a few loans I’d made in the Year 1 Report to give an impression of the different types of loans you are able to make on Kiva, and this defaulted loan just so happens to be one of the those that I listed. It was the one to the watermelon farmer, that lives in Ukraine. Now, Kiva don’t tell you what part of a country someone is located, but occasionally loan descriptions do contain this information, Pavel’s didn’t, but, Agro Capital Management LLC – the Field Partner the loan was made with – do state that the majority of their loans are based in Crimea.

I hope that Putin enjoys my watermelons.