Kiva celebrates 3rd birthday

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Social lending site Kiva.org celebrates it’s third anniversary. In this time Kiva loans with a volume of approximately 45 million US$ have been financed by over 340,000 Kiva users worldwide.  The repayment rate is quoted as 98.6% (see more stats).

Currently Kiva hopes to win a 1.5 million US$ grant in the American Express members project vote. Currently Kiva is second (which would mean a $500,000 grant). If you are an American Express card holder, you still have 7 days to cast your vote.

Kiva also announced a partnership with Ernst&Young. The objective is:

To help facilitate the transparent flow of information and funds between individual lenders, micro-finance institutions, and borrowers, which will ultimately help Kiva continue to grow and serve more entrepreneurs.

Friendsclear launches in France

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Friendsclear.com has launched a french p2p lending service. Due to regulation issues it does differ very much from p2p lending services like Prosper or Zopa. Friendsclear only offers the tools for lenders and borrowers to agree on and document a loan and its payment. Friendsclear is not involved in the transfer of the money itself.

Director Jean-Christophe Capelli last year contributed the guest article ‘The situation of social lending in France‘.

French language blog sources with more background information: insiden, duperrin.com

Requesting a Zopa (US) loan can harm your credit history

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Tom of Prosper Lending Review found out that when he tried to request a Zopa loan not only was he rejected, but the Zopa credit inquiry was listed on his credit report. Unlike other p2p lending services in the US Zopa does a hard pull. The Zopa FAQ states:

We think it’s best if you assume that there will be an impact to your credit score. That means you should only get a quote if you really would be interested in a Zopa Loan.

Bad.

Loanio – more loan listings on first day

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After the Loanio launch yesterday, already some more loan listings are up at Loanio.com. Right now I count 8 listings. Probably more are in the making. No bids yet, which is not surprising as the lenders have to sign up and transfer money to Loanio first.
Michael Solomon, the CEO and founder of Loanio had a lucky week according to the Loanio blog – not only did he launch Loanio, but he also won $1,000 in the New York State Lottery.

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Loanio launch II

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Last week I titled ‘Loanio Launch‘. That was a little premature (I was not the only one fooled by the site apparently going live – see Tom’s blog). Well today Loanio.com is really live. And there are 5 listings at the moment (see screenshot). For a list of features see the previous loanio coverage.

Loanio listings

Netbanker has a list of states (with max. interest rates), open to Loanio borrowers. You are welcome to discuss your thoughts on Loanio in Wiseclerk’s Loanio Forum.