Loans on Kiva: how to get started

Our social project uses Kiva to allocate microfinance loans to entrepreneurs all over the world. Kiva explains pretty clearly how THEY do the job, but here I’ll get YOU started to allocate loans too.

The principle is very easy:

• Once you registered in Kiva (see below), you can choose an individual entrepreneur in any of the countries or sectors (agriculture, clothes, construction) you want to allocate a loan to.
• You can allocate a loan as small as US$25. A loan can be paid either through your PayPal account or can be charged to your credit card.
• Over time, the entrepreneur will pay back your loan. Once per month, you will be advised of the amount paid back to your account.
• You can choose then to either redraw the refunded money, or reinvest it in new loans.

Step 1: Register with Kiva

1. Go to http://www.kiva.org
2. Click on “Register” in the top right corner



3. Fill in all the fields in the registration form (“Display me as” indicates the name you wish to be displayed for all your loans)
4. Click on “Sign Up”

Step 2: Register as a member to “The Road” lenders team

1. Go to The Road’s Lenders team page
2. Click on “Join”
3. You are now an official member of our Lenders team!

Step 3: Start allocating loans

1. While you are logged in, click on “Lend” in the menu bar
   
2. Choose your entrepreneur either by selecting the criteria from the top menu bar (“Gender”, “Sector”, “Region”) or type in a country in the “Search” bar.
3. Once you found an entrepreneur, either click on “Lend $25″ or click on “more” to see the full details or to allocate a larger amount
4. Repeat this step until you have allocated all loans you want. Then click on “My Basket” in the top right menu.
5. While viewing your basket, make sure you select “The Road” in the “Count towards team” drop down menu bar.
   
6. Click on “Continue”
7. On the next screen, you can select how much you want to contribute Kiva’s overhead. Select a percentage you prefer, or select “$0.00 – None at this time”. Then click on “Donate this amount to Kiva”
8. Now you will get the overview page of all pending loans in “your basket”. Click on “Complete”
9. This will bring you onto the payment screen:
   
10. Either pay with your credit card or using your PayPal account. Note that PayPal will not charge you any overhead cost for this transaction
11. Complete the transaction and you will be brought onto final screen of your loan(s). Now you can post this loan (or these loans) to your Facebook profile, or forward it by Email to your friends, or just do nothing.
12. Congratulations, you have now allocated your first loan(s) to Kiva!