Zack is a Kiva Staffer and Alum of the Kiva Fellows ProgramEver had the urge to see what you would look like with the facial hair of Abe Lincoln or maybe Santa Claus? Well, now you can… And at the same time you will be helping fund loans for Kiva.Add…

• Lincoln Memorial 1959-Now Small Cents Coins US Coins Paper Money
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Continue reading → Build a Beard for Kiva

Lending Club opened for lenders from 15 states and borrowers from all states a couple weeks ago. Since then they have added six more states. The two most recent additions are Washington State and New Hampshire. Rob Garcia, Director of Product Strategy,…

• New Hampshire US State, Town Views Postcards Collectibles

Continue reading → Lending Club adds Washington and New Hampshire

Dr. Scott McLeod recently heard Alan November’s keynote speech at ITEC 2008, where he commented on Kiva:”If the Web needed a reason to be invented, this is it.”Check out Dr. McLeod’s notes from the speech here.

• Scott Riggs Racing-NASCAR Fan Apparel Souvenirs Sports Collectibles

Continue reading → Kiva: a reason for the web to be invented?

One of the downsides of p2p lending service Prosper.com are high default rates. Results from collection attempts are low.
In an attempt to test alternatives to the existing collection process Prosper in January selected 66 cases of nonpaying borrowers and turned them over to the law firm Hunt & Henriques to pursue these cases in court.
Fred [...]

Continue reading → Prosper loses several lawsuits against non-payers

Earlier this week I bought a new laptop. My currently laptop is around 3 years old and it’s starting to show it’s age. It has 768MB of memory, much less than many computers have nowadays. When I have my 700 Firefox tabs open, it really slows down to a crawl. I [...]

Continue reading → How I Saved Money on a New Laptop

Another week, another state. We are glad to announce that our new program has been cleared by the State of Washington this week. This is a wonderful opportunity to remind ourselves that Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union, and has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states [...]

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• Daytona Florida US State, Town Views Postcards Collectibles
• Caps, Hats Washington Redskins Football-NFL Fan Apparel Souvenirs Sports Collectibles
• Washington State College-NCAA Fan Apparel Souvenirs Sports Collectibles
• Delaware US State, Town Views Postcards Collectibles

Continue reading → Welcome Washington!!

Seasonal price changes to your bills can make it difficult to plan for, and afford, payments at certain times of the year. Whether through a formal plan, or one of your own, you can help to even out payments and better manage your personal finances in the process.
Many utilities offer plans to charge you a [...]

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Continue reading → Paying Seasonal Bills Through a Budget Plan

For many people, the ability to invest is a pie in the sky dream that will never be achieved, due to the fact that they may not believe they have “enough” money to invest. This book promises to allay those fears and help readers get a better view on personal finance, and working with what [...]

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• Review: The Motley Fool’s You Have More Than You Think By David and Tom Gardener For many people, the ability to invest is a pie in the sky dream that will never be achieved, due to the fact that they may not believe they have “enough” money to invest. This book promises to allay those fears and help readers get a better view on personal......

Continue reading → Review: The Motley Fool’s You Have More Than You Think By David and Tom Gardener

Because of the problems facing our economy, most consumers are finding it difficult to obtain the lending that they need for things like purchasing a new car. However, what consumers are failing to understand is that the auto makers and car dealerships are experiencing the exact same issues relating to the economy, and are just [...]

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• Car Accessories Tampa Bay Buccaneers Football-NFL Fan Apparel Souvenirs Sports Collectibles

• Antique Car Parts Collectibles/a> -> Transportation -> Automobilia For car lovers, one of the best collectibles you can find are antique car parts. These unique items come in nearly every shape and size, and the ones that are particularly valuable are the ones from car makers that are no longer in business. There......
• Buying a Used Green Hybrid Car Given the newness of green hybrid electric cars, you might not think it's easy to find a used one for sale. They are out there, though. Many people who are financially fortunate enough to be able to do so tend to swap out cars every 2 or 3 years so......

Continue reading → Credit Crunch Affecting Car Dealers

One of the best ways to build a strong financial foundation in teens is by starting a savings plan early on. Over the past few years, there have been more teens saving money and the results are clear. When you take the time to teach good financial practices to your children, these skills will carry [...]

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• Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Millionaire? Every year, thousands of people become millionaires, while hundreds of thousands struggle to make ends meet. What is the difference between the two groups? In many cases, it comes down to whether or not you have what it takes to be a millionaire. While this may seem like oversimplification, there......
• Money Management During Tough Financial Times Personal money management can absolutely be a challenge, especially when you are tight on cash. Payday never seems to come in time, and your pockets probably feel empty long before the bills have all being paid up. Here are some basic but essential tips for money management that can help......

Continue reading → Teens Saving Money

In January of this year, Prosper initiated a test program to bring suit against a small set of nonpaying borrowers. 66 very late loans were selected, and Prosper turned these loans over to the law firm of Hunt & Henriques to go after the nonpayers…

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• Lobster Elite Model 3 Tennis Ball Machine One of the best ways to practice tennis is to use a ball machine, but these can be expensive. If you have your own home court, or you play at a public court system where there isn’t a ball machine on site, buying your own is an option that many......
• Doug Fuller Update Legal Test The New Agency Test aka Legal Test has been updated via the blog: Legal Test Update We have obtained service on 12 of the suits – and have sent “proof of service” back to the courts. Another 41 have been formally entered on the dockets of the court in and......

Continue reading → Prosper.com - the lawsuits are not going well

The Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) and CSR Capital have decided to invest a total of DKK 15 million (approx. EUR 2.2 million) in Africa through MYC4. The Danish Development Minister Ulla Tørnæs supports the decision.
“This is an extremely important milestone for MYC4. That IFU and CSR Capital now invest through MYC4 is an [...]

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• MicroPlace, an Ebay Company Launches MicroPlace, an Ebay company just launched.  It is kinda like kiva.org, except that you invest in securities which pay interest (1%-3%) and the companies offering the notes handle the individual investments.  So you are purchasing a pool of investments were the actual investments are made companies on the ground. The......

Continue reading → IFU and CSR Capital invest 2.2M Euro in Africa via MyC4

As any child waiting for Christmas can tell you, it can’t seem to come soon enough. Though children will have to wait until December 25th, shoppers looking for lower prices from holiday sales will get their wish.
Citing expectations of weak holiday sales and a desire by consumers to spread holiday spending over a longer period [...]

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• Holiday Shopping Techniques To Avoid Breaking the Bank It is looking like the upcoming holiday season will be gloomy for many families, given the current state of the economy and continued bad news on many financial fronts. While this may not be a time to go all out with gifts, there are holiday shopping techniques that you can......
• Debt and the Holidays A lot of people make use of their credit cards when shopping for the holiday season on the premise that they are going to pay all of the newly formed debt off within only two or three months time. Unfortunately, most people are still trying to tackle these credit card......

Continue reading → Christmas Prices Come Early This Year

With Election Day right around the corner, most Americans have made up their minds on who they want to vote for. Behind all of the rhetoric and talking points, both the Obama and McCain campaigns have detailed plans and policies ranging from the struggling economy to the war in Iraq. But what…

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Continue reading → Presidential Candidates on College Affordability

Here is a link to a recent thought-provoking article from VentureBeat journalist, Chris Morrison, entitled "Will "social capital" be the next big industry to emerge?"
His central example in the piece is the emerging field of "Microcredit" and specifically the work of Nobel Prize winning Mohamed Yunus.  I especially like Morrison’s quote on this defining [...]

• Myrtle Creek Golf Course, Myrtle Creek, OR Myrtle Creek Golf Course is located in: Myrtle Creek, OR Phone: 888-T-MYRTLE Website: http://www.myrtlecreekgolf.com/ Course History: This is a terrific course that offers a wonderful traditional experience with just the right mix of challenge and fun. The course was first opened with 9 holes in 1997, and the back nine......
• Dolphin Isle Marina, Fort Bragg, CA Dolphin Isle Marina is located in: Fort Bragg, CA Phone: 707.964.4113 Average Water Depth: The average water depth here is around 14 feet, but this is subject to change due to weather conditions. We recommend calling ahead to check the current levels before you arrive. Marine Standby Channel: Yes, the......

Continue reading → Will “social capital” be the next big industry to emerge?

Today the entire team gathered into the Kiva conference room to watch Kiva’s Chief Technology Officer, Sam Mankiewicz, press the magic button to release Kiva website feature “PA2″ unto the internet!If you don’t know what PA2 is, check out Roma’s blog p…

• Internet Businesses Websites Businesses for Sale Opportunities

Continue reading → PA2: We have liftoff!

Loanland launched last October as the first p2p lending company in the swedish market (see ‘Loanland launches peer to peer lending in Sweden‘). Since then about 5.7 million SEK (approx. 0.75 million US$) loan volume has been funded .
Ville Vesterinen has published more information about Loanland in the ArcticStartup blog:
The company is currently providing [...]

• Carnival of P2P Lending #9 Welcome to the 9th addition of the Carnival of Peer to Peer Lending... Editor's Picks: P2P-Loans.com presents P2P Lending Grows in Popularity as Banks Slow Lending (Are Individual Lenders Suckers or Savvy?) posted at P2P-Loans.com. Pinyo presents Why Borrowers With Bad Credit Pay A Higher Interest Rates posted at Moolanomy.......
• Borrow Money on Prosper -- Case for Unsecured Debt via Personal Loans Prosper Marketplace, Inc. is a peer-to-peer (p2p) lending marketplace that facilitates 3 year fully amortized loans between lenders and a borrower.  A borrower wants to borrow money and lenders want to earn better than average returns.  The most typical reasons for loans on Prosper are credit card debt consolidation, small business......

Continue reading → Loanland update - p2p lending in Sweden

A couple of days ago I post about the Virgin Money Show us Your Ask… The deadline has been extended to Nov 15.
Here is an example of showing the ask…

Continue reading → Virgin Money Show us Your Ask

Within the vast billing network of your various goods and services, fees are affecting everyone these days. Banks, credit cards, mobile phones and even your retirement fund, for example, can siphon funds from you without your oversight. Make it a resolution now to look for the following hidden fees and gain extra money in your [...]

• How to Start Saving More Right Now For many of us, saving is something that we always plan to do, but never quite get around to it. The bottom line is, if you don’t have a savings account and a regular plan for putting money aside, you may regret it in the future, especially as you get......
• 5 Ways to Save Money Without Even Trying The whole process of saving money is usually associated with pinching pennies until they scream for mercy, living on food from dented cans and basically giving up everything for a future goal. While this will indeed help you put more money away, saving does not need to mean hardship. We......

Continue reading → Fee Falling

The last recession that our country experienced was, in truth, a mild one. The stock market and many corporate profits began to tank, but consumer spending seemed to dance merrily on through the recession without as much as a scratch. Consumer spending has long been the major engine driving the entire United States economy, which [...]

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• Consumer Confidence in United States has Increased The level of consumer confidence in the United States rose unexpectedly in November, rebounding from a record low. This surprising change apparently came as concerns about the rising rate of unemployed coupled with tumbling financial markets was alleviated by falling gas prices. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence suddenly......
• Debt and the Credit Crisis The last recession that our country experienced was, in truth, a mild one. The stock market and many corporate profits began to tank, but consumer spending seemed to dance merrily on through the recession without as much as a scratch. Consumer spending has long been the major engine driving the......

Continue reading → Debt and the Credit Crisis

The financial turmoil that our economy is currently experiencing is regarded as an unprecedented level of turmoil. According to a United States Historian named Steph Friesier, “The time of wielding wealth is over.” What many people do not realize is that there is a lot that consumers can take away from this bank crisis that [...]

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• Bush Plans to Host World Summit to Address the Current Credit Crisis The United States President George Bush recently announced his intention to hold a world summit involving leaders from all around the world in order to discuss the global financial crisis in the near future. What he did say however is that any financial reform should absolutely not come at the......
• Protecting Your Investments In Times of Economic Crisis The United States economy is currently experiencing a serious financial shake up. No one really understands just how deep or how far reaching the damage is going to be, but what we do know is that there is going to be damage, and that we are going to be at......

Continue reading → What Consumers Can Learn From the Bank Crisis

Online banking has become incredibly popular and it is very useful. For those that rely on online banking, there is an accepted risk that goes with exposing your financial information online, but before you jump in, it is a good idea to do a little checking to make sure that your online bank is indeed [...]

Continue reading → Is Your Online Bank Safe?

Tajikistan is quickly becoming a nation of women and children… and a diminishing number at that.  The low incomes and lack of jobs have resulted in more and more men leaving for Russia to send money back to the family.  With a minimum wage here of 20 Somoni ($6 US), people are working multiple jobs, [...]

Continue reading → The incredible shrinking country…

For those of you who know me as Eviatar (or do not know me at all), I am now Galumalemana, or Gali for short. This is my Samoan name, bestowed upon me by some of the loan officers during my “initiation” on my first Friday night here. The event included some rugby rituals, a healthy [...]

Continue reading → Gali Sends Greetings from Samoa

In a recent post, I wrote about how to make a plan for your financial goals. However, I’m sure you’ve made plans for other things, as well – such as losing weight, studying more, and other things. Chances are, you’ve failed a few times. Everyone has, and financial plans are no different than any other [...]

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Continue reading → 5 Ways to Succeed with Your Financial Plan

Today on the news I heard that 67.8 percent of eligible people in 24 large urban areas studied participated in the program in 2006. While it would be interesting to know if more people are taking advantage now, the data isn’t there. I can’t think of an impetus for why the they’d suddenly [...]

Continue reading → Eligible People Not Getting Food Stamps?

Earlier this month, the Rwandan government announced that French was no longer to be the official language of communication and teaching. Currently, French is used as the language of instruction in over 95% of schools; all of them must now switch to English. In addition to schools, government workers must be fluent in English. The [...]

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Continue reading → News Flash

Today Kiva was copied on a Letter to the Editor, sent by a Kiva Lender:Dear Editor:I have two investment portfolios. One portfolio holds my investments in American industry. It has declined in value about 25% in the last two months. My other portfoli…

Continue reading → One opinion on an investment portfolio…

Although the words credit crunch and gloomy forecasts on the state of the economy are generally perceived as being negative, for many people, there is a plus side. In the midst of all of this turmoil, there are some bright spots to be found and smart investors will know how to take advantage of this [...]

• Staying Solvent in Bad Economic Times Every day, the news about the economy seems to be getting worse and people across the world are concerned that they will be personally affected by the changes. In many cases, they already are when you consider how the cost of living has gone up, gas prices that seem to......

Continue reading → Is There a Plus Side to the Credit Crunch?

ABC interviewed Renauld Laplanche of Lending Club on ABC Money Matters. Laplanche says in the last 10 days over 1 million US$ in loans were funded and states that the default rate has been lower than 2% over the last 18 months. Watch the video.

Continue reading → Video interview with Renaud Laplanche, CEO of Lending Club

Even after the government took the opportunity to step in and bail out one of our largest insurance companies, the stock market still managed to find a way to completely tank, because many investors were not persuaded that this intervention was going to protect their investments. This is when you have to find confidence, knowing [...]

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• Just How Safe is Your Money Right Now? Even after the government took the opportunity to step in and bail out one of our largest insurance companies, the stock market still managed to find a way to completely tank, because many investors were not persuaded that this intervention was going to protect their investments. This is when you......

Continue reading → Just How Safe is Your Money Right Now?

It’s easy to tell when cotton season has arrived in Tajikistan, not because of a change in temperature or rainfall but because university students start disappearing from the city. Each Fall universities throughout Tajikistan come to a standstill as hoards of students are sent to do unofficially mandatory labor in the cotton fields. They are [...]

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Continue reading → Tajikistan’s “White Gold”

As our society gets busier, it’s been increasingly important to automate several aspects of our lives. One of the first areas to be automated was the payment of monthly bills and for many, this is an essential system that helps them avoid late payments. However, there are a few dangers that are associated with auto [...]

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Continue reading → The Danger of Auto Bill Pay

When I last corresponded with you, dear Kiva Fellows Blog reader, I was still in my home country, chucking trespassing snakes out of my house and considering whether just one bottle of Pepto-Bismol would be enough for 10 months on a foreign continent. 
I write to you now from my desk at K-MET, in Kisumu Kenya, [...]

Continue reading → Welcome to the 3 K’s: K-MET, Kisumu, Kenya

Renaud Laplanche, founder and CEO of Lending Club in California recently spoke with Jackie Hyland from ABC News Money Matters about Lending Club, where borrowers with good credit can obtain personal loans from complete strangers. It was touted as providing a unique and creative way to get a loan that will offer lower interest rates [...]

• Loans and the Credit Crunch The credit crunch is a hot button issue right now, raising red flags in the eyes of consumers not only all over the United States, but also elsewhere in the world. When the economy in the United States begins to have difficulties, the rest of the world is going to......
• Calling for Articles for Next Carnival of Peer to Peer Lending The deadline for submission to the next carnival of peer to peer lending is June 1st. RateLadder will be hosting the next carnival. To submit your article do At the main Carnival Site: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_3148.html Here are the past carnivals... Lazy Man  Brip Blap Rate Ladder Prosper Lending Review The Amatureist......

Continue reading → Renaud Laplanche, Lending Club CEO in the News