|
Kiva Zip | Frequently Asked Questions
<br />https://zip.kiva.org/faq[8/27/2013 9:42:15 AM]
<br />checkout flow.
<br />Kiva Zip credit can also be transferred to Kiva.org, and used to fund Kiva.org loans. To transfer credit from Kiva Zip to Kiva.org, Zip lenders
<br />should click on their My Zip page and click the “Transfer Funds” link in the "My Funds" section.
<br />Zip lenders will be able to see both their current Kiva Zip credit and their current Kiva.org credit by clicking on their My Zip page, when logged
<br />into their Kiva Zip account.
<br />Your Kiva Zip balance will not appear in your “My Kiva” page on the Kiva.org website, but you will be able to see when you have transferred
<br />money to and from your Kiva Zip account.
<br />Can my loans count towards my Kiva lending team?
<br />Unfortunately, it is not possible for your Kiva Zip loans to count towards your Kiva lending team at this stage, although we are looking to build
<br />that functionality in the future.
<br />How are repayment rates calculated?
<br />Our repayment rates are currently displayed (1) at the level of individual trustees, (2) at the country level (i.e. Kenya and the United States), and
<br />(3) at the overall level.
<br />For (1) the individual trustee and (2) the country level repayment rates, the calculation is the same. We take "the total amount of money
<br />collected from borrowers" at a given time, and divide it by "the total amount of money due from borrowers" at a given time.
<br />The one caveat is that if a borrower has paid us money in advance of when it was due, we do not count it as "collected from the borrower" until
<br />that payment becomes due. We do still return this money to lenders as soon as we receive it, but we do not yet include it in our repayment rate
<br />calculation.
<br />For example, if a trustee has 4 borrowers paying back loans of 12,000 Kenyan shillings over 12 weeks, every week each borrower would owe
<br />1,000 Kenyan shillings. Let's say that after 8 weeks, 2 of the borrowers are paying ontime, 1 borrower made the first 4 repayments but then fell
<br />behind and has not made a payment since, and 1 borrower has paid back his entire loan early. The total amount collected from borrowers would
<br />be calculated as:
<br />8,000 Kenyan shillings from each of the 2 borrowers who are paying ontime
<br />4,000 Kenyan shillings from the delinquent borrower
<br />8,000 Kenyan shillings from the borrower that has paid back his entire loan early
<br />So the total collected from borrowers would be 28,000 Kenyan shillings.
<br />The total amount due from borrowers would be 32,000 Kenyan shillings (8,000 multipled by 4), and so the repayment rate would be calculated
<br />as 87.5%.
<br />For (3) the repayment rate at the overall level (i.e. both Kenya and the United States), we use the same approach, but we have to weight the
<br />repayment rate of Kenyan loans, to enable us to arrive at an overall repayment rate in US dollars. For each Kenyan loan, we use the exchange
<br />rate at the moment the loan begins fundraising.
<br />Please note that these three repayment rate calculations do NOT account for foreign exchange gains or losses. They are purely based on how
<br />much borrowers are obliged to repay, and how much borrowers actually repay. Hence, it could be possible for a lender to make a $5 loan to a
<br />Kenyan borrower, and get less than $5 back, even though the repayment rate is shown on the website as 100%, because of a movement in the
<br />price of the Kenyan shilling against the US dollar.
<br />We only begin to show repayment rates for individual trustees when they have enough data to display. For displaying the repayment rate data
<br />on loans that are currently paying back, our definition of "enough" is that they have at least three loans that are paying back, and that at least
<br />one loan is paying back ontime. In order for us to display the repayment rate data on loans that are ended, the trustee must have at least three
<br />loans that have ended, one of which must not have defaulted. (To understand why we hide repayment information at the trustee level where
<br />there is not "enough" data, please see the separate FAQ entitled "Why is the paying back status of loans obscured once they are fully funded?"
<br />below).
<br />Why is the paying back status of loans obscured once they are fully funded?
<br />Currently, we do not display the paying back status of loans on the Kiva Zip website, after they are fully funded -- unless you are a lender to that
<br />loan (or you are the borrower or trustee). Similarly, we do not show the repayment rate at the individual trustee level, until we have "enough"
<br />repayment data to do so (for a definition of "enough", please see the separate FAQ entitled "How are repayment rates calculated?" above).
<br />This decision was driven by a tension that we face on Kiva Zip -- that is, how much and what kinds of information about borrowers could and
<br />should we share publicly, without sacrificing borrowers' privacy. While we are experimenting with many different techniques to ensure
|