Q - Is this a charity?

A - No. Participating in micro-finance lending is not charity. You are lending funds to specific applicants that you choose on the condition that you will be repaid just like any other lending institution. For more about micro-finance lending, please see About Microfinance.

Q - Who or what is Kiva?
A - From the Kiva.org About page, "We Let You Lend to the Working Poor. Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world." For more, please see What Is Kiva?

Q - Who or what is TrueChange.net?
A - TrueChange.net is a Kiva.org-based micro-lending team. From the Kiva.org Community page, "One of the most powerful things about Kiva is our community of lenders. You now have the option to connect with other lenders and make an impact as a team." For more, please see www.kiva.org/community and click How do Lending Teams Work?.

Also, please see the TrueChange.net team page at Kiva.org.

Q - Does Kiva.org take a cut, or a percentage of the loan amounts or repayments?
A - No. Kiva does not retain any fees or funds. Kiva is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Kiva.org accepts donations outside of loan transactions to support their operations.

Q - Does TrueChange.net take a cut, or a percentage of the loan amounts or repayments?
A - No. TrueChange.net does not retain any fees or funds. We are simply a team of lenders. Loan processing and repayments are done through the Kiva website. Also, TrueChange.net does not have access to team members' Kiva accounts, other than what is publicly available on the Kiva.org web site.

Q - How does TrueChange.net get paid?
A - TrueChange.net is also a donation-based, volunteer effort on the part of LinkSky Value Host inc. It is our goal that TrueChange.net represent web masters, web hosting service providers and website owners in the micro-lending community. Our company site is LinkSky.com. For more information please see the About Us page on this site.

Q - Will I receive interest on the money that I lend?
A - No. The interest and other loan fees are set and retained by the MFI (Micro Finance Institution) or Field Partner that Kiva designates as their local representative.

Q - Are the interest rates set by the MFI or Field Partner very high?
A - No. The interest rates changed by Kiva's MFIs or Field Partners tend to be far below the normal rate charged by other, larger lending institutions. Among the goals of micro-lending are to provide small "seed" loans to hard working entrepreneurs who may have a difficult time qualifying for a loan from a more traditional lending institution, and also to provide loans which are at market rate or lower. For more information please see www.kiva.org/about/microfinance/

Q - How long does it take for a loan to be repaid?
A - Typically 6 to 12 months, during which time you'll receive periodic updates showing the impact of your loan.

Q - What can I do with the funds once they are repaid?
A - You have three choices:

--- You can re-lend the funds to another applicant.

--- You can withdraw the funds.

--- You can donate the funds to Kiva.org

Donations to Kiva.org, or TrueChange.net are always optional. Donations to Kiva.org or tax deductible. Donations to TrueChange.net are not.

Q - What if my loan is not repaid?
A - If the loan is not repaid, your principle is lost without recourse of any kind. For this reason, Kiva recommends lending smaller amounts to more loan applicants, rather than larger amounts to a few.

Q - What is the degree of risk?
A - The current default rate is 2% which is far below the average of other forms of institutional lending.

Q - Why do some borrowers default on their loans? Does this mean that they have scammed the system?
A - "Scammers" are extremely rare in within the Kiva network, so rare as to be nearly non-existent. In some cases, the borrower dies. Sometimes a natural disaster such as a flood or earthquake has made it impossible to repay the loan. After doing in-depth research into Kiva and their field partners, we concur that their loan applicants are very solid individuals who deeply appreciate the chance to excel in their chosen livelihood. Many were unable to find opportunity like this before due to lack of collateral or their social standing in their community (e.g. a single mother with children is a strong negative to larger financial institutions in many developing countries). Borrowers generally intend to pay back the loan on-time (or ahead of time) in order to retain good credit for future financial needs.

Q - What can I do to reduce or mitigate risk?
A - When evaluating a loan applicant click the "more" link and then review the Field Partner (MFI) rating. The stars assigned indicate the level of risk associated with that particular Field Partner.

Q - Most Field Partners are rated very high, but a few are risk rated with just one or two stars. Why is this?
A - It can be an indication that the Field Partner is just starting out with a very short track record and has yet to accumulate the higher ratings of a Field Partner that has been field tested and proven reliable for a longer period of time.

Q - Can just anyone in a developing country be a Field Partner?
A - No. There are strict requirements. For the detail please see Information for Prospective Field Partners.

Q - What are the benefits of my participation as a micro-finance lender?
A -  To list just four of the many benefits:

   1. For little or no cost to you/and or your business, you receive the opportunity to have a direct impact in helping impoverished and developing communities raise their standard of living and to help put an end to poverty.
   2. Your participation can give your on-line venture and/or your livelihood a more "purpose driven" existence. This point is NOT to be missed nor taking lightly!  Individuals, small businesses and very large corporations alike have found that a purpose driven approach has put new focus and new energy into every activity. If undertaken with honestly and transparency, the purpose driven approach can be the trust-inspiring, team-uniting keys to your success.
   3. By becoming a TrueChange.net team member in the Kiva.org micro-lending network, you are joining with like minds of web site owners, developers and users who KNOW person-to-person and business-to-business networking. It is not an over-statement to say that together we can take measurable steps to help alleviate poverty.
   4. TrueChange team members enjoy several additional benefits, for example: Access to our on-line think-tank forum. You will be able to publish your own related articles and participate in our RSS feed network. And you will have access to free products, free services and discounts to help your own business or personal on-line venture thrive. For those with web sites, (or facebook pages, etc.) you will also receive a link that will put a really cool button or small banner on your page inviting others to join TrueChange.net. This is not required, but it is one a great way to help get the word out.

Q - How much does it cost to sign up?
A - Signing up to Kiva.org as a new lender and as a TrueChange team member is free. Once enrolled, you may select the entrepreneur or set of entrepreneurs to lend to at the kiva.org web site. The minimum loan amount is $25.

Again, it costs nothing to sign up as a TrueChange team member. Simply choose to join the TrueChange micro-lending team before making your first loan. We will follow up with membership access info to the TrueChange.net site where you will receive access to buttons and banners, free and discounted products and services, access to the TrueChange ThinkTank forum, access to the free TrueChange RSS feed service (for the promotion of your business or for your micro-financing efforts), etc.

Q - Great! I'm ready to join your team. Where do I go?
A - This is the easy part: Just go to this member sign-up page at kiva.org and complete a short Kiva member form you will find there. When you select your first loan applicant/entrepreneur, BE SURE to select TrueChange.net as your team member group before making your loan. In doing so you will be telling the world that NOW is the time for "True Change," and you will qualify for all of the additional benefits here at a TrueChange.net.