24Jan Cool Money Things.

I found a few things really interesting in PopularScience this month. They were links at the bottom of an article.

1. http://www.kiva.org – it is a site where you can make micro loans ($25 or more) to people in developing countries. You dont earn interest or any money, but you are weighing a tiny bit of your money and some risk against making someones life a bit better across the world. Overhead is low – Kiva.org works off of donations and the borrower pays a low interest compared to what they would need to pay on the street for the same loan.

2. http://prosper.com – similar idea, but not for developing countries and for a profit. People in the US and elsewhere can signup here to get a loan from you to pay off debt, remodel their home etc. You make a loan of $100 or whatever at an interest rate and if yours is part of the lowest pool to add up to the request amount – you get a portion of the loan. You can even just sign up to be part of a loan fund of sorts so you dont have to pick your own borrowers to lend to.

Neat stuff. I think we are going to have our daughter lend money to kiva.org and we will match her contribution. When the loan is repaid she can keep our contribution and she puts hers back into savings (or loans again!)