Kiva.org is an innovative website that uses the capability of the internet to create a community of microfinanciers helping entrepeneurs in emerging markets and third world countries. Lenders can loan out a minimum of 25 dollars to entrepeneurs to help them with their businesses. By doing this Kiva.org is a great example of free markets at work by matching lenders and borrowers. The only drawback I find is lenders do not earn interest on these loans. So the major driving force is the fact that lenders are helping empower entrepeneurs out of poverty while risking very little money.
Even though lenders do not directly earn interest they can still earn compensation in another way. Kiva.org uses paypal for transactions so you can use a credit card for funding a loan. The key is to use a credit card that offers cashback, miles, or points. If you have a rewards card such as the Citibank Cashrewards card then you can be earning up to 5% on your micro loans. I recently got this credit card which has a promotion of 5% cashback on all purchases for first three months. So all the recent micro loans I made will give me a 5% return and I am helping others out at the same time. So its a win-win situation.
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