David    Apr 7, 2014

so as for my business is doing very well and as i have seen the profit is high i want to pay the amount above so as to shorten the payment period..............................................................
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gwells    Sep 22, 2013

Joao, Bavarian,

Hope you're proud of yourself, you appear to have done the same on another loan I am on.

Just wanted you to know that there is almost $2000 now being withdrawn from Zidisha and another $20000 that won't be invested this year and similar amounts in subsequent years. Hope you are pleased with your actions and feel satisfied that small business and their owners in Kenya, Senegal and other countries will not be receiving these funds because of you being assholes.

So you can feel so great about yourself every time you put your $10/$25 on a loan. Well done for a couple of timeswastng idiots

David - no worries if you don't pay back mate, these two scumbags deserve to lose their money

gwells    Sep 22, 2013

Hey Joao, send a cheque to Berlin for the bailout - pay your own debits first eh, you'll probably be posting on here yourself soon - dick

gwells    Sep 22, 2013

Dear David Kimosop,

I apologize to you but I have found it necessary to request a refund of the offered loan amount, please could you not accept my bids while a refund from Zidisha is processed. I am sure your loan will be quickly filled by other lenders. I wish you good luck in your business.

Greg

scgtb    Sep 22, 2013

Hi gwells,

I too was outbid on this loan, but I don't get discouraged by that. Zidisha's system is setup deliberately to give each borrower the best deal possible, based upon the many factors of their loan. Many lenders have their own criteria for when and how much they will loan, so the more attractive the borrower's loan proposal is overall, the lower interest rate they can achieve. There are many ways that a borrower can make their loan more attractive, such as a clear and compelling explanation of why they need the loan and what they intend to do with it, shorter repayment period, or higher interest rate.

To me, a borrower who does not fund their loan immediately when it hits 100% but instead waits a few days to see what will happen to the interest rate is a more astute businessperson, and that makes them more likely to succeed and also to repay the loan. So kudos to the borrower who can get a better deal for themselves, and I can take my outbid funds and fund another loan with them in short order.

Regards,

Mike

• gwells    Sep 22, 2013

  Hi scgtb,
  
  I agree that if a loan funds quickly then of course may be in the borrower's interest, given the system, to get as low an interest rate as possible (assuming he/she doesn't want to start making a profit sooner by getting the money asap). However as a lender my funds now have to be converted, at a cost, back to my own currency as well as having been sat there doing nothing.
  
  By posting a loan for x% a borrower is saying something along the lines of 'I believe x% is a loan rate I can take that beats anything else on offer and use to make a profit in my business without causing myself hardship'. So, once a loan is fully funded, I think it should be accepted and certainly not undercut by other lenders. This 'overfunding' is a different situation to a borrower turning down an offer on non-fully funded loans in the expectation of a better subsequent offer.
  
  If certain lenders believe that saving one borrower less than 1% on $25 (under 25 cents) is worth other small businesses not getting thousands of dollars worth of investment in future then each can make his own decision.
  
  Btw I'm not concerned with the second undercut, feel free to make another, it will help me to withdraw my money from this loan.

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  • scgtb    Sep 22, 2013

    Hello again,
    
    In the end, this process gets the lender the best deal possible. What's wrong with that? So your money sat for a week or so, and is now refunded to you. I don't see why you would have to convert it back into your local currency; why not just find another borrower to loan to? That's what I do, and then there are no further conversion costs and you can benefit someone else instead. Are you really concerned with the interest you lost on the one week your money was tied up in the bid?
    
    At any given time, I generally have over 500.00 tied up in pending bids to various borrowers. i just login regularly and re-lend whatever ends up coming back to me. Aside from the fact that we're here to help the less fortunate and not to profiteer, I think the process is fair to lenders and borrowers; we are both more in control of the process here than on other microfinance sites that I've used.
    
    Regards,
    
    Mike

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    • gwells    Sep 22, 2013

      The amount isn't of concern, especially as it's quite small, and banks don't typically don't pay interest on current account balances. What I don't like is being asked to help someone then when I do someone else comes along and is like 'hey I can do it a few cents cheaper [insert expletive] u taking the time to help this guy out'. It leaves a bad taste and I don't like it.
      
      I'm on a larger microfinance site and I was (past tense) also planning to move funds over from there simply so that the real value of funds could be maintained over time to do more. However at least there lenders work together to help borrowers instead of stabbing one another in the back. I respect that you may not feel the same way, but it's the feeling I get and given Zidisha's membership numbers I wouldn't be surprised if others did too.

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gwells    Sep 22, 2013

To lender JoaoFerraz, what's going on? The loan is already bidded to 100% and you still bid. After people transfer money to Zidisha they then get refunded cos you've come in and underbid. Presumably the borrower is happy at 8%, way below going through a bank or MFI, and so are lenders who have offered at this rate. It's a fair price given the risks, currency conversion and paypal fees that we have to incur. I've just started on Zidisha and I can see why there aren't many loans/lenders compared to similar sites.

All timewasting actions like these do is put off other lenders, making it harder for borrowers to fund loans in future. I've no problem to withdraw the refund amount as you seem so keen to find. Consider that you could have helped another borrower with your funds, instead you've lost Zidisha a lender; damaging, not helping, small businesses in Africa.

Mr Kimsop, regardless of this good luck to you.