Kiva Reviews

I love making loans to KIVA. As a senior living on a pension, I do not have a lot of "disposable" income. The fact that I can loan as little as $25.00 and be part of a group who has helped a desperate person/family to start a business, maintain a current business, put a sanitary toilet in their home instead of an outhouse, pay for uniforms for their children so they can attend school, in some of the most desperately poor regions of the world, makes me feel like I CAN have some impact. $25.00 wouldn't make me bankrupt but it also wouldn't make me a millionaire if I held onto it. Those of us who were born in and grew up in the Western world have never had the hardships that these people have.

Date of experience: July 03, 2024

The ability to help a lot or a little with feeling like I’m a part of someone journey and making a difference is what I love about Kiva. Paying it forward with Kivas help.

Date of experience: July 02, 2024

We have been involved with Kiva for over 10 years now and what I love about it is that by depositing money with Kiva you are helping people who want to help themselves. I also like that you can direct your funds to borrowers whose values match your own and that as you are repaid you can relend the funds, over and over!

Date of experience: June 18, 2024

This is such an ethical organization and what's great is that what you contribute is in the form of a loan so when it's repaid, you're able to offer that amount to another person. This is such a wonderful organization. If you want to do good in the world, I'd highly recommend you go to Kiva.

Date of experience: June 15, 2024

I saw an advert for Kiva on Black Friday , previously I didn't know it existed. I give to charity on a regular basis and I thought that my gift would just be another donation . I was stunned when the borrower started to pay me back. Which meant that I could re lend the same money over and over and help even more people.So I am helping people to help themselves!

Date of experience: June 15, 2024

I started making microloans with Kiva in 2017. I've made 408 loans totaling $10,500. My losses have been just under $400. Each month I just relent what has been repaid to me. So I keep re-lending the same money over and over. You get to pick who you want to help. And my case I want to help women who in many cultures are marginalized and cannot get loans. This is just been a .

Date of experience: June 20, 2024

Kiva makes it very easy to impact the lives of meant people directly. The website is very easy to use. Over more than 12 years, I've never been mislead out had any technical or financial issues.

Date of experience: June 15, 2024

It’s easy to check out people you’d like to lend to, plus you get updates on how your donation is being used.

Date of experience: March 26, 2024

This organization helps to make a real difference in the world. They vet the people and projects that they fund, so one can be confident that funds are being put to good use.

Date of experience: June 15, 2024

You can loan small amount of money that can change the life of many people around the world. After a while, when you start receiving money back, it will cost you nothing to continue lending. It's great!!!

Date of experience: June 15, 2024

Finding suitable borrowers to match my interests was fast and easy. $25 as the basic loan is the right amount - not too much for me to be reluctant to risk losing , and enough to quickly add up with other lenders’ loans to reach the borrower’s goal. This kind of person to person loan really helps people to help themselves.

Date of experience: February 14, 2024

Kiva is a fantastic opportunity to help others around the world achieve their dreams. I can add my contribution to a loan financed by other supporters. The loans are made to individuals who would otherwise struggle to get the financial support they need for a project, business, improved lifestyle, etc. Best of all, once the loan is repaid, I reinvest the money by supporting another loan applicant. The Kiva website makes the whole process seamless, from choosing a loan to contributing to reinvesting as loans are paid off.

Date of experience: May 21, 2024

It is fun and rewarding to continue to loan the money to people who are making a better life.

Date of experience: June 15, 2024

I like donating here as I can pick individuals/groups of interest to me in many 3rd world countries. The money comes back to you as the loans are repaid and I add some more funds and relend. the personal involvement really feels like I'm doing more good than many other charities I donate too.

Date of experience: April 11, 2024

Kiva is a great way to help people help themselves and their communities. I think it's much better to lend people money so they can be self-sufficient long term rather than simply providing charity. I've been with Kiva for many years and whenever loans are paid back by people I reinvest the credit into new loans. So although I started off lending just $25 I have managed to lend a total of $1750 over 9 years!

Date of experience: April 09, 2024

We started making micro loans through KIVA about 10 years ago with family gift at Christmas. Over the years, the decision to re-lend the loan payments into new micro loans has fallen to me and I enjoy reviewing the loan applicants and choosing which loans to fund. KIVA does a great job in a challenging world. The website is easy to use. KIVA requests a small administrative fee for every loan to help with operating expenses but it’s well deserved. I like KIVA because it is giving people a hand up instead of a hand out. I am also amazed at how long our initial investment continues to recirculate into new micro loans.

Date of experience: April 11, 2024

I recieved 25$ in kiva credit as a gift over 12 years ago for Christmas and it is the best gift I ever recieved. I've loaned out this same small sum 16 times now and no one has ever defaulted. I once lost 1.60 to an exchange rate. I've never found anything as rewarding as helping people. It brings me infinite joy to microloan money to other impoverished people.

Date of experience: December 25, 2023

The steam room smelt and tasted like mould.
The cleanliness was pretty low, there was mould everywhere and no one showered in between sauna and cold pool etc.

Also, people did leave at the end of their hour session, so there were a lot of people in the sauna, it was over crowded.

I’ve been multiple times, and it’s often like this.

It could be so awesome, they just need to clean it to a much higher standard more regularly, and maintain a better time management system.

Date of experience: April 17, 2024

I've been a KIVA lender for a number of years, and with a very very reasonable default rate. Small amounts for the average person can make a world of difference for many. I'll keep on sharing within my possibilities and making my small contribution to help drive positive change if only in a few people's lifes.

Date of experience: April 11, 2024

Kiva is a brilliant model for helping people. A small donation opens an opportunity for someone trying to survive and give their talents to the world. Several years ago my son gifted me $75 on kiva. That gift has been repaid and regifted many times, so by now I've been able to help quite a number of people. It's a very rewarding system

Date of experience: March 18, 2024