Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

June 9, 2020 - COVID-19 Update:

Kiva has been in contact with FUNDAPEC to understand how we can best support their business and borrowers during the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of all staff, borrowers and their families as this global pandemic continues.

While country-specific responses to the crisis vary, most governments have imposed curfews, travel restrictions, and nation-wide shutdowns. The Dominican Republic has imposed temporary moratoriums on loan payments, affecting not only microfinance, but the economy as a whole. 

As a result, borrowers and FUNDAPEC may experience difficulty making and collecting loan repayments due to the aforementioned restrictions or fallout effects of the virus. Over the coming months, it’s possible that lenders will see a delay in repayments and new loans posted by FUNDAPEC. As an impact-first funder, Kiva is committed to serving our Lending Partners, as in past crises. We are sympathetic to temporary increases in repayment delays and delinquency in order to help Lending Partners and borrower communities recover. 

Kiva is working closely with FUNDAPEC to support them and their borrowers through the COVID-19 crisis. FUNDAPEC is sending regular updates to Kiva, and we'll update Partner Pages as we learn more. 

On behalf of Kiva and FUNDAPEC, we’re grateful for your continued support through this difficult time. 

Partner Description:

FUNDAPEC is a student lending organization headquartered in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Founded in 1967 as the funding arm of Action for Education and Culture, its vision is to broaden access to education for all Dominicans. FUNDAPEC began by focusing on specific technical careers, but has expanded its scope to fund education for a wide variety of trades. To date, FUNDAPEC has lent to over 100,000 students to help them afford school.

A number of microfinance institutions and banks in the Dominican Republic offer “consumption” loans that can be used for educational purposes, but these loans have no grace periods and have much higher interest rates than FUNDAPEC’s student loan products. The only other option for students is to have their parents pay the full cost of tuition or to get grants, which are limited and difficult to obtain. More than 40% of Dominican families live under the poverty line. As the cost of technical and higher education is relatively high in the country, these families cannot afford to pay for tuition without some kind of financing.

Kiva lenders’ funds are used to help students in the Dominican Republic pay for their educations. These loans are post-disbursed, and will not be provided to students until they are fully funded by Kiva lenders. FUNDAPEC will fund the following education related needs: a) full tuition plus living expenses including transportation costs, as well as school-related expenses including books and laptop computers; b) partial tuition plus living and school-related expenses; c) living and school-related expenses (excluding tuition fees).

A unique lending approach:

The organization offers eight different loan products. These include loans for high school studies, degrees in technical fields, masters and doctoral degrees, masters for business executives, continuing education and more. Additionally, FUNDAPEC covers other education expenses, including the purchase of laptops, transportation, etc.

FUNDAPEC does not sign formal contracts with any partner universities. Because the organization has existed for so long and has garnered such a positive reputation in the country, this formality is unnecessary. Today, FUNDAPEC works with almost every university in the country -- a huge achievement for this type of organization.

This enables students to attend school wherever they want, and FUNDAPEC will disburse the loan funds directly to the school each semester, aggregating tuition costs for all of the students choosing to enroll for the term. Loans for equipment or transportation are disbursed directly to the students themselves.

The education loans administered by FUNDAPEC can have loan terms of up to 12 years, which includes a grace period of up to 5 years. The grace period includes the time during which the student is enrolled at university. During the grace period, the borrower is not required to make any repayments, and lenders will not receive any repayments.