- Hannah, owner of Foster's Refillery
📆 When? Unless otherwise specified in your borrower contract, your first repayment to your lenders will be due exactly one month after you receive your funds.
Where? All payments are made via PayPal. A few days before each of your payments is due, you’ll receive an email from Kiva with a link to make the payment. (You'll let us know which PayPal account.)
How?
🖥️ In order to make a payment IN your Kiva Borrower Dashboard:
1. Log into your Kiva Account 2. Click on “Make repayment” or “Pay now” 3. Make sure to log into your PayPal account (do not checkout as a guest) 4. Choose your payment method and then click “Send payment now”
📱In order to make a payment OUTSIDE of your Kiva Borrower Dashboard:
1. Go to www.paypal.me/kivaus 2. Enter the desired payment amount 3. Make sure you are logged into your PayPal account when sending any payment to Kiva
Kiva-recommended best practice: To avoid having to do the above steps every month, we encourage you to set up automatic repayments!
Yes. Why's that?
•PayPal helps Kiva stay true to its mission of financial inclusion and transparency. From its very first loans in 2005, Kiva has used PayPal as its exclusive online payments processor – helping to unlock funding for entrepreneurs who wouldn’t otherwise have access to affordable capital.
• Kiva’s relationship with PayPal started even before the nonprofit’s launch. Premal Shah, Kiva’s cofounder and president, was a Product Manager at PayPal when the concept for Kiva began percolating. Working with Kiva’s other cofounders, Shah helped foster PayPal’s commitment to the fledgling organization: to process every loan made through Kiva without charging any transaction fees.
--- Payment methods currently NOT accepted by Kiva include, but are not limited to:
• Dollar bills or coins • Checks • Wire transfers • Money orders • Any other money transferring system, e.g., Venmo, Google Wallet, Apple Pay, Skrill, Intuit, Facebook payments
To set up a PayPal account, navigate here and click the “Sign up” button.
You'll need to link your PayPal account to either a: • bank account, • debit card, or • credit card.
⚠️ We highly suggest that you do not link your PayPal to a credit or debit card. Though PayPal is generally free, the site will charge you for every transaction through a card. ✔️ Instead, go with the simple and free option: link your PayPal account to your bank account.
Remember that you'll need to confirm your email and your bank account to make sure they are connected correctly to PayPal. *Until this is done, the funds will not transfer from your PayPal —> your bank account.
1️⃣ How to verify your email address on PayPal 2️⃣ How to confirm your bank account on PayPal
Please note that, because of the payment product Kiva U.S. uses for PayPal disbursals, all payments are hard-coded / labeled as "goods and services" and cannot be altered. In the meantime, you will receive notifications to provide your tax ID. If you haven't already, you will need to provide your tax ID to avoid any account and disbursal disruption (you may have already provided your tax information when/if you created a business PayPal account). *We strongly suggest that the PayPal account you provide to Kiva is a Business PayPal account. Here are the instructions on how to upgrade to a business account: 1. Log in to your PayPal account. 2. Click the Settings icon near the top right corner of the page. 3. Click Upgrade to a Business account under "Account options". 4. Follow the instructions on the screen. *Please reach out to borrowers@kiva.org if you need additional assistance with your loan disbursal, PayPal account, or PayPal's tax policy.
Navigate to your PayPal account's transfer page here and send the repayment amount to “PayPalzip@Kiva.org” 🖥️ (link: paypal.me/kivaus).
It’s as easy as that!
The funds are processed and settled to your lenders' accounts within 1-2 business days.
Note: Alternatively, as your Kiva account should be connected to PayPal, as well, you may make repayments to your lenders via your Kiva Borrower Dashboard (http://kiva.org/my/borrower).
📲 You can sign up for a call with a Kiva team member to talk in real time. The link for the call sign-up is located in various/recurring emails you receive regularly from Kiva.
📧 Reach us at borrowers@kiva.org: our team will be happy to send you information about your loan balance and potentially alternative repayment plans or arrangements, should you qualify at the time of outreach.
💬 You can leave a voicemail at (415) 632-1938 with your name, business name, and brief summary as to why you're reaching out. Our team will reply to your questions/concerns within 5 business days of receiving your voicemail.
Setting up auto-repayments is Kiva's recommended best practice for staying on track to repaying your lenders and keeping your loan out of delinquency status.
Auto-repayments are also meant to make your life easier: with auto-repayments activated, you will not have to log in to make a payment; instead, the repayment will go automatically from your PayPal --> to your lenders on your monthly repayment due date.
For that reason, it's important to ensure that the following are true*:
✔️ Your PayPal account has sufficient funds on your payment due date. ✔️ There are no flags on your PayPal account. ✔️ Your PayPal billing agreement is active.
*Auto-repayments may be deactivated by the system if one or more of the above is not true. Once you resolve the flag(s), you may reactivate your auto-repayments at any time right in your Kiva Borrower Dashboard / via this link: https://www.kiva.org/my/borrower/auto-repayments
Step-by-step written as well as video guidance below for activating auto-repayments for repaying your Kiva loan:
1. Log in to your Kiva account. 2. Select the Borrower Dashboard tab (top menu). 3. Click Automatic repayments (left menu). 4. Click the button that says "PayPal Checkout". 5. Sign in with your PayPal info and click "Agree & continue". 6. Done! You should see a message that says "Your next payment of $____ will be automatically repaid on ______."
🎥 Visual learner? We get it! Watch this 1-min. video to learn how to activate auto-repayments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSoGiJ6WcxY
We recommend signing up as soon as you’ve connected your bank account to your PayPal account. Most Kiva borrowers will set auto-repayments up once they’ve fully funded their loan. We recommend using your bank account as your preferred payment method - not your credit or debit card - to avoid exorbitant credit card fees.
Nope! Sign up for automatic repayments, and we’ll do the rest for you. There will be no need for you to manually make a repayment for that particular month's amount due.
Once automatic repayments are enabled, the system will attempt to withdraw the necessary funds from your PayPal account the day your (monthly) payment is due.
If "successful" (i.e., there were sufficient funds in your connected PayPal account, there are no flags on your PayPal account, etc.), the repayment will then be processed and reflected on your repayment history, and settled to your lenders within 1 business day.
(📧 Your lenders are notified via email each and every time you make a repayment.)
Yes, you may. PayPal will only attempt to bill you the amount outstanding according to your original repayment schedule ($____ on the _____ day of each month; you can find this on your original Kiva borrower contract).
If you pay manually ahead of time, PayPal will not bill you until there is an amount due on a given monthly due date.
At this time, auto-payments can only be made once a month per your repayment schedule. If you are interested in making payments more often, please let us know at borrowers@kiva.org, as we may offer this feature in the future.
For now, if you would like to make additional repayments during a particular month (e.g., the automatic repayment + other payments), you may do so manually via one of these links:
This happens sometimes. Why? One or more of the following may have been true on your repayment due date:
• Your provided PayPal account did not have sufficient funds. • There was a flag on your PayPal account. • Your PayPal billing agreement was not active. • There was a previous transaction that was reversed or refunded.
We encourage you to look into this right away to ensure your loan does not become delinquent due to past-due repayments to your lenders.
🔎 Once you identify what may have caused the pause, you may reactivate right in your Kiva Borrower Dashboard / via this link: https://www.kiva.org/my/borrower/auto-repayments
If Kiva is unable to process your payment on the first attempt, the system will pause your automatic repayments. Your backup card will not be charged. (Any possible incurred fees are at the discretion of your bank.)
If your automatic repayment did not go through successfully, you will need to make the repayment manually in your Kiva Borrower Dashboard in order to get back on track and make up for the missed (automatic) repayment.
Yes! 📧 Kiva will notify you via a no-action-needed email a few days in advance of the automatic repayment, and you will also receive an email reminder on the actual repayment due date.
^ Not necessarily.
Kiva is able offer time-saving automatic repayments through PayPal, and one of PayPal's requirements is that you have a credit OR debit card OR ACH to enable automatic repayments as a backup in case there aren’t funds in your bank account or PayPal account on a monthly repayment due date.
Yes, you may.
Via your Kiva Borrower Dashboard, you can pause/restart automatic loan repayments at any time.
Our team will always be available to help you through this process – contact us at borrowers@kiva.org with questions you may have about this process.
No – we strongly discourage using a credit card as your primary payment method for Automatic Repayments through PayPal.
Why? • Your Kiva loan has 0% interest, but credit cards have high interest rates. • Additionally, PayPal will charge you a fee for using your credit card.
✅ Instead, you should use your bank account to make payments. This way, you’ll avoid paying interest on a credit card.
Yes!
We understand that you may be experiencing difficulties with your PayPal –
Should you have a friend / family member in mind who could make a payment on your behalf (here: paypal.me/kivaus), 📨 please send the name of that individual + their PayPal email to us at borrowers@kiva.org.
For all loans except loans that go to agriculture businesses, the first repayment due date is exactly one month after you receive your Kiva loan.
We understand that there may be a more favorable day of the month for these payments to be made to your lenders, and we're here to work with you to define a repayment schedule that works best for you and your business.
To request an updated monthly due date for your Kiva loan, please reach out to borrowers@kiva.org.
If for any reason your monthly repayment to your lenders is going to be made late, it’s most important that you notify the Kiva team.
We also encourage you to let your lenders know, as well – as they believed in your business and story and therefore contributed funds to your loan, it’s important that you keep them updated on the highs and lows of running your business through the Conversations tab in your Kiva Borrower Dashboard.
Maintaining contact with the Kiva team about late repayments helps you maintain good standing with Kiva and your lenders, and good standing means the ability to access larger forms of capital for your business in the future!
Share your circumstances with Kiva via... 📧 Email: borrowers@kiva.org ☎️ Voicemail: 415-632-1938
Yes – your loan profile on Kiva.org will appear as "paying back delinquent", and your lenders will also be notified via email that your loan is delinquent.
This is due to the transparency we seek to facilitate between Kiva borrowers and lenders. Lenders often want to "recycle" their contributions – in other words, when you repay them, they often lend those same funds to other entrepreneurs and small business owners crowdfunding loans on Kiva.org.
Lenders are understanding, and they'll appreciate an update from you, should you feel comfortable sharing one, in which you let them know how your business is doing and what your plan to continue repaying looks like.
Once your loan is defaulted:
• You and your Kiva lender community will receive email notification of the defaulted loan. • Your lenders will assume the remaining balance of your loan as a loss as soon as the loan defaults. • You will no longer be able to communicate with your lenders. • You will no longer be eligible for community-backed 0%-interest, zero-fee capital from Kiva.
*You may continue repaying your loan post-default, and once you fully repay the remaining balance, you will automatically be eligible for another Kiva loan that is twice the size of your previous loan (max. loan size $15,000).
✅ Yes. We understand these are trying times, and at Kiva, we believe in second chances.
Those who've had their loans end in default may continue repaying the remaining balance and get the loan back to "good standing" by fully repaying at a pace that works for them. Borrowers with a defaulted loan make payments the same way they did prior to the loan's default: either in the Kiva Borrower Dashboard here or via this link.
Once fully repaid, these borrowers are automatically eligible for another Kiva loan that is 2️⃣ times the size of their previous Kiva loan (max. $15,000), should they be interested in another Kiva loan.
Yes: repayments on "Defaulted" status loans go back to lenders' Kiva accounts the same way they do for regular repayments on non-defaulted (a.k.a., "Paying Back" loans.
You celebrate! 🎉 You did it!
And as long as at least 6 months have passed since you received that last Kiva loan, you will now be eligible to apply for another Kiva loan. The great news? As a repeat borrower, you automatically pre-qualify for a Kiva loan is 2x the size of your last Kiva loan (max. $15,000)!