Overview

Why are you interested in becoming a Trustee?

I believe that in a strictly peer-to-peer lending platform, there still needs to be a relatively logical and intelligent eye on the feasibility of a business idea, and the likelihood of repayment of loan. I believe this should be balanced with the entrepreneur's need for capital, as well as the social breadth of their venture. I feel like I'm a good candidate for this. I'm personally a staunch supporter of Kiva and have lent over 100K aggregate through your firm, but I also want to see repayment rates kept high while lowering the cost of money for lendees via the peer-to-peer platform. That's what I feel I would be good at balancing for Kiva Zip.

What is the mission of your organization?

Borrower Due Diligence

How will you decide who to endorse as a borrower? What due diligence will you conduct?

The most tried and true way to analyze a business would be to examine their business plan, their financials, and their projections (if they have these). If the business is a sole proprietor, I'd ask to perhaps see a personal credit report. I feel like the things that you commonly see asked for in The Lending Club (if you're familiar) is a pretty solid indicator of what a fledgling business should have put together. Of course, for a 5K loan, we may be speaking about a very initial business, and I don't think it necessarily a strike against them if they don't have full accounting and financials. I feel like here at least a credit check, and a phone or face-to-face conversation about the nature of the business and how they intend on capitalizing the business is important. I feel like the trustee needs to balance both the intent with the logical likelihood of repayment.