Kiva is a philanthropic microlending organization that lets you give small loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world. In reading about it, I fell in love with this idea. Basically, you can lend (or you can donate) money to businesses (micro-business) in a developing nation. Read their about page for more information.

All of the loans so far have been with businesses in Uganda and in the amount of $500 (there are a few $300 loans) but currently there are ZERO businesses in need of funding! Well, if they find some more businesses in need, I hope to lend $100 and look forward to my new life as a venture capitalist.

Update: John has responded to my email and told me that it was all an academic experiment. He’s going to look into putting in a link to my site after the content, to give me attribution, but until he figures it out he’s going to remove my content.

This site is ripping off my content by republishing my Feedburner feed.

What can I do? (Below is some info…)

Registrant:
John Fuery
PO Box 891
San Ramon, CA 94583
US

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Specialty Consumer Reports are to you what what credit reports are to your credit worthiness. In a front page featured article, Bankrate-writer Amy Crane discusses what these things are, what they’re used for, and how you can get a copy of your specialty consumer report. The level of detail in these specialty reports is staggering and it’s information you probably wouldn’t want to share with even your closest friends.

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Welcome to the lucky Seventh Carnival of Debt Reduction! I invite you to visit each of these bloggers, read the post highlighted by the Carnival and also read the other posts their site. They’ve put in a lot of hard work to provide all this great free information!

• “Reduce, Reduce, Reduce!” exclaims Jane Dough (cute!), author of Boston Gal’s Open Wallet. Read about the steps she is taking to reduce her fixed monthly expenses. Hopefully this is something we can all remember to do.
• Beware Credit Score Quick Fixes is Carnival veteran FMF’s contribution this week. Credit scores are a key part of debt and financial management — and don’t believe those “too-good-to-be-true” pitches from companies promising they can repair your credit in no time at all.
• No Credit Needed is sick to his stomach and he offers a post about paying attention to the details when getting out of debt and getting your financial house in order.
• The Valleys and Mountains of debt reduction is the topic of Dawn’s contribution this week. She reminds us that with anything in life there are setbacks just as often as there are breakthroughs and for you to not lose heart.
• Don’t want debt? Don’t create any. Jane of Boston Gal’s Open Wallet writes about how she fired up her oven and saved herself some money by cooking.
• Get Inspired! by these stories of success from CFO: Chief Family Officer. Motivation is critical when you’re working towards a difficult goal and Cathy does a great job of linking to a few inspirational stories.
• One way to reduce debt is learning how to spend your money wisely, Noah of OkDork has three suggestions on how to save some bucks at the movies.
• Revisit the 60% Solution Budget with Caitlin of Clutter2Cash, the key to paying yourself first is a simple two line budget.
• Pulling up the rear is MightyBargainHunter’s discussion of whether to Pay off the Mortgage or Invest. It’s a commentary on a Scott Burns’ article from MSN Money.

Thank you everyone for your contributions!

A month or so ago I read on Darren’s Problogger.net website about Chitika eMiniMalls and thought this new advertising company was showing some promise. Then, about a week and a half ago, FiveCentNickel asked me if I had joined yet to which I responded that I hadn’t. He suggested that I try it out because he’d been running it with considerable success, so, as I always do with his suggestions, I tried it out see how it would do.

Chitika has been a resounding success and the revenue these eMiniMalls generate is comparable to that of Google Adsense (and you can run them together).

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One of the most popular posts at FiveCentNickel’s blog is the one title “Piggybacking on Your Neighbor’s WiFi.” Just a few days ago someone brought up the point of legal responsibility of your network and it led me to do some research on the topic. According to most, if someone connected to your wireless network, performed an illegal act, the trail would lead directly to you. While you ultimately will be exonerated, if you are innocent, it is going to be a headache for you for a very very long time.

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Hahahahaha, if I sold this blog, my old comic books, and baseball cards, I could retire today and buy myself a nice cozy bungalow in Bermuda (Technically, I couldn’t because I’m not a native, but whatever). Heck, I’d would take an offer of even half of that “valuation!”

On a semi-related note, The Wealthy Blogger was sold a bunch of weeks ago for $2,000 and has since been abandoned. It’s sad, I like reading the personal finance writings of Jeremy and Mike. (Incidentally, The Wealthy Blogger has a valuation of $0.00)

Alright, so they’re all famous celebrities, but still… $186M for thirteen people on the wrong side of the dirt is not bad, they don’t even get paid to breathe. Forbes compiled the list and notes that trends have a huge effect on who makes it on the list and who doesn’t (Ray Charles made the list, pushed on by renewed interest after Jamie Foxx won an Oscar portraying the singer in Ray). Can you guess who tops the list? (Yeah, you’re right)

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Would you agree to pay 90% interest on a loan? Poor Toni apparently did, posing a scary question to Bankrate.com’s Steve Bucci. Apparently, Miss Tony borrowed $1200 and the lender is demanding $90/mo. in interest – or 90% annual simple interest (i.e. not compounding). The answer that Bucci gives is funny because he gives two of them after a few words of advice about borrowing money in general.

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What a load of crap. Looks like a lot of rich people got together with their rich lawyers to defraud the government (and us all) and now they’ll be able to settle up and pay only up to 50% of the regular penalty (depends on the shady transaction). Over four thousand people are going to get the benefit of the doubt and the schemes “range from complicated, risk-free offsetting currency transactions to products sold to small businesses involving health insurance plans. The transactions were marketed to wealthy individuals, large corporations and small business taxpayers.”

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