While there is plenty of room for doubt about micro-lending (see [1] which I hosted, by Hugh Sinclair, a guy who's actually been there in the field), I don't th

While there is plenty of room for doubt about micro-lending (see [1] which I hosted, by Hugh Sinclair, a guy who's actually been there in the field), I don't think it's fair to call these scams "micro-lending." Maybe they're taking advantage of the favorite PR that micro-loans get. In the micro-lending plans that Oxfam and other legit charities back, borrowers meet in person with the lenders, and no hounding takes place. Most of them pay their loans back promptly. However, the stories about "poor woman buys a sewing machine; lifts her family out of poverty" are mostly just feel-good PR to milk the donors. More often, they buy a stall in the market to sell produce, and there's only so many stalls the market can support. The real scandal of micro-lending, as Hugh explains, is that the interest rates are scandalously high, and the lenders are mostly using it as a way to buy SUVs and milk the First World donors who want to feel good. These scams are not "micro-lending." [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhdZ2RfmiXo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhdZ2RfmiXo