It really is quite convincing. I used Kiva during one of their "Free $25 Loan" promos. Unfortunately, several months before "my" borrower was able to finish re

It really is quite convincing. I used Kiva during one of their "Free $25 Loan" promos. Unfortunately, several months before "my" borrower was able to finish repaying her loan, I received an E-mail saying that she had passed away. The thing is, Kiva still shows the final few months' repayment as having been received. This made me question the numbers that I was seeing; while it's definitely possible that her family paid everything off, I'm not sure that I trust them. I don't believe that anything malicious is going here, just misrepresentation. For this reason I'd much rather support the microfinance institutions themselves (even though Kiva doesn't take a cut).