Thanks Professore Harper; I asked the same question but I believe MFT may be small and overloaded with work in the MF world - though would love to hear from them on this.
Also, as to Wonga and the 20 or more 'we buy gold,' pawn shops and payday lenders and check cashiers in my small US town of 50,000, people use their expensive services out of desperation. I would also question whether they are fully literate given that I have friends who are teachers who frequently lament kids in their 5th and 6th grade classes (ages 11 and 12) who can't read. And, not just a single sentence, or difficult word. They cannot read 'cat' or 'dog.' Meanwhile the state governor believes it is important that they learn to write in cursive in school. Perhaps we should first worry about children learning to read/write, period.
Anyway, the road is long and hard towards development and the slide is slippery and fast backward.
Wishing everyone a nice mid week,
Jami
On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 9:52 AM, Malcolm Harper <malcolm.harper@btinternet.com> wrote:
Thank you. I am sorry I cannot attend this programme (note the spelling, that's where I am, and why I can't come), but I hope you can cover small loan pricing in the UK and USA as well as in so-called 'developing' countries.I am often asked why UK and USA-based critics of microfinance in other places don't take a look at 'the mote in their own eye'. Why is it worth bothering with 'financial literacy training' for busy illiterate village women when millions of fully literate men and women here regularly borrow from the likes of 'Wonga' (www.wonga.com) and many others at annual interest rates (APR) of 2000% and more, that are openly stated, in big letters as the law requires, in all their websites and posters and so on ?The cost of a loan to the lender consists of three costs; 1. The cost of the money, what interest the lender pays to the 'wholesaler', bank, whoever it is. 2. The 'transaction costs', advertising, administration, follow-up, management.... 3. The risk costs, the chances that the borrower won't repay. It's the same with any business, selling the use of money (moneylenders, MFIs, banks...), or selling onions, except that most onion sellers sell for cash so there's no risk of non-payment (although the onions may go rotten if they are not sold.....)If I lend you $100 for a month, which you will repay at the end of the month, and I am paying 12% for my money (1% a month), it costs me $10 to administer your loan, and there is a 2% chance that you will not repay it, my cost will be $1 + $10 + $2 = $13. Annualised, with no compounding, that's $13 X 12 = $156, 156% interest !Cries of horror ! Send for MFT ! But actually quite reasonable. I hope you deal with this issue.Malcolm----- Original Message -----From: Ranya Abdel BakiSent: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 2:21 PMSubject: [MFP] Upcoming MFTransparency Training
Dear All,MFTransparency is organizing a one-day training titled "Calculating and Analyzing Microcredit Prices: From Confusion to Clarity" on Monday, November 4th 2013 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, USA, which is being hosted by SEEP as part of the 2013 SEEP Annual Conference pre-conference training sessions.For more information on the content of this training, please read the blog on the MFTransparency website. For any specific inquiries about the content of this training you can contact: info@mftransparency.org. For all inquiries related to registration, please contact: annualconference@seepnetwork.org. To register directly for this training please click here.Best regards,
__._,_.___
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (4) |
WARNING! If you hit REPLY, your message will go to the entire listserve, not just the original author!
.
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment