I’m a small time lender there. I’ve made 7 loans in 8 years. I’ve put in a total of $63 in and had $175 of impact. A few years ago they started asking us to cover the fees. The fees are often almost 20% or of the loan cost. Last year I had my first default on a loan. I was only lending out when a prior loan was repaid so that default slowed me down and eventually I had an extra $15 to put towards getting a new loan out. Having $15 of money is rare enough for me that I have less cash than the people I’m lending too.

All that is to say that between my own experience and what’s in the article it doesn’t seem like things are working out. I’ve considered waiting on this last loan to finish and then withdrawing the $25 dollars I’ll have left after spending $63 to make this all happen. It’s just not sustainable on my end. And I’m really not a fan of knowing that $31.50 of the money I’ve spent went to salaries instead of loans.