Maria Benitez

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Maria Benitez by MIFEX in Ecuador. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 10 months, MIFEX will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Here is a message written by Robert Edgar, MIFEX Co-Founder and Director, on your loan:

As Mifex's Co-Founder and Director of Operations, I want to provide you with an update on your loan managed by Mifex. As you may know, all entrepreneur profiles on Kiva's website are posted by local Field Partners, like Mifex, which are organizations that lend to the poor for poverty alleviation. The role of a Field Partner is to screen each entrepreneur, upload his/her loan request on the Kiva website, disburse the loan, and collect loan repayments.

Lately, we have encountered substantial obstacles that may affect the repayment performance of Mifex and its entrepreneurs on the Kiva website. Here is an update from our institution that I hope helps clarify what some of the issues we are dealing with are. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to visit the Mifex website: http://www.mifex.org/, or email us at info@mifex.org.

In the microfinance industry Mifex is a very young organization. We were amongst the first institutions to use Kiva for financing and we have heavily relied on Kiva funds to start our organization. Although Kiva and the great lenders that support the site have helped our institution form a strong base for growth, we have recently encountered substantial obstacles.

A shortage of capital, combined with escalating default rates, has put a heavy strain on our operation. Many of our clients are also having a very difficult time making their repayments due to the persistent rains during the first half of the year. These factors have caused Mifex to accumulate a debt to Kiva lenders that we cannot pay without putting in danger the sustainability of our organization.

As a result, Mifex and Kiva have agreed to put a temporary pause on all new fundraising on the site until our organization regains its stability. We will continue to make collections on our Kiva loans during this time. However, due to the challenges we face, some of the funds you are expecting as a repayment may be delayed or defaulted if we are not able to collect them within 6 months of the end of their respective loan terms, as Kiva's policy states.

Over the next several months we will devote 100% of our efforts to resolving this situation so we can continue our relationship with Kiva. We will continue to collect the debt from our clients who have defaulted as well as explore other sources of financing. Meanwhile, we respectfully ask for your patience as we diligently work towards these goals.

You may have noticed that repayments on this loan have not been coming in for quite some time. After detailed investigation by Kiva representatives in Ecuador, our team has determined that further repayments on your loan are highly unlikely. Therefore, this loan is now considered to be in default. To learn more, please visit:

http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=7

Although your loan was not repaid in full in this case, we hope you realize that over 95% of loans have been repaid in full to date on Kiva. We hope you'll give lending to developing world entrepreneurs another chance in the future.

Thank you,

Michelle Kreger

Kiva Staff

Microfinance Partnerships Manager

Latin America and the Caribbean