Saturday, October 14, 2006
surprise winners
Banker changed a nation by lending a hand
It reminds me of the PAYDAY loans. They charge an arm and a leg, but if you can manage to pay them back on payday... It's a loan many cannot get from a regular bank, but when money is needed, now, they can be a definite help.
...And yesterday, Bangladeshi economist Muhammed Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded in 1983 on the notion of microcredit were honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize...I heard this story on NPR, yesterday. It was quite heartwarming. Sure, there is high interest on the loan, but it sounds like these small businesses are making a go of it with a loan they wouldn't have been able to get elsewhere.
...The bank gives small loans to the poor — overwhelmingly women — who would not qualify with a conventional bank due to lack of collateral. "Grameen" means "rural" or "village" in the Bengali language....
...More than 94 per cent of the borrowers are women and more than 98 per cent of the loans are paid back, the bank says...
...But the bank's interest rates of 20 per cent — significantly higher than the 10 per cent to 15 per cent charged by commercial banks — have drawn criticism. Yet, poverty has decreased in the country since the bank's founding...
It reminds me of the PAYDAY loans. They charge an arm and a leg, but if you can manage to pay them back on payday... It's a loan many cannot get from a regular bank, but when money is needed, now, they can be a definite help.
