I understand applying a fee for money transfers to both lenders and borrowers looks misleading when compared side by side in this way.

These are two separate costs. The fee for lenders offsets the cost of receiving their funds via PayPal or credit card. It is set to match as closely as possible the average transfer fees that our organization pays to PayPal and Stripe.

The 5% charged to borrowers covers international money transfer costs, and the cost we pay to local payment services in each borrower country. This fee is also set to match the average money transfer cost we pay across all countries.

We use two separate fees because it allows us to ensure that we receive income at roughly the same time costs are incurred. This helps ensure we always have enough cash flow to cover our costs, no matter how quickly the organization grows.