modernm

I doublechecked and didn't see any mention of a one-time registration fee on any of those 20 loans?

I'll go back and look at the 20 loans with your tip in mind, and recalculate APRs separately for both first-time borrowers and repeat borrowers, and update the post.

Thanks for your response. The #1 issue I have is that you have been repeatedly comparing your (low) flat rates to Microfinance institutions' (higher) average costs. But that is comparing apples and oranges. Your rates are low because they are flat rate numbers. If you converted them into APRs, they would roughly double.

If you displayed your flat rate numbers into APRs, then I wouldn't have any problems with your marketing. You could compare your average Zidisha APR of 25% to the average industry average of 35%, and lenders could make their own informed decisions.

I agree that deleting that interest rate diagram is appropriate. However, you have repeatedly  compared your low flat rates with high APR rates elsewhere on your site. For instance, in this page on your site, you say, "While other microfinance services charge borrowers interest rates upwards of 40% or more, our direct peer-to-peer microlending model reduces the cost of Zidisha loans to just a fraction of this." [1]

Statements like these lead to articles comparing your low flat rate to others' higher APRs. [2-5]

To me, comparing your flat rate numbers to other people's APRs feels like a deeply misleading comparison.  

I'd like to hear your side of the story here.  Perhaps I'm missing something.

[1] https://www.zidisha.org/microfinance/why-zidisha.html [2] http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/27/1124759/-Kiva-vs-Zi... [3] http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/23/zidisha-launches-a-kickstar... [4] http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-things-to-know-about-... [5] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julia-kurnia/zidisha-vs-kiva-z...