Kiva Only Financing Approval – What Contractors Need to Know

Kiva Financing

We receive a lot of questions from contractors whose customers are approved for “Kiva Only” financing. This is because a “Kiva Only” financing approval will delay the issuing of a Notice to Proceed which can impact costs and scheduling of the customer’s project.

While an essential tool, it can lead to frustration if the contractor does not understand how the financing works. 

SELF is one of a handful of Kiva.org partners in the US. Kiva.org is a crowd-funded loan platform with 1.7 million investors across the globe.

These investors invest in our clients to help them receive the home improvement they need. Successfully crowd-funded clients receive our lowest interest rate of 5%. As a contractor, it is important to understand that:

SELF is one of a handful of Kiva.org partners in the US. Kiva.org is a crowd-funded loan platform with 1.7 million investors across the globe. These investors invest in our clients to help them receive the home improvement they need. Successfully crowd-funded clients receive our lowest interest rate of 5%. As a contractor, it is important to understand that:

  1. Kiva is for the hardest to finance clients who pose the biggest risk of default. Although we specialize in financing risky clients, even we won’t assume this risk alone and Kiva.org shares some of that risk. 
  2. These clients often have low disposable income and/or credit scores less than 600 and/or high debt-to-income ratios. This means that partnering with Kiva is the ONLY way we can get them the funds for the home improvement they need.
  3. SELF Kiva financing is specifically to help women and veterans and is capped at $10,000 including SELF’s loan closing costs (more info is available here).
  4. It is important to understand that it can take more than 60 days to fund through Kiva and that funding is not guaranteed. SELF clients have a high success ratio, approximately 85% but that is not a guarantee. We advise clients not to depend on receiving the Kiva funding.
  5. SELF does not control when clients are posted on the Kiva.org website for funding. 
  6. When a client funds through Kiva, we will send you a Notice to Proceed and any Contractor Advance Funding will be released as well. Having Direct Deposit assures funds are released to you in a timely manner. Checks can delay payment. If you would like Direct Deposit, please download the form here.

For more information, please visit: https://solarenergyloanfund.org/kiva/

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