Poverty Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Financial services ==== {{See also|Microfinance|Microcredit}} [[File:Kiwanja uganda charging 1.jpg|thumb|Information and communication technologies for development help to fight poverty.]] [[Microloan]]s, made famous by the [[Grameen Bank]], is where small amounts of money are loaned to farmers or villages, mostly women, who can then obtain physical capital to increase their economic rewards. However, microlending has been criticized for making hyperprofits off the poor even from its founder, [[Muhammad Yunus]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/opinion/15yunus.html|title=Sacrificing microcredit for megaprofits|work=The New York Times|access-date=27 May 2011|first=Muhammad|last=Yunus|date=14 January 2011|archive-date=29 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229061555/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/opinion/15yunus.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and in India, [[Arundhati Roy]] asserts that some 250,000 debt-ridden farmers have been driven to suicide.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/business/global/06micro.html|title=Microlenders, honored with Nobel, are struggling|work=The New York Times|access-date=27 May 2011|first=Vikas|last=Bajaj|date=5 January 2011|archive-date=17 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617105040/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/business/global/06micro.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/world/asia/18micro.html|title=India microcredit faces collapse from defaults|work=The New York Times|access-date=27 May 2011|first1=Lydia|last1=Polgreen|first2=Vikas|last2=Bajaj|date=17 November 2010|archive-date=27 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127014631/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/world/asia/18micro.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/4/8/wednesday_arundhati_roy_on_elections_in Excerpt From "Capitalism: A Ghost Story" By Arundhati Roy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529045003/http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/4/8/wednesday_arundhati_roy_on_elections_in |date=29 May 2014 }}. ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' Retrieved 27 May 2014.</ref> Those in poverty place overwhelming importance on having a safe place to save money, much more so than receiving loans.<ref name=time.com>{{cite news|last=Kiviat |first=Barbara |url=http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1918733,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831064814/http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1918733,00.html |archive-date=31 August 2009 |title=Microfinance's next step: deposits|magazine=Time|access-date=23 October 2010 |date=30 August 2009}}</ref> Additionally, a large part of [[microfinance]] loans are spent not on investments but on products that would usually be paid by a [[checking account|checking]] or [[savings account]].<ref name=time.com/> Microsavings are designs to make savings products available for the poor, who make small deposits. [[Mobile banking]] uses the wide availability of mobile phones to address the problem of the heavy regulation and costly maintenance of saving accounts.<ref name=time.com/> This usually involves a network of agents of mostly shopkeepers, instead of bank branches, would take deposits in cash and translate these onto a virtual account on customers' phones. Cash transfers can be done between phones and issued back in cash with a small commission, making [[remittance]]s safer.<ref name=safaricom>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8194241.stm|title=Africa's mobile banking revolution|work=BBC News |access-date=28 May 2011|first=Louise|last=Greenwood|date=12 August 2009|archive-date=28 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828014936/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8194241.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page