Dear debaters,
For clarification I will try to respond to some of the concerns posted by Remydk.
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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
1. De indføre bare regler
hen over hovedet på folk. Det vil sige de har lige pludselig lagt valuta
risikoen over på investor. Dette betyder jo så også at man ikke har haft mulighed
for at beregne den rigtige risiko på sin investering.
When
MyC4 went publicly online October 1st 2007 the model had been tested IT-wise
and on the African ground in most aspects but there were still many issues and
questions which remained unsolved. To illustrate this the analogy of a small
baby learning to walk was used so that users would accept that we would improve
on the model as we learned. It is correct that up till June 2008 the
currency risk was either taken by the borrower (loans > 2.000 €) or by MyC4
(loans < 2.000 €). We then found out, however, that neither of these
solutions were sustainable or scalable: borrowers in Africa have little or no
insight into currency fluctuations and if should they have there is nothing
they can do to compensate for unfavorable fluctuations. MyC4 had been financing
currency losses with donor money and this solutions was not sustainable going
forward. After considering a number of options it became clear that the only
long term and fair solution was to place currency risk at investor level: investors
have access to statistical and historic information and can build likely
currency losses into the interest rates they ask for on MyC4 (e.g. if you need
a 10% net return and historic depreciation of a currency has been 4% you can
bid at 14%).
The transfer of currency risk to investors
was made and communicated on the platform June 1st so that
investors could adapt their investment strategies from that date and for all
investments prior to this date investors could not lose money on currency
fluctuations. In retrospect maybe MyC4 could have done a better job in
assisting investors in adapting their investment strategies to accommodate for
possible currency loss.
2. De indføre også lige pludselig
også at man skal betale skat dernede. Dette rykker også billedet.
The
application of local withholding taxes in Africa was also a consequence of MyC4
learning along the road that our investors could not escape this obligation.
For some time we thought that considering the noble cause of our activities our
investors were only obliged to pay taxes in their home country. However, as
several legal sources suggested that our lending activities were also subject
to local African withholding taxes on profits/interest we had to introduce this
measure to be in line with the legislation of the African countries we operate
in. Therefore we introduced withholding taxes on the platform over the summer
of 2008.
Seen from
the investors viewpoint this does generally not change the situation. As
investors are obliged to pay taxes on their capital gains in most countries
anyhow (in Denmark ca. 50%) and as most countries have double taxation
agreements with our African countries the taxes withheld in Africa (and helping
to build the needy African states, by the way) can be offset against the taxes
paid to the resident (Danish) authorities. So, in most cases there is no change
in returns for the investors due to the introduction of the withholding tax.
3.
De procent tal du ser på siden om rettidig betaling holder ikke. De løber op og
ned. Her har de også givet en uges ekstra frist til låntageren til at indbetale
+ en uge til noget andet. Så man kan altså få sine penge hele 14 dage efter de
faktisk skulle have været betalt. Det vil sige gratis lån til dem! Desuden
mener jeg ikke af rettidig tilbagebetaling skulle være højre end 70 %. Ikke
hvis jeg skulle holde det op mod mine investeringer.
It is
correct that the “repaid on time” figures shown on MyC4 are not entirely
precise. As MyC4 only updates repayments once or twice per week (we still have
a relatively small transaction volume) the repayment figures will not be
updated in an even way which is causing your experience of ups and downs. There
is also another element which has made MyC4 remove this figure from the front
page of the platform and this is the inaccuracy due to MyC4’s current lacking
ability to register payments day by day. Many borrowers prefer to make several
monthly installments but since our system today is based on one payment a month
this means that more repayments have been received than are registered and
shown in the statistics. Finally, the figure shown previously on the front page
was a cumulated number for all repayments since the start of MyC4 and not a
reflection of the outstanding delays as of today.
It is
correct that it does take time to transfer, receive and disburse in Africa. The
African reality is rather different from the one we know in most Western
countries (e.g. getting a transfer out of a bank or sending one back to Europe
may require a person to spend one full day in the bank !) and MyC4 has had to
introduce realistic “grace periods” to our partners. These 2-4 weeks where
investors’ money lie idle and unremunerated can be compensated in the interest
rate investors’ bid at on MyC4 and is nothing MyC4 in any way is trying to hide
or cover up. TIA = This Is Africa
Average
late repayments on MyC4 today is at 22% so you must be unlucky in your
portfolio. However, even 22% is too high (although only 14,5% concern delays
> 30 days) and MyC4 is currently working closely with those of our Providers
who are struggling with late repayments (training, legal procedures,
introduction of management figures and IT systems etc.), so over time this
performance is likely to improve. Also, most late repayments are caught up with
and as of today only 0,44% of the entire loan portfolio (equaling 67
businesses out of 3695 )has actually been lost (defaulted). Please note that
whereas late repayments may be annoying and affect investors liquidity
negatively they do not result in a loss of money as the borrowers automatically
is paying additional interest for the extra time he or she keeps the money.
4.
Et af mine projekter bliver en uge forsinket. De meddeler så at der er noget
med deres system så vi få dette afdrag med næste udbetaling. Dette foregår også
uden at du kan gøre noget!
As
mentioned above the MyC4 system is based on monthly repayments (like a classic
mortgage system) and if a borrower pays late (>7 days after due date) his
payment will only count for next months’ installment and the borrower must pay
additional interest to the investors for one additional month. This is not fair
towards the borrowers who pay on day 8 after due date nor towards investors who
are deprived of their chance to receive the money as soon as the borrower has
repaid, but this is the way MyC4 was conceived from the outset. We want our
system to be more flexible and enable day to day interest calculation so we
have in the past few months specced such a system which will become programmed
by our developers in Uganda and implemented in 2009.
5. Udbetaling hvad er det? Det er ligesom om de ikke har tænkt på at man skal
have penge ud. De har godt nok fået lavet en mail du kan sende en forsørgelse
til. De vælger så at sige de vil svare inden for 14 dage. Men første gang jeg
ville trække nogle penge ud gik der 3 uger stadig ingen svar. Så tænkte jeg nå
men så kan jeg lige så godt smide dem i hovedet af en af de der søger lån.
Efter jeg havde gjort dette fik jeg svar.
Repayments
should be easy to make by sending bank information and legal name to the
“withdrawal” mail address. MyC4 does not reply to withdrawal requests within 14
– we actually undertake the transfers within 14 days. The reason why we do not
do this quicker is that there are only very few withdrawal requests and we try
to group them to enhance administrative productivity. At the moment we tend to
transfer money back within a week, though Christmas and New Years disturbances
may have increased the time to 10-12 days. I apologize if an inquiry from you
has been neglected in the past.
Så
prøvede jeg igen at trække penge ud. Efter et par uger fik jeg svar om at de
ville blive udbetalt. Så gik der et par uger igen og så modtog jeg nogle penge.
Jeg fik ingen opgørelse som angav kurs gebyr osv&hellip
Generally
there are no fees on a netbank transfer in Denmark but this may vary from bank
to bank and is a matter between the recipient and his/her bank. MyC4 does not
cover transfer cost for investors’ withdrawals as we do not manage the
frequency or destination of the transfers. MyC4 DOES cover any other transfer
cost related to investors’ funds to and out of Africa.
De
bliver ved med at undskylde at deres projekt stadig er et barn der skal lære at
gå. Men det synes jeg heller ikke er holdbart.
Obviously
MyC4 will not continue to be a baby in need of basic things/skills and after 16
months of operation I think we can say that we have addressed/learned the most
fundamental of things and we are growing to become a teenager ! It would be
wrong to assume that a teenager does not learn anything and adjust his/her
behavior and we also hope that MyC4 will remain open to our users’ daily
suggestions as to how we can make our market place even better – every day we
are privileged to receive hundreds of e-mails and blog posts on our Forum which
are a great source of inspiration for our way forward. Even your blog post on Amino
is useful and we thank you for it, as this exemplifies that we are still not
good enough in explaining a number of things on our platform.
Så
er der lige det med låntageren. Det er sjovt læsning at når man se en afrikaner
der sidste år tjente 100.000 Euro ansøge om et lån til 1.000 USD. Et eller
andet sted virker det forkert på mig.
It is
true that reading the backgrounds for some businesses can be quite entertaining
but unfortunately this is not the intention, as the business descriptions are
meant to give investors sufficient transparency to determine where to invest.
There are still too many mix ups of currencies (e.g. turnover mentioned in
local currency and loan amount in €) and inconsistent business cases and MyC4
is currently implementing a capacity building program for most of our African
partners to improve their business assessment skills and data discipline, so we
are quite aware that some of our loans suffer from inconsistent information.
Our best advice to you and other investors till then is: when in doubt, leave
it out ! (don’t invest in these businesses).
Så
umiddelbart er det et stort minus. Kan ikke forsvare at anbefale nogen at
investere i MyC4. Selv om det skulle være en god sag. Jeg mener bare ikke man
kan kalde det en investering. Da alt fokus er lagt på at få penge ind. Det
ville da være meget naturligt at man kunne trække penge ud igen lige så hurtigt
som man kunne sætte den ind.
For the
investor interested in a sound return we will argue that this is indeed
possible if you calculate in all the characteristics of our market place:
currency risk (incl. upside), default risk, auction, disbursement and repayment
times. We are familiar with investors who have realized a 14-15% net return on
investment on our market place and we believe that there should be room both
for such ambitions as for those social investors who content themselves with a
small or even negative net return from investing in African entrepreneurs who
create jobs and economic value to their needy societies.
I hope this clarifies your concerns and questions concerning MYC4.
Best regards,
Mille
MYC4
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