Editing Poverty (section)

==== Financial services ====
{{See also|Unbanked|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 borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment, or a verifiable credit history.. 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 more importance on having a safe place to save money than on 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/> A large portion of the poor are [[unbanked]] because it is often not profitable to open bank accounts for the poor. One altervative option is the [[postal savings system]]. Another option is [[mobile banking]] which utilizes the wide availability of mobile phones.<ref name=time.com/> This usually involves a network of agents of mostly shopkeepers who would take deposits in cash and translate these onto an 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> [[Central bank digital currency|Central bank digital currencies]] could allow, even in areas without internet access, digital transactions with little or no cost using simple feature phones.<ref name=imfblog>{{Cite web|last1=Habtamu |first1=Fuje |last2=Quayyum|first2=Saad|last3=Ouattara|first3= Franck|date=June 24, 2022 |title=More African Central Banks Are Exploring Digital Currencies |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2022/06/23/blog-africa-cbdc |access-date=2024-05-05 |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]]}}</ref>