The impact of microcredit has been studied more than the impact of other forms of microfinance.
A harsh aspect of poverty is that income is often irregular and undependable. Access to credit helps the
poor to smooth cash flows and avoid periods where access to food, clothing, shelter, or education is
lost. Credit can make it easier to manage shocks like sickness of a wage earner, theft, or natural disaster.
The poor use credit to build assets such as buying land, which gives them future security.
Women participants in microcredit programmes often experience important self-empowerment.