The loans cost only the amount of the loan and the repayment take a long time , for example , a beggar taking a small loan of around 100 taka ( about US $ 1.50 ) can pay only 2.00 taka ( about 3.4 US cents ) per week and only repays 100 taka . The existing rules of banking are not applied , the loans are completely interest-free , the repayment period can be arbitrarily long , for example , a beggar taking a small loan of around 100 taka ( about US $ 1.50 ) can pay only 2.00 taka ( about 3.4 US cents ) per week and furthermore the borrower is covered under life insurance free of cost .