Rav Dovid Grossman
Answer: The Rambam delineates eight distinct levels of tzedakah. The highest level listed is giving the money to a poor person in such a way that he doesn't even feel like he is accepting charity. An example of this would be giving him a loan to set up a business, which will empower him to make his own parnassah.
This is definitely a good use of one's ma'aser money. One must keep in mind that when he is paid back, that money is still ma'aser money and has to either be given for another loan like this or to other tzedakah causes.
The Chofetz Chaim says that one shouldn't use all of his ma'aser money for loans and suggests using half of one's ma'aser for that purpose.
In Sefer Ahavas Chesed, the Chofetz Chaim speaks at length about the advantages of setting up an interest-free Gemach fund, explaining that when one creates such a fund he is able to consistently lend money to help people. He says that one must take proper precautions to make sure the money will come back, with guarantors or a lien and the like, so that we aren't machshil the person in not paying back.
From all this, we see that lending money to those in need is a very high level of tzedakah.
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