What is a susu?

How a susu works

Everyone agrees the money and the order before the first payment. After that, each round goes the same way:

1. The group agrees how much everyone pays, and whether it’s weekly, every two weeks or monthly.
2. They settle the order, so each person knows when their hand comes.
3. Everyone pays in, usually to one person who collects for the group.
4. That round’s person takes the whole pot.
5. When everyone has had a hand, the susu ends. Some groups then start another.

An early hand works like an interest-free loan from your friends. A late one is saving, with the group keeping you to it. People often ask for a place that lines up with a big cost, such as a deposit or school fees.

What the words mean

Susu, sou sou or sou-sou

The savings circle. You’ll see all three spellings. People also say susu money or sou sou money for what gets paid in.

Hand

The pot one person takes in a round. Global Voices describes a sou-sou in Trinidad and Tobago running until everyone has received a hand.

Banker

The person who collects the money and pays out each hand. Everyone has to trust them, since they hold the money for a while.

Where the susu comes from

Nobody can point to a date. People in Trinidad and Tobago quoted by Global Voices trace it to West Africa and say it reached the Caribbean through slavery. One of them, Rubadiri Victor, says it has been used in Trinidad for over 150 years.

In Ghana the word has a second meaning. A susu collector visits clients, often daily, takes a small deposit each time and hands the savings back at the end of the month, minus a fee, according to Oxford Policy Management. That’s one person saving with a collector, and nobody takes turns. This guide is about the group kind.

Is a susu the same as a pardner?

Yes. Caribbean families in Britain call it a pardner, Nigerians call it ajo or esusu, and Mexican families call it a tanda. The details differ from group to group. Our list of savings circle names around the world has the rest.

How to spot a fake susu

Some schemes borrow the name to look familiar. In September 2020, police in Trinidad and Tobago arrested nine people over a scheme that called itself a sou-sou. Global Voices reports that it had about 8,000 members recruited on WhatsApp and promised a 450% return. The country’s securities regulator, central bank and financial intelligence unit had already said that a real sou-sou doesn’t need new recruits and isn’t run for profit.

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission warns about social media “games” called Blessing Loom, Money Board and Circle Game. You pay $100 to someone at the centre of a board, then recruit others to move inwards. The FTC calls them a type of pyramid scheme and says to treat any invitation as a scam.

Walk away from a group when any of these is true:

• It promises you’ll get back more than you put in.
• You have to bring in new people before you’re paid.
• The members are strangers you found online.

A real susu has a fixed group, and each person gets back exactly what they paid in.

Is a susu safe?

That comes down to the people in it. A susu runs on trust and has no outside protection. In the UK, MoneyHelper lists these schemes as unregulated, so lost money may not come back. The usual problems are a member who takes an early hand and then stops paying, and a banker who loses track of the money or leaves with it. If it happens to you, read what to do when someone stops paying.

Keep a record of every payment, especially if the pot is going towards a home. A young woman in Manchester told Hyphen that her bank and mortgage advisers asked where the large payments into her account came from. A record of who paid what, and when, answers that.

This guide is general information and isn’t legal or financial advice.

Plan your susu

Our free rota and pot calculator works out the pot, draws a fair order and lists the date of every hand, ready to paste into your group chat.

Where CircleSave fits

CircleSave keeps the record for your susu. Everyone can see who has paid and whose hand is next, and members get reminders on WhatsApp. We never hold the money, because members pay whoever’s turn it is directly. We can’t promise everyone will pay. A circle can have up to 10 people.