Savings-Clubs Glossary | 60+ Terms Defined

A

Allocation point: The moment in a Bausparvertrag at which the saved portion crosses the threshold defined in the contract (typically 30 to 50 percent of the contract sum) and the Bausparkasse becomes obligated to pay out the savings and grant the contracted mortgage. The German term is Zuteilungsreife.
Arisan: An Indonesian rotating savings club in which a group meets on a regular schedule, contributes a fixed amount, and one participant takes home the pool, with selection most often by random draw.
ASCA(Accumulating Savings and Credit Association): A community savings structure in which contributions accumulate in a fund that lends to members on demand at agreed terms, with payouts at the end of a defined period. Distinct from a ROSCA, which rotates the entire pool to one member each cycle.
Auction (in a savings club): A mechanism for awarding the pool in a given cycle. The participant willing to accept the largest discount or pay the largest premium wins, and the discount or premium is distributed to the others as a dividend. The defining mechanism of chit funds and consórcios.

B

Bausparkasse(Bausparen, Bausparvertrag): A German contractual savings-and-loan institution dedicated to housing finance. Members lock in both savings and loan interest rates at contract signing, then receive a low-interest mortgage once the contract reaches the allocation point.
Bidder: In an auction-based ROSCA (chit fund, consórcio), a member offering to accept a discount on the pool in order to win that cycle's payout.
BACEN(Banco Central do Brasil): The Central Bank of Brazil, the supervisory authority for consórcios under Law 11.795/2008.
Burial stokvel: A type of stokvel whose pooled funds are reserved for funeral and bereavement expenses, reflecting the high cultural and financial weight of funerals in South African society.

C

Carta de crédito: The credit instrument awarded each cycle in a Brazilian consórcio, large enough to acquire the agreed asset. The recipient continues paying remaining installments after receipt.
Chairperson: The elected leader of a stokvel, chama, or arisan. Responsible for governing the meeting, mediating disputes, and ensuring the constitution is followed.
Chama(Investment club (East Africa)): An East African community investment group, predominantly Kenyan, in which members pool regular contributions and invest the proceeds in real estate, listed equities, business stakes, or onward lending.
Chit(Chitty, Kuri): An individual chit-fund cycle and, by extension, the chit-fund instrument itself. The term derives from the Malayalam kuri.
Chit fund: A regulated Indian savings-and-credit instrument under the Chit Funds Act 1982 in which subscribers pool monthly contributions and one subscriber per month is awarded the pool through a competitive auction.
Chit value: The total prize amount in a chit-fund group; the agreed pool that one subscriber receives each cycle.
Closed pool: An economic property of regulated savings-club instruments (consórcios, Bausparkassen, chit funds) in which capital does not enter or leave the operator's balance sheet, allowing terms (no interest, fixed rates) that an open balance sheet cannot match.
Constitution (of a savings club): The agreement that governs a stokvel, chama, or arisan: contribution amount, meeting cadence, payout rules, leadership roles, dispute resolution. Usually written; sometimes oral and witnessed.
Consórcio(Consortium savings, Brazilian consórcio): A regulated Brazilian savings-club model in which members pool monthly contributions and one member per month is awarded the pooled capital to acquire a qualifying asset, supervised by the Banco Central do Brasil.
Cundina: Regional Mexican synonym for tanda, common in Yucatán and the Pacific coast.

D

DefinedTerm: Schema.org type used by the WSCC to mark up each savings-club tradition for AI Overviews, Google Knowledge Graph, and other structured-data consumers. See research page for the full schema strategy.
Dividend (in a chit fund): The discount the winning bidder accepts in a chit-fund auction, distributed to all subscribers in that cycle, including the bid winner. The mechanism that turns a chit fund into a savings vehicle as well as a credit market.

E

Esusu: Yoruba name for the rotating-pool form of the susu. The term is used widely in Nigerian usage and has been adopted by US-based fintech Esusu Financial.

F

Foreman: The registered chit-fund operator under Indian law. Organizes the group, conducts auctions, collects contributions, distributes prizes, and posts a security deposit with the state Registrar of Chits.
Founding Charter: The instrument by which the WSCC will be formally established. To be signed at the WSCC Founding Summit. Dates and venue to be announced.

G

Grocery stokvel: A stokvel type whose pooled funds are used to buy bulk staple groceries before the December holidays, often through dedicated retailer programs.

H

Hand: Caribbean diaspora term for a single payout in a rotating savings club. "Throwing a hand" means contributing to a cycle. Used widely in Trinidadian, Jamaican, and Guyanese communities.
Hui: Chinese rotating savings club, with major regional variants in Taiwan and Vietnam. Mechanically a ROSCA, often using auction-based payout selection.

I

Investment stokvel: A stokvel type in which pooled funds are used for buy-to-let property, listed equities, or business stakes rather than rotational or year-end payouts. The fastest-growing stokvel segment in South Africa.

K

Kuri: Malayalam name for chit fund; the etymological root of the English word "chit" in this context.
Kye: Korean rotating savings club. Strongly identified with Korean immigrant communities in the United States, where they remain an important credit channel for small businesses.

L

Lance: The bid mechanism in a Brazilian consórcio. The member offering the largest advance payment of future installments wins that cycle's carta de crédito.
Lending circle: A nonprofit-administered tanda model formalized by the Mission Asset Fund and recognized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with credit-bureau reporting of member contributions.

M

Merry-go-round: Kenyan colloquial term for a rotating-form chama, commonly used in informal usage even after the formalized chama-as-investment-group form took root.

N

NASASA(National Stokvel Association of South Africa): The self-regulatory body for South African stokvels, recognized by the South African Reserve Bank under the Banks Act exemption.

O

OJK(Otoritas Jasa Keuangan): Indonesia's Financial Services Authority. Issues consumer advisories on arisan-online schemes and prosecutes operators of fraudulent arisan platforms.
Order of payouts: The mechanism by which a ROSCA decides which member receives the pool in each cycle: random draw, auction, or predetermined order.

P

Pardna: Caribbean (especially Jamaican) name for the rotating-pool form of the susu. Widespread in Caribbean diaspora communities in New York, London, and Toronto.
Pasanaku: Bolivian and broader Andean rotating savings club. Mechanically a ROSCA.
Paluwagan: Filipino rotating savings club. Mechanically a ROSCA.

R

Random draw: The simplest payout-selection mechanism in a ROSCA: names are drawn from a container, and the drawn name receives the pool. Used in arisan, tanda, stokvel rotation, and the rotational form of the susu.
Registrar of Chits: The state-government office in India that registers and supervises chit-fund operators under the Chit Funds Act 1982. Each Indian state appoints its own Registrar.
ROSCA(Rotating Savings and Credit Association): The academic umbrella term for any savings club in which a group of participants makes regular contributions to a common pool, and one member receives the entire pool each cycle. Coined by Shirley Ardener in 1964.

S

SACCO(Savings and Credit Cooperative): An East African (especially Kenyan) financial cooperative, often interlinked with chamas. Larger than most chamas and subject to formal cooperative regulation.
Sandúk: Yemeni and Egyptian rotating savings club. Mechanically a ROSCA.
Sorteio: The random-draw mechanism in a Brazilian consórcio. Conducted under federal-lottery oversight; every member current on contributions is eligible.
Sou-sou: Caribbean diaspora spelling of susu, particularly in Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean.
Stokvel: A South African community savings club in which members make regular contributions to a common pool, paid out rotationally, at year-end, or against shared goals such as groceries, burials, or investment.
Subscriber: A participant in a chit fund. The term distinguishes the legal participant (subscriber) from the operator (foreman) under the Chit Funds Act 1982.
Susu(Esusu, Sou-sou, Asusu): A West African and Caribbean savings tradition, with a rotating-pool form similar to other ROSCAs and a daily-collector form distinctive to Ghana and Nigeria.
Susu collector: An itinerant savings agent in Ghana and Nigeria who walks a fixed daily route through a market or neighborhood, taking small fixed deposits from each saver and returning the accumulated total at month-end. Recognized in Ghana by the Susu Collectors Council under Bank of Ghana supervision.

T

Tanda(Cundina, Vaquita): A rotating savings club from Mexico and the Latin-American diaspora in which a group of trusted participants commits to regular contributions and one member per round receives the pooled amount.
Tandera / Tandero: The trusted organizer of a tanda. Recruits members, sets contribution and payout terms, and acts as the social anchor for the group.
Tontine: Historically European-aristocratic mortality-pool annuity, but in modern West Francophone African usage, simply a rotating savings club. The two senses share a name but not a structure.
Treasurer: The elected officer of a stokvel, chama, or arisan responsible for holding pooled funds, recording contributions, and producing the financial summary at each meeting.

U

Upatu: Tanzanian Swahili name for a rotating savings club. Mechanically a ROSCA.

V

VSLA(Village Savings and Loan Association): The CARE International methodology for community savings, deliberately structured as a hybrid ROSCA-ASCA. Operating in 75+ countries with over 20 million participants.

W

Wohnungsbauprämie: The German federal-government subsidy program for Bausparen savings, paying a 10 percent bonus on annual contributions for savers under defined income thresholds.
WSCC(World Savings Clubs Council): The first global governing body for the savings-club industry, headquartered in Washington, D.C. Unifies consórcios, stokvels, Bausparkassen, chit funds, and the broader ROSCA universe under one collaborative body.