Everything you need to know about SusuFlex and rotating savings circles.
A rotating savings circle is a time-tested community savings method practiced by millions of people worldwide for centuries. In a rotating savings circle, a group of trusted individuals agree to contribute a fixed amount of money on a regular schedule—typically weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Each contribution period, the entire collected pot is given to one member of the group. This rotation continues until every member has received the pot exactly once, completing the cycle.
Here's a concrete example: Imagine 10 friends form a circle where each person contributes $100 every month. Each month, the group collects $1,000 total (10 × $100). One member receives that $1,000 pot. The next month, a different member receives the pot, and so on. After 10 months, every member has contributed $1,000 total ($100 × 10 months) and has received $1,000 once. Everyone gets out exactly what they put in—it's not a loan, it's not an investment, it's a disciplined way to save together.
Why do people use rotating savings circles? They provide forced savings discipline, access to a lump sum without taking on debt, community accountability, and a way to achieve financial goals faster. Many people use their payout for major purchases, emergency funds, business investments, education expenses, or home improvements.
This tradition goes by many names across cultures: Susu (West Africa, Caribbean), Tanda (Mexico, Latin America), Chit Fund (India), Hui (China, Vietnam), Paluwagan (Philippines), Stokvel (South Africa), Gameya (Middle East), Hagbad (Somalia), and Pardner (Jamaica). The concept is universal because it works—it's been helping communities build wealth for generations.
Traditional susus have served communities beautifully for generations, but they come with challenges: cash handling risks, no paper trail, reliance on memory, and difficulty tracking who paid when. SusuFlex preserves the community spirit and financial benefits of traditional susus while solving these pain points with modern technology.
Here's how SusuFlex modernizes the experience:
The bottom line: SusuFlex keeps everything you love about traditional susus—the community, the accountability, the lump-sum benefit—while removing the friction, risk, and administrative headaches.
The payout order is one of the most important decisions in any savings circle. SusuFlex offers multiple methods to determine who receives the pot each round, and the circle organizer selects the method when creating the circle:
Important: Once a circle starts and positions are assigned, the order is locked and visible to everyone. No one can change it mid-circle. This ensures fairness and prevents disputes.
Yes! Many of our most active members participate in multiple circles simultaneously. This can be a powerful strategy for building savings momentum or achieving multiple financial goals at once. However, it requires careful budgeting to ensure you can meet all your commitments.
Circle and contribution limits by plan:
Tips for managing multiple circles:
Warning: Before joining any circle, carefully calculate whether you can afford the commitment for the entire cycle. Missing payments damages your trust score, affects other members, and could result in account restrictions. Only commit to what you can genuinely afford!
SusuFlex handles all the payment complexity so you can focus on saving. We've partnered with Stripe—the same payment infrastructure trusted by companies like Amazon, Shopify, and Lyft—to ensure your money moves safely and reliably.
Here's the complete payment flow:
Payment failure handling: If a payment fails (insufficient funds, expired card, etc.), we automatically retry up to 3 times over 5 days. The member is notified immediately and can manually retry or update their payment method. Other circle members are only notified if the grace period expires without successful payment.
Receipts and records: You'll receive email receipts for every contribution and payout. Your complete payment history is available in the app anytime, and you can export statements for tax or record-keeping purposes.
We believe in transparent, straightforward pricing. SusuFlex charges a platform fee on each payout, which is automatically deducted from the pot before the recipient receives it. The fee varies by plan:
Platform fees by subscription tier:
Contribution limits by tier:
To protect our community and manage risk, each plan has maximum contribution limits per circle:
Need higher limits? Upgrade your plan to unlock larger contribution amounts.
Let's do the math with a real example:
Say you're in a 10-person circle contributing $100/month (total pot = $1,000):
Optional add-on fees:
Additional payment processing fees:
Standard Stripe processing fees (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) apply to each contribution. These are industry-standard costs charged by Stripe, not SusuFlex. For a $100 contribution, that's about $3.20 in processing fees.
Premium member benefits:
Which plan is right for you?
No hidden fees: We don't charge signup fees, withdrawal fees, account maintenance fees, or inactivity fees. What you see is what you pay.
This is one of the biggest concerns with any savings circle, and SusuFlex has built multiple layers of protection to minimize the risk and impact of missed payments. Here's our comprehensive approach:
Prevention measures (before payments are due):
Recovery process (when a payment fails):
Consequences for non-paying members:
Premium/Business protection features:
Important reality check: SusuFlex is a peer-to-peer platform that facilitates payments between members. We cannot force someone to pay or guarantee collection. We provide tools to minimize risk and enforce consequences, but the fundamental trust aspect of susus remains. Always check trust scores carefully and only join circles with people you trust or who have proven track records.
Leaving a circle early is possible in some situations, but it's important to understand the implications. Savings circles work because everyone commits to the full cycle—early departures affect all members.
If you haven't received your payout yet:
If you've already received your payout:
Emergency situations:
We understand life happens—job loss, medical emergencies, family crises. If you're facing a genuine hardship:
Before joining any circle:
Our philosophy: Your reputation in the SusuFlex community is valuable. Completing circles builds trust, opens doors to better circles, and earns you priority for early payout positions. Protect your reputation by only committing to what you can complete.
Your trust score is SusuFlex's way of measuring and displaying your reliability as a savings circle member. It's a number between 0 and 100 that helps other members and organizers understand how likely you are to fulfill your commitments. Think of it like a credit score, but specifically for savings circles.
How is your trust score calculated?
Trust score ranges and what they mean:
Benefits of a high trust score:
How to improve your trust score:
New members: When you first join SusuFlex, you'll start with a base score of 50. As you verify your account and complete circles, your score will grow. Be patient—building trust takes time but pays off!
This is one of the most important questions, and we want to give you a complete, honest answer. SusuFlex takes security extremely seriously, but it's crucial to understand both what we protect and the inherent nature of peer-to-peer savings.
Security measures we implement:
What we cannot protect against:
Critical disclaimers:
How to protect yourself:
If you encounter any issues with a circle, payment, or member, SusuFlex has multiple channels and processes to help you resolve the situation. We take all reports seriously and work to mediate fair outcomes.
Types of issues you can report:
Step-by-step reporting process:
What happens after you report:
Possible outcomes:
For payment-specific disputes:
You can also contact Stripe directly through the payment receipt emails, or initiate a dispute through your bank/card issuer. However, please note that chargebacks on valid circle contributions may result in account restrictions and significant trust score impacts. We recommend trying to resolve payment issues through SusuFlex support first.
Appeals: If you disagree with a resolution, you can request a secondary review within 14 days by replying to the resolution email with additional information or context.
Circle Health is a real-time dashboard that shows you how well a circle is performing—before you join and throughout the cycle. Think of it as a vital signs monitor for your savings circle.
What the Circle Health score measures:
Circle Health score ranges:
Where to see Circle Health:
Why this matters: You can finally make informed decisions about which circles to join, not just based on what the captain says, but on actual performance data.
The 5-star rating system lets members rate each other after each round, building a transparent reputation based on real experiences.
How your star rating is calculated:
When you can rate members:
What to consider when rating:
Rating tips:
Captain Transparency ensures you always know exactly what the circle captain (organizer) can and cannot do. No hidden controls, no surprises.
What captains CAN do:
What captains CANNOT do:
Where to see captain permissions:
Why this matters: In traditional susus, captains often have unchecked power. SusuFlex enforces guardrails so you know exactly what to expect.
Enforceable Rules is our "no surprises" policy. All circle rules are locked BEFORE the circle starts, and nobody—not even the captain—can change them mid-cycle.
What rules are locked at start:
What happens if rules need to change:
Benefits of locked rules:
Where to review rules:
Identity verification is an important step that significantly boosts your trust score, unlocks higher contribution limits, and gives other members confidence when joining circles with you. SusuFlex uses Stripe Identity for secure, fast verification.
Verification levels and benefits:
Step-by-step verification process:
Privacy and data handling:
Troubleshooting tips:
Yes, you have the right to delete your SusuFlex account at any time. However, because savings circles involve commitments to other people, there are some requirements that must be met first.
Requirements for account deletion:
How to delete your account:
What happens after deletion:
Before you delete:
Pause instead of delete? If you're just taking a break, you can deactivate your account temporarily without losing your trust score. Go to Settings → Deactivate Account. Your data is preserved and you can reactivate anytime.
Managing your payment methods is straightforward, and you can have multiple methods on file to ensure your contributions always go through. Here's everything you need to know about updating your payment information.
Adding a new payment method:
Setting your default payment method:
Setting up backup payment methods:
Removing a payment method:
Timing considerations:
Payment method tips:
SusuFlex is currently focused on serving users in North America, with plans to expand globally. Here's the complete picture of our availability and expansion plans.
Currently available in:
Requirements for using SusuFlex:
Expansion roadmap (planned):
Cross-border circles:
Currently, all members of a circle must be in the same country. This is due to payment processing and currency requirements. Cross-border circles are on our roadmap for 2026.
Multi-currency support:
Get notified about expansion:
Diaspora communities: We know many of our users have family and friends in other countries who practice susus traditionally. We're prioritizing countries with large diaspora communities and strong susu traditions. If you'd like to advocate for your country, email us at expansion@susuflex.com.
Short answer: Generally, no. In a traditional rotating savings circle (susu, tanda, ROSCA), the payout you receive is considered a return of pooled contributions, not income. The IRS has not issued specific guidance on digital ROSCAs, but the established tax treatment of traditional susus is that they are savings arrangements, not loans or investments.
Here's why susu payouts are typically not taxable:
What IS potentially taxable:
⚠️ Important disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and is not tax advice. Tax treatment may vary based on your individual circumstances, circle structure, and jurisdiction. We strongly recommend consulting a qualified tax professional (CPA or tax attorney) for advice specific to your situation.
For standard susu payouts: No. Because susu payouts are generally considered return of pooled contributions rather than income, they typically do not trigger 1099 reporting requirements.
Understanding 1099-K thresholds:
The IRS requires payment platforms to issue 1099-K forms when payments exceed certain thresholds. However, 1099-K reporting applies to payments for goods or services—not to peer-to-peer transfers or return of principal in savings arrangements.
When you WOULD receive a 1099:
Record keeping recommendation:
Even though susus are generally not taxable, we recommend keeping records of your circle participation:
Note: Tax laws change frequently. The 1099-K threshold and reporting requirements have changed several times in recent years. Always verify current requirements with a tax professional.
For most participants: There's nothing to report. Standard susu participation where you contribute and receive back equivalent amounts is generally not a taxable event and doesn't need to be reported on your tax return.
The key principle:
If you contributed $1,000 total to circles during the year and received $1,000 total in payouts, you have no gain and nothing to report. You're simply moving your own money through a group savings mechanism.
Scenarios that may require reporting:
Special situations:
Our recommendation:
No, SusuFlex is not a bank. We are a technology platform that facilitates group savings circles. Understanding this distinction is important for knowing how your money is protected.
What SusuFlex is:
What SusuFlex is NOT:
How your money is protected:
Our regulatory status:
SusuFlex operates under the "agent of payee" model where Stripe, as the licensed payment processor, holds all funds and money transmitter licenses. This is similar to how platforms like Venmo, Cash App, and GoFundMe operate. We register with FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) as required and comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.
Yes, rotating savings circles (susus) are legal in the United States. They have been practiced legally by immigrant communities for over a century and are recognized as a legitimate form of informal savings.
Legal basis:
What makes a susu legal:
What would make a susu illegal:
SusuFlex's compliance measures:
State variations: While susus are legal federally, some states have specific regulations around money transmission. SusuFlex operates in compliance with state laws through our partnership with Stripe, which holds money transmitter licenses in all 50 states.
Even though standard susu participation typically isn't taxable, maintaining good records protects you and provides documentation if questions ever arise. Here's what we recommend keeping.
Records SusuFlex provides:
What to keep (recommended retention: 7 years):
Why these records matter:
Organizing your records:
Pro tip: Set a calendar reminder for January 15th each year to download your previous year's statement before tax season begins.
Our support team is here to help