How does a Savings Circle work?

Step 1 - Match

People get matched to a group of people with a similar financial goal and everyone contributes the same amount each month. For example £100 a month for 10 months to raise £1000.

Step 2 - Draw

Each month there is a random draw and one person is awarded the total, in this example £1000.

Step 3 - Repeat

This process repeats every month until everybody has received their £1000.

Want to know more?

If you’re new to the concept of Savings Circles, it is best explained by our Co-Founder, Lucy. Before Lucy met Matt, she also hadn’t heard of collaborative finance but now she travels the world on the Circles mission to help change millions of lives through this simple idea.

What are the benefits for your customers?

Speed

  • By working together 90% of people reach their savings goals faster than saving alone

Community

  • Stay disciplined and get motivated with a like-minded community.

Support

  • Feel supported on the savings journey with a knowledge hub and partner offers

Over 1 Billion consumers globally are already using our Savings Circles offline with over $500 billion transacting in Savings Circles worldwide every year - already a massive global TAM. More than 90 countries around the world are waiting for digital Savings Circles to arrive.

Digital Savings Circles are a huge opportunity

Savings Circles around the world

Item 1 of 4

Making ROSCAs Digital - FAQs

Through rigorous experimentation, the development of the StepLadder platform has revealed authentic needs and opportunities for the customer. This is how we have answered the key questions of digital savings Circles and can maximise the impact for your own white-label offering.

  • Embedded in the StepLadder member journey are the following stages:

    Contact creation

    Affordability checking

    Circle matching

    Payment processing

    Monthly draw management

    Renewals and habituation

    To understand more about how we created our digital journey please download our FREE guide here.

  • The Circles tech is built so that one Member of each Circle is selected at random (by a random allocation algorithm) to be awarded the Draw Total. You’ll be sent an email to check your Member dashboard, and then if it’s your turn you can book a call with the team.

  • Circles can help you create better performance from fusing behaviour and finance.

    We help you underwrite

    We have built-in nudge factors

    We create interpersonal engagement

    To understand more about how Circles can create successful communities, download our FREE guide here.

  • Community is the antidote to churn.

    With Circles, you can transform saving into a human experience, instead of transactional one.

    We triangulate channels of communication - making finance personal

    We segment our members to anticipate and mitigate and remedy drop out issues

    We visualise the Savings Circle holistically, and manage accordingly for flexibility.

    To understand more about how Circles can help you manage churn, download our FREE guide here.

  • Our Savings Circles are built to be better at mitigating risk.

    We control for adverse selection by using random selection in StepLadder Circles

    There is no financial interest in the mechanism: cost competitive & Islamic finance compliant

    The Circle host is independent and can provide insight & support for the members

    Funds from some Circles can only be used for stated purposes, yielding commercial uplift and superior recovery

    We mitigate the main default risk (change in personal circumstances) via reserves & liquidity pools (where applicable)

    Custody of funds: money paid in to the Circle can be held in a client money account and only released for certain specified purposes

    StepLadder has a mandate to administer and maximise recovery for default. This is also transferable to a specialist, if best for resolution.

    To understand more about how Circles can help you mitigate risk, download our FREE guide here.