Susu (informal loan club)

A susu or sou-sou or osusu or asue (also known as a merry-go-round,[1] Partner, or Pawdna in Jamaica;[2] sol in Haiti;,[3] san in Dominican Republic,[4] and Njangi in Cameroon[5]) is a form of rotating savings and credit association, a type of informal savings club arrangement between a small group of people who take turns by throwing hand as the partners call it.

Instead, small periodic contributions are turned into a larger lump sum of the same value, with the susu acting as a savings club.

They collect a larger sum of money early and "repay" as they make contributions going forward.

A member who receives a distribution toward the end of a rotation has effectively been "saving" their contributions leading up to the disbursal.

[8][6][12] These fake susu scams (also known as "blessing looms" or "gifting circles") increased during the 2020 COVID pandemic, and are often targeted to African-Americans under the guise of being the traditional African and Caribbean practice.