MoneyFellows

Moneyfellows is a web and mobile based platform that enables individuals to access interest free credit and better saving achievements all fully powered by a user's social network. We do that by bringing the informal traditional offline ROSCA model, online.

ROSCA = Rotating Savings and Credit Association

ROSCA is very common in over 85 countries around the globe. Around the world they call it different names like "Chit funds" in India, "Tanda" in Mexico, "Gameya" in the Arab world, etc..

The ROSCA model combines saving and credit by establishing circles of peers who:

- All pays a similar monthly installment for a defined number of months, into a pot.
- Each month, one of the circle members receives the total money paid by everyone into the pout, as a payout.
- The circle then ends when everyone receives his/her payout.

This way, circle participants that receive an early payout are effectively receiving an interest free credit and participants with a late payout are effectively participating in a savings plan while helping out their friends. The transition between borrowing and saving is gradual and the same user can take on different roles in different circles.

Money circles provide a time-tested, proven approach for financing both smaller and larger expenditures, including
• funding emergencies, such as unexpected medical bills
• buying consumer goods
• or saving up for a vacation, a wedding or even for the down payment on a house.
Money circles are not just a „poor man’s“ alternative to banking

So far, money circles have been set up and administered offline, with the circle organizer tracking payments on a sheet of paper and payments often done in cash.

We are building a 21st century version of this approach, using the power of the Internet and social networks to help people find trustworthy partners for forming money circles and to easily track and automate payments, making it a lot safer, easier, transparent and above all global