El Cuchubal

In my family, there was something we called, “el cuchubal” also known as a rotational savings group where each month family members who belonged to the “cuchubal” group made a deposit into a common fund and every month it was agreed upon that one person in the group withdrew the funds. A different member got the funds the following month and so on. I never wanted to go first because I loved getting my “cuchubal” around Christmas time. 

For example, you get a group of 12 members. One trusted family member is the administrator 

 And he or she makes sure that every month each member puts in $100 dollars so at one point in the year that member will be receiving $1,200 to be used for a larger purchase, go on a vacation, medical emergency etc. This way it forces the person to save for a rainy day and when the money is needed, the money is there. Having that money on a reserve when you might need it is the best insurance against unexpected expenses, a system developed centuries ago and it’s still around. 

Now there is a company that got the idea and created an app “The Esusu app” The company charges a $10 subscription fee per pay-in-cycle. Esusu sets a savings goal inviting family and close members of your choosing to join their savings group and a schedule for payments. The app then automatically withdraws contributions from each member linked bank accounts and directs the pooled funds to one person in the group on a rotational basis. In addition to giving users access to larger sums of interest free capital as members keep their savings commitments it’s reported to the credit bureaus so the credit scores for members tend to improve. What a genius idea and why didn’t I think of that!