How a hụi works, and how to run one with a clear record
A hụi is a rotating savings group common in Vietnam and among Vietnamese communities abroad, including in Australia. In the north, and in Vietnamese law, it is usually called họ; other names include hội, biêu, phường and huê. The word hụi comes from the Sino-Vietnamese for “association”. In Australia, more than 330,000 people reported Vietnamese ancestry in the 2021 census, and SBS Vietnamese describes playing hụi as very common in the community.
A group of people who know each other, often relatives, neighbours or friends, each pays the same amount every round. Each round, one member takes the whole pot, until everyone has had their turn. Whoever takes the pot early gets money up front and keeps paying it back through their contributions; whoever takes it late is simply saving.
How does a hụi work?
- The organizer, the chủ hụi (chủ họ in the north), invites members, called con hụi or hụi viên, and sets the amount, the schedule and the number of rounds. One group of people paying together is a dây hụi.
- Every round each member pays in, which is called đóng hụi.
- At each round’s opening, the khui hụi, one member takes the pot. Taking it is called hốt hụi (lĩnh họ in the north).
- The dây hụi ends when every member has taken the pot once.
What do hụi chết and hụi sống mean?
They are not two kinds of hụi, even though many people search for them that way. They describe where a member stands. Hụi chết is the position of a member who has already taken the pot and keeps paying in full every round until the end; those payments are called đóng hụi chết. Hụi sống is the position of a member who is still waiting for their turn.
The difference matters for the organizer: once a member is on hụi chết, the rest of the group depends on them to keep paying.
How is the order set?
There are two main kinds of hụi.
- Hụi không lãi (no interest): the order is drawn or agreed at the start, and everyone pays the same amount every round. This is the simplest kind and the closest to a savings group.
- Hụi có lãi or hụi đấu (with interest): at each round, members who want the pot make a bid, called bỏ thăm. This turns the hụi into borrowing and lending with interest.
Whichever kind you run, agree the method before anyone pays and write down who takes the pot in which round.
Is a hụi legal in Vietnam?
In Vietnam, Decree 19/2019/NĐ-CP, in force since 5 April 2019, governs họ, hụi, biêu and phường. It says the organizer keeps the group’s record book, the sổ họ, or a member keeps it where there is no organizer. For hụi with interest, it caps interest at 20% a year. In Australia, no specific law covers hụi; a lawyer interviewed by SBS Vietnamese in 2023 said it is fine among friends and acquaintances, and that any interest or profit must be declared to the tax office.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. If your group handles large sums, check with a lawyer where you live.
What goes wrong in a hụi?
- The organizer disappears with the money. Vietnamese calls this giựt hụi. In 2023 SBS Vietnamese reported on an organizer in Inala, Brisbane, who had run hụi for more than ten years and allegedly left owing members nearly A$1 million.
- The group collapses (vỡ hụi or bể hụi), for example when members stop paying and the organizer can’t cover them.
- The organizer carries the risk. The same SBS lawyer explained that the chủ hụi has to cover a member who doesn’t pay.
- The sổ hụi is lost or disputed. A paper notebook can be lost, and months later it is hard to prove who paid which round.
How do you keep a hụi fair?
Most of the trouble in a hụi comes from missing information: who paid, who has taken the pot and who is still waiting. A few habits help.
- Keep it to people you know. A hụi works on trust, so it belongs among relatives, friends and neighbours, not strangers found online.
- Agree the rules first. Settle the amount, the dates, the order and what happens if someone pays late before the first đóng hụi.
- Keep one sổ hụi everyone can check. Write down every payment and every hốt hụi with its date, and let members see it.
- Remind kindly. A short, polite message before the khui hụi works better than chasing people in front of the group.
How do you run a hụi with Savings Circle?
Savings Circle fits a hụi không lãi, where the order is drawn or agreed. It has no bidding feature.
- Create the group. Choose “Savings circle” as its name type and give the group any name you like, such as the name your dây hụi already goes by. Then set the currency and what each person pays per round. US dollars, euros and pounds are available today.
- Add members from your contacts. They don’t install anything.
- Set the order. Run a random draw in front of everyone, or enter the order you agreed. A random draw saves its seed, so anyone can check later that it wasn’t changed. Members can ask to swap turns, and the swap is recorded too.
- Record payments as they come in, by cash, bank or mobile wallet, with a screenshot as proof if you like. It works offline and syncs later.
- Remind the late ones. One tap opens WhatsApp, SMS or Telegram with a polite message.
- Record each payout. Every entry is dated. A correction is added as a new entry, and the original stays in the history.
- Share the record. Send a receipt or a statement to any member, or open the group in the web app at app.savingscircle.app.
Savings Circle never holds or moves money. Members pay each other the way they already do; the app is the shared record of who paid, who is next and what is owed.
Other names for the same idea
In Vietnam it is hụi or họ. In Taiwan and other Chinese communities a similar group, 標會 (biāohuì), is run by bidding for the pot. The same system is a committee in Pakistan and India, a tanda in Mexico, a susu in Ghana, a chama in Kenya, an arisan in Indonesia and a paluwagan in the Philippines. Economists call all of these rotating savings and credit associations, or ROSCAs. Savings Circle works for any of them.
Read this guide in Vietnamese: hụi là gì.
Guides
- South Asia: committee, kameti, chit fund, bhishi, kitty party and samity
- Africa: susu, chama, ajo, adashe, equb, hagbad, stokvel, tontine, mukando and chilimba
- The Americas and the Caribbean: sou-sou, tanda, junta, lending circle and pardner
- Asia and the Pacific: arisan, paluwagan and hụi
- The Arab world: jam’iya