How a junta works, and how to organize one fairly
A junta is a rotating savings group, and it is the word Peruvians use for it at home and abroad; many also call it a pandero. Each member pays the same amount every week or every month, and each round one member receives the whole pot, until everyone has had their turn. The same system is a pasanaku in Bolivia, a cadena de ahorro in Colombia and a san in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
In English, a junta is a rotating savings club, or ROSCA. The Spanish word junta means a gathering or a joining together, from juntar, to join: the members join their money.
There is no interest and no return. Whoever gets an early turn receives money up front and pays it back through their contributions; whoever gets a late turn is simply saving. If someone promises that your money will multiply, it is not a junta.
What is a junta called in each country?
- Peru: junta, junta de dinero or junta de ahorro. The word is also understood in Ecuador.
- Bolivia: pasanaku, also used in northern Argentina, among Bolivians in Buenos Aires and in Puno, Peru. The word joins the Spanish pasar (to pass) with an Aymara and Quechua ending that means “to each other”.
- Colombia and Ecuador: cadena de ahorro, where each place in the order is a puesto. In Antioquia and the coffee region people talk about the natillera, but a natillera is usually a different arrangement: a shared fund that is paid out at the end of the year and often lends to its members, rather than a strict rotation.
- Dominican Republic and Venezuela: san (plural sanes); in Venezuela also bolso or susú. A 2020 survey by the Dominican central bank, reported by Diario Libre, found that 11% of higher-income and 3% of lower-income Dominicans use sanes. In Venezuela, a “san de motos” or “san de novedades” run by a shop is something else: a way of paying for goods, not a savings group.
- Mexico: tanda or cundina, which has its own tanda guide. Guatemalans and Salvadorans say cuchubal.
The words travel with people. In Spain, where the largest Latin American communities are from Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru, you will hear cadena de ahorro, san, junta and pasanaku. Spaniards themselves have no word for it, and in Spain “junta” on its own usually means a regional government, so say “junta de dinero” to be clear.
How does a junta work?
- An organizer invites people they know, usually relatives, neighbours or co-workers, and agrees with them the amount of each cuota, the frequency and the number of turns.
- Each member gets a turn (a número or puesto), which decides when they receive the pot.
- Every period, each member pays the organizer, in cash, by bank transfer or with a mobile wallet.
- The organizer hands the whole pot to that period’s member, and the junta ends when everyone has received it once.
For example, ten people paying 100 a month make a pot of 1,000 each month for ten months. Each person pays in 1,000 and receives 1,000 once; only the timing differs.
How is the order of turns decided?
Most juntas, cadenas and pasanakus draw the order at random, a sorteo, at the first meeting. Others give the first turns to members who need money soonest. The draw only decides who receives the same amount first, so nobody wins anything. Whatever the method, agree it before anyone pays and write down who has which turn.
What goes wrong in a junta?
- Someone disappears after receiving their pot. The later turns lose out, so organizers only invite people they trust.
- Late payments delay the next payout. Many pasanakus agree fines (multas) for late payers at the start.
- Disagreement about who paid. Payment screenshots get buried in WhatsApp chats, and a notebook or spreadsheet is hard to check months later.
- Scams that borrow the name. Pyramid schemes with names like the “flor” or “telar de la abundancia” have circulated in Latin America, and financial regulators in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia have warned about schemes that promise profits. A real junta is a fixed group of people who know each other, with no recruiting of strangers and no returns.
- Worries about the rules. People often ask whether juntas and cadenas are legal, or how they are taxed. We can’t give legal or tax advice. A dated record of every payment and payout at least means everyone in the group sees the same facts.
How do you run a junta with Savings Circle?
- Create the group. Pick a name type, such as “Tanda” or “Savings circle”, and give the group any name you like, such as “Junta de la oficina” or “Pasanaku del mercado”. Then set the currency, what each person pays per round and the schedule. US dollars and euros are supported, but not every Latin American currency is, so check the currency list first.
- 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, sent from your own phone.
- Record each payout. Every entry is dated. A correction is added as a new entry, and the original stays in the history.
You can share receipts and statements with members, and use Savings Circle on Android, on iPhone, on Apple Watch or 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 Mexico it is a tanda or cundina, and in the US and Canada it is also called a lending circle or savings circle. Elsewhere the same system is a committee in Pakistan and India, 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.
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