How a pardner works, and how to run one fairly
A pardner is a savings group run among people who trust each other. It is common in Jamaica, where many people say partner (as in “partner draw” or “partner plan”), and in Caribbean communities across the UK, where you will also hear pardna and pardner hand. Everyone pays the same amount into the pot each week or each month, and each time one member takes the whole lot, until everybody has had their turn.
In English, pardner is simply Jamaican for partner. A hand is each member’s regular payment into the pot, and the draw is the pot a member receives. In standard English the whole arrangement is a rotating savings club, or ROSCA.
Nobody pays anything extra and nobody gets back more than they put in. Whoever draws early gets a lump sum up front and pays it back through their weekly hands; whoever draws late is simply saving. People use their draw for a deposit, school costs, a trip home, a wedding or a bill that won’t wait.
Pardner has deep roots in Britain. The Bank of England Museum told its story in the exhibition Pardner Hand, calling it “a Caribbean answer to British banking exclusion”.
How does a pardner work?
Every pardner has a banker, the person who runs it, and every payment is a hand. Paying in is called throwing a hand, and collecting the pot is your draw.
- The banker brings the members together, usually family, friends, church members or co-workers, and agrees the hand (how much each person throws), how often (weekly is common) and how many draws there will be.
- Each member is given a draw date, which decides when they collect.
- Every week, members throw their hand: they pay the banker, in cash or by bank transfer.
- On each draw date the banker gives the full pot to that week’s member. When everyone has drawn, the pardner ends, and often a new one starts straight after.
Some groups let a member throw a half-hand, or one-and-a-half hands. If yours does, agree how that changes their draw before the first week. Some bankers also take a small fee out of the hand for their trouble; if yours does, everyone should know from the start.
Traditionally the banker keeps the whole thing in a notebook or on a paper calendar on the wall: the date the pardner started, how much the draw is, and who draws when.
How is the draw order set?
Traditionally the banker decides. Often the more established and trusted members are given early draws, while newer members wait until later, once they have shown they keep paying. Others ask for a draw date that lines up with a bill they know is coming. Some groups prefer to set the order at random, so nobody feels passed over.
Whichever way you choose, agree the method before anyone throws a hand, and write down who draws when. Many arguments in a pardner start with who goes first, and a clear, agreed order is the best way to avoid them.
What are sou-sou and box hand?
They are the same idea under other names. In Trinidad and Tobago it is a sou-sou (also written sou sou or su-su). Members throw a hand each week, the banker keeps the book, and each member collects the hand in turn. Many people keep a printed sou-sou calendar to track it. The word is heard in other islands too.
In Guyana it is a box hand. You throw box to pay in, and when your turn comes you draw your box hand. The name is used in Antigua and Barbuda as well, where it is often just called “box”. In Barbados the same arrangement is a meeting or meeting turn: members pay their meeting money each week and wait for their turn.
Ghana’s susu has a similar name but its own traditions; this guide is about the Caribbean.
What goes wrong in a pardner?
- Someone stops paying after their draw. Everyone who draws later loses out, and the banker is left to chase them. This is why bankers invite people they know well and give early draws to people who have always paid.
- Late hands hold up the next draw and put pressure on the banker to cover the gap.
- Arguments about who paid. A paper calendar or a long WhatsApp thread is hard to check months later, and it is the banker’s good name on the line.
- Fake “sou-sous”. In Trinidad and Tobago, regulators have warned that pyramid schemes are sometimes passed off as sou-sou. A genuine pardner or sou-sou promises no profit and doesn’t ask you to bring in new members: everyone gets back exactly what they put in.
- Questions about where the money came from. A draw can be a large sum, and at least one bank in Trinidad has said it will not accept sou-sou money as a source of funds. Keeping a dated record of who paid what, and when, is sensible, though no record can promise a bank will accept it.
People often ask whether pardner is legal. This guide isn’t legal advice; if you’re unsure about the rules where you live, speak to an adviser.
How do you run a pardner with Savings Circle?
- Create the group. Give it your own name, such as “Church pardner”, and pick a name type: “Savings circle” suits most pardners, or choose “Susu” if your group says su-su. Then set the currency, the hand (what each person pays per round) and the schedule.
- Add members from your contacts. They don’t install anything.
- Set the draw order. Let the app set the order at random in front of everyone, or enter the order you agreed. A random order saves its seed, so anyone can check later that it wasn’t changed. If two members agree to swap draws, the swap is recorded too.
- Record each hand as it is thrown, in cash, by bank transfer or by mobile wallet, with a screenshot as proof if you like. It works offline and syncs later.
- Send a friendly reminder. One tap opens WhatsApp, SMS or Telegram with a polite message ready to go.
- Record each draw. Every entry is dated. A correction is added as a new entry, and the original stays in the history. You can share a receipt with any member who asks.
Savings Circle never holds or moves money. Members throw their hand the way they already do; the app is the banker’s book of who paid, who draws next and what is owed. Use it on Android, on iPhone, on Apple Watch, or in the web app at app.savingscircle.app.
Other names for the same idea
It is pardner or partner in Jamaica and the UK, sou-sou in Trinidad and Tobago, box hand in Guyana and meeting turn in Barbados. Around the world the same system is a committee in Pakistan and India, a susu in Ghana, a tanda in Mexico, 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.
How does pardner money work?
Pardner money is the pot in a pardner, or pardna, savings group. Every member pays the same hand each week or month, and one member takes the whole pot, called the draw. Nobody pays interest or earns it. Savings Circle keeps the record of each hand and draw, so the banker and members can see who has paid and who is next.
What is a pardner?
A pardner is a rotating savings group in Jamaica and among Caribbean families in the UK, also called pardna or partner. Members pay a fixed hand into a pot, and each round one person takes the draw until everyone has had a turn. Savings Circle keeps the record of who has paid and who draws next.
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