Staying safe in a circle

Savings circles run on trust, and trust is easy to abuse. SocietyLedger is built so that no single person, including an officer, can quietly move money or change the records. These are the facts and habits that keep you safe.

What SocietyLedger does and does not doCopy Anchor Link

• It never holds your money. Contributions go into your circle's own bank account, or into a collector's hand, never into a SocietyLedger account. Payouts are paid by your circle from its own account.
• It never sends money. When a payout is paid, an officer records the bank's reference. SocietyLedger does not make the transfer.
• It records and checks. It records every payment and gives you a receipt, works out who is owed what, and makes sure the people who handle money cannot also approve it alone.

Habits that protect youCopy Anchor Link

• Pay only to the account shown in the app. When you open Pay, the circle's bank details are shown there. Do not pay to an account a friend or a message gives you, even if it looks like the circle's.
• Keep your payment proof. After a transfer, you attach the slip or screenshot. Keep the original until an officer confirms the payment and you have a receipt.
• A receipt is your proof. You get a receipt only when a payment is confirmed. A payment that is only reported has no receipt yet. If a collector takes your cash, check that it appears in your savings the same day.
• Never share a code. A phone confirmation code, your password and your login are for you alone. Officers and collectors never need them.
• Lock your phone and the app. Turn on the app lock in your settings so no one else can open your savings if your phone is lost.

Protecting a payoutCopy Anchor Link

A payout is the moment a scam would try to catch. Several checks sit in the way:

• Your payout account is yours. You enter it, and only you and the circle's officers can see the full number. Everyone else sees only the last four digits.
• Changing it pauses payouts. If you change your payout account, a payout cannot be approved for 72 hours. A thief who changed your account would have to wait, and you would be told. Any payout waiting is cancelled, and you are asked to check the new details.
• It must be verified. SocietyLedger checks that your name matches the account name, that your phone is confirmed and that your address is filled in. A payout is never prepared for someone who is not verified.
• Three different people. One officer prepares a payout, a different admin approves it, and the payout is then recorded as paid. An admin has to enter their password to approve. A circle with a single admin can approve its own payout only by confirming it twice and leaving a note, and everyone in the circle is told.
• Reasons are recorded. Every reversal, waiver and cancelled payout has a reason and a name against it, and members of a rotating pot can see the circle's activity.

For officers and adminsCopy Anchor Link

• Confirm against the bank statement, never against a screenshot alone. A proof can be edited. SocietyLedger warns you when the same proof or bank reference was used before.
• Do not confirm your own payment, or count your own cash. A second person should do it.
• A guarantor is a record, not a law. SocietyLedger records that someone agreed to stand behind a member. It does not create or enforce a legal guarantee, and it never takes money from a guarantor.
• Nothing is taken from other people's savings. If a member falls behind, SocietyLedger helps you record the case and agree a repayment plan. It never takes money from others to cover it.