Dear All,
Across many communities, collective savings groups have long helped families achieve important financial goals. Built on trust, discipline, and mutual support, these groups allow members to contribute regularly into a shared pool of funds that can then help one family at a time secure a housing deposit.
Community savings groups are also known as:
- Rotating savings groups
- Collective deposit circles
- Savings circles
Common global names for community savings groups, known across many cultures, include: Susu, Tanda, Cundina, Hui, Kye, Tanomoshi, Jam’iyya, Chit Fund, Kameti, Pardner, Sou-Sou / Sandoh / Sandokh / Sundoq, Whānau fund, Merry-go-round, Stokvel, and more.
It is a powerful model because it demonstrates the strength of communities supporting one another through collective savings.
But while the model has many strengths, it can also create unavoidable challenges:
- Helping one family at a time.
- From a responsible mortgage brokering assessment perspective, does Family #1 declare in the loan application their ongoing monthly commitment to support the next families in the savings group — Families #2, #3, #10, and beyond?
- The longer the waiting period, the greater the risk that affordability moves further out of reach and younger families delay building equity during critical wealth-building years.
For one family, the model creates opportunity now. For another, it may delay opportunity until much later. For example, property prices may continue rising, borrowing capacity may change, rental costs may increase, family circumstances may shift, and motivation and momentum can be lost.
No Need to Wait
Instead of asking, who gets helped first? AffordAssist delivers a solution designed to help everyone buy sooner.
AffordAssist offers a different pathway. Buyers may be able to purchase sooner by pairing a home loan with AffordAssist, an interest-free deferred deposit solution, delivery a smarter alternative to cash deposits.
“If you are actively saving, disciplined, and committed, AffordAssist’s interest-free deferred deposit solution, with as little as $1,000, can support you today.”
This solution changes everything, by creating greater fairness across the group.
AffordAssist is an Interest-Free Deferred Deposit Solution
AffordAssist’s industry-leading governance process considers three interconnected aspects of a home loan structure, each essential to building long-term financial resilience and generational wealth:
- Access — A flexible deposit solution, buy with as little as $1,000 (read related article)
- Borrow Less — Borrow smarter, save interest, and build equity faster (read related article)
- Safety — The ability to exit (read related article)
Home loans paired with AffordAssist can help committed applicants.
Read related article: When Housing Affordability Becomes a Social Enterprise Outcome
Community Values + Social Impact
Collective savings groups represent something valuable: people backing each other through discipline, trust, and shared financial commitment.
AffordAssist complements that spirit by aligning community-driven saving behaviour with an industry-leading social enterprise financial structure designed to reduce the time cost of waiting and help more families buy sooner.
Regards
AA
B2B – AffordAssist facilitates and oversees the governance process. Are you a mortgage broker, lender, developer, real estate agent, affordable housing advocate, a community leader or housing minister? Pair your services with AffordAssist. Join us in our mission to expand access to home ownership. Together, we can make a lasting impact.
#Housing #HomeOwnership #AffordableHousing #CommunityWealth #PropertyMarket #MortgageBroker #AffordAssist #CommunitySavings #BorrowLess