Platform Rules
Susu Platform — Rules Every Member Should Know
This is a plain-English guide to how the platform works: joining groups, paying in,
getting paid out, your wallet, fees, and what happens if something goes wrong.
Read this once and you'll know exactly what to expect at every stage.
1. What a group is
A group ("susu") is a fixed circle of members who each contribute the same amount on a set schedule (daily, weekly, or custom days), and take turns receiving the whole pooled amount.
Every group has a contribution amount, a max number of members, and a payout order rule. You can see all of these on the group page before you join.
A group moves through four stages: open (still filling) → ready (full,
about to start or between rotations) → active (a cycle is currently running)
→ completed (closed by the admin — a historical record only, can't be joined
or restarted).
2. Joining a group
Paying your first contribution in full is the fisrt step in securing your membership spot in joining a susu group. The second step is when admin or an already existing member of the group guarantees and approve you to join the group. A partial payment never secures your first step of securing a seat — the seat stays open to anyone else until someone pays the full amount.
You can pay to join in three ways, when payments are switched on:
Wallet — pay entirely from your in-app wallet balance.
Combo — use whatever wallet balance you have, and pay the rest via online, wallet untouched.
If you only pay part of the amount (e.g. wallet covers part, and you don't finish the online leg), your wallet portion is held as a pending reservation.
Nobody else can be blocked by this — if another member completes their full payment first and fills the group, your held wallet amount is refunded to you automatically. If nobody fills the seat, your reservation just sits pending until you finish paying or it's refunded.
If the group has a guarantor (escrow) requirement switched on, paying in full doesn't grant you membership immediately — a current member or the Admin must approve your join first. Approving makes that member your financial guarantor for this group (see §6). If they reject you, or nobody decides within the approval window, you're refunded automatically and notified.
The very first member of a brand-new group can only be approved by the Admin — there's nobody else in the group yet to vouch for them.
3. Contributions and payout order
Contributions are due on the schedule the group was created with. Your wallet balance is automatically used to pay contributions as they come due, oldest first — you don't have to remember to pay manually if you keep your wallet topped up.
Payout order decides who receives the pooled money each round, and is set by the group at creation:
By reputation — members with higher reputation scores are paid earlier.
By join order — first to join, first paid.
Admin set — the Admin manually decides the order.
Once the group fills and the rotation starts, the payout order is frozen
A payout only happens once the full pool for that cycle is collected and
it's the group's scheduled payout day (or immediately, for "instant payout" groups with no fixed payout day). Each member is paid out exactly once per rotation.
If you fall behind on a contribution, other members can see (by name and score only — never your wallet balance or contact details) that you're behind on the
current cycle.
4. Late fees
Any contribution left
unpaid/partial past its due date (plus any grace period the admin allows) picks up a one-time late fee, calculated once and never recalculated later even
if the fee rate changes afterward.
A contribution with an outstanding late fee is only cleared when your wallet can cover both the contribution and the late fee together, in full — it won't quietly settle just the contribution and leave the fee outstanding.
5. Securing your seat for the next round.
While your current rotation is still running, you can pay in advance to keep your same payout position when the group refills for its next rotation — otherwise, once the rotation finishes, you'd have to compete for a seat with
everyone else on a first-to-pay basis.
You can pay for this the same way you'd pay a contribution: from your wallet, or via Paystack/Flutterwave. A contribution fee (see §8) applies to wallet payments the same way it applies everywhere else.
Paying doesn't instantly lock your seat becuase the group requires guarantor
approval — a member or the Admin still needs to approve it, the same as when you joined the group for the first time. Until approved, your payment is held safely. If the current rotation finishes before anyone approves your request, you are not kept on automatically — you're refunded, same as anyone who never paid.
You can also explicitly decline to auto-renew, at no cost, just to stop the reminder nudges — you can still change your mind and pay any time before the rotation ends.
6. Guarantors and vouching.
Approving someone to join a group you are in (or their next-round renewal, or a spot purchase)
makes you their financial guarantor for that group: if they're marked
insolvent (default) by admin after receiving their payout, the shortfall is deducted
from your wallet on every future due date until it's cleared.
Rejecting a someone's request to join your group instead refunds the person in full and carries no liability
for you.
If a covered member's debt is later cleared — by their own deposit or by a payout that gets redirected to cover it — you're notified and the member is reinstated in good standing.
Being marked insolvent is a deliberate Admin action, not automatic, and it
bans the member platform-wide until resolved.
7. Selling and buying spots (marketplace)
Once a rotation is running, you can list your spot for sale if:
you're an active member of a group that's currently running (status "ready"),
you haven't already received your payout this rotation,
you have no overdue contributions, and
you don't already have another active listing for this rotation.
Your asking price is always exactly what you've paid into the group so far
this rotation — it updates automatically as you pay more, and is never locked
in at listing time.
If a contribution comes due while you're listed and you don't pay it in time,
your listing is closed automatically. Pay what you owe and it reopens by
itself at the same (recalculated) price — you don't need to relist.
Buying a spot is wallet-only and gives you the seller's payout position
plus credit for everything they've already paid this rotation — you don't pay
that part in again. The purchase price is held from your wallet the moment
you pay, not released to the seller yet.
Every sale needs approval from a member or the Admin, exactly like a normal
join, and approving makes you the buyer's guarantor (see §6). If it's rejected
or nobody decides within the window, the buyer is refunded automatically.
You cannot cancel a listing while a sale is pending — only once it's approved,
rejected, or the window times out and it reopens.
Once you've received your payout for a rotation, you're barred from listing
again for that rotation. You're eligible again once a new rotation opens.
8. Fees
Contribution fee — an add-on charged on top of what you pay when joining
a group, buying into a group, or securing your next-round seat, if paid from
your wallet or combo.
Deposit fee — an add-on charged on top of the amount you choose to deposit
into your wallet.
Withdrawal fee — deducted from the amount you withdraw (your net payout is
never pushed negative by it).
Payout fee — deducted from a cycle payout before it lands in your wallet.
Fees, when set, may be a flat amount or a percentage, and may have a cap. Any
fee that applies is always shown to you before you confirm a payment.
9. Your wallet
Any money credited to you — payouts, refunds, marketplace sale proceeds — lands
in your in-app wallet.
Wallet funds are automatically used to pay your contributions as they come
due, oldest first.
You can deposit into your wallet.
You can request withdrawal to mobile money or a bank account once you've verified your
identity (KYC). Platform minimum withdrawal amount and a
withdrawal fee, both shown on the withdraw screen.
A withdrawal is blocked if you have an outstanding insolvency debt as a
guarantor (see §6) — you'll be notified why.
10. Identity verification (KYC)
You must complete identity verification before you can withdraw funds.
Use one account only — certain fields are unique and can't be reused
across multiple accounts.
Verification is done in sections; you can save progress and come back. Once
every section is complete, your submission goes to the Admin for review and
you'll see one of: not started, under review, approved, or rejected (in which
case you can resubmit).
11. Reputation score
Your score is an average of everything you've done that reflects reliability:
mainly how promptly you pay each contribution (paying earlier in the cycle
scores higher), plus KYC completeness, minus any penalties.
A higher score can mean earlier payout turns in groups that use "by reputation"
ordering, and is visible to other group members (alongside your name only).
12. Referrals
You get a unique referral link. Anyone who signs
up through it and then pays to join their first group earns you a reward
credited straight to your wallet — a flat amount or a percentage (capped, if
the admin sets a cap).
The reward triggers on their first successful paid join, however they pay
(wallet, combo, or online).
13. General rules that apply everywhere
Every payment you're asked to make is shown to you in full — amount, fee (if
any), and payment method — before you confirm.
Nothing is ever taken from your wallet without your explicit action, except
contribution auto-sweeps (§9) and guarantor coverage deductions you agreed to
by approving someone (§6).
Refunds, when they happen, are automatic — you're notified, and you don't need
to contact anyone to trigger them.
A completed group is permanent history — it cannot be reopened, rejoined, or
restarted.
This guide reflects how the platform behaves today. Some features (fees, late
fees, guarantor requirements, referrals) only apply if the Admin has switched
them on for this platform or for a specific group — check the group page for
group-specific settings.
