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The "pardner"
has been popular among Caribbeans in the UK since they started
arriving in England, and discovered credit services from banks
were not easy to come by. It engendered a good savings discipline
and allowed many to save to buy homes or cars.
Pardner
scheme
A group of people regularly deposit sums of money over a fixed
interval with a principal individual, the 'banker', in a central
fund. Each person in the group takes a turn in withdrawing
their 'hand', usually the total amount collected for that
week or month. It tends to operate amongst friends, families
or close groups of other kinds. It is more frequently used
for saving for smaller purchases, usually in conjunction with
other more formal borrowing or savings schemes.
Jamaican
Portia Grant formed Portia’s Partnership Savings Club
in May 2005 – and since then she has been offering services
to people who most need such help saving.
A Partner
is basically a partnership among people to save collectively.
“It
is a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA)…As
a registered company in the United Kingdom, we aim to deliver
a ‘Pardna Service’ with a difference,” said
Grant, whose company offers help to UK-based people from Afro
Caribbean and Asian backgrounds, whether they are middle income
families who need helping learning how to save; have limited
access to credit; are low income; are people who want access
to quick cash in emergency situation without the need of a
credit history or people who find it difficult to save normally
and want to actively save in ‘pardna group.’
She said
most her members prefer joining a saving scheme than a bank.
“A
bank is an OK place to keep money you’ve made –
so you can write everyday checks and pay your monthly expenses,
but it’s not a strong place to grow money,” she
said. “Our Partner club has proven to be an effective
ROSCA that has adapted well to the needs and culture of the
members. It’s a way of life’.”
She said
once they have joined her scheme, members will pay their pardna
through any of the Club 4 different bank accounts.
“Members
will be added to our database, and given a unique identification
number on their card. They will then be added to our network
where they will get regular communications and updates on
services. We do Weekly, Monthly, Forth- night and 5 weeks
investment. The shortest investment we do runs for 10 weeks,
and the longest investment runs for 10 months,” she said.
Saving
Start
small. Don't give up. Don't dip into your savings unless it's
an emergency. Did you know that if you saved £1 per
day and invested it at 3% annually, you could have almost
£27,500 in 40 years? This incredible figure is due to
'compound interest' (which is interest on interest over a
long period). The earlier you start saving, the more time
you leave for compound interest to take effect.
Whether
its with a partner scheme or in a bank, or under the mattress,
saving and investing is crucial to wealth.
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