P9 Rules
This page houses an English translation of the rules for two versions of `Product 9`
Product Rules for P9 Hrishipara were written in early 2007 and have been revised once (the version shown here). They are about to be revised again as lessons are learnt.
Product rules for P9 Kalyanpur (Dhaka) were written in late 2010 and have not yet been revised
P9 Hrishipara Rules
Borrow and save at the same time using Shohoz Shonchoy’s interest-free loans!
Shohoz Shonchoy introduces a new account for people with low and irregular or unreliable incomes who have difficulty finding somebody to lend money to them, and who find it difficult to save. It is designed to provide you with liquidity while you build up your savings. It will not suit everyone, but if building up savings is important to you, you may like it.
Borrowing:
As soon as you open your account you can take an interest-free loan of 2000 taka and repay it whenever you like. As soon as you have repaid it in full you can take another bigger loan, and as soon as you have repaid that one you can take yet another loan. Loans rise in value by 1000 taka each time until 5000 taka, and then by 2000 taka each time until 15,000 taka, and then by 5000 taka each time. These are the maximum amounts allowed but of course you can always take a smaller loan if you want to. All these loans are interest-free, & you repay them whenever you like.
If you need extra cash while you are holding a loan, you can ‘top up’ your loan before you have completely repaid it. Suppose you took a loan of 7000 taka, and you have already repaid 4000 taka: now you can take 4000 taka again if you want to. However, you cannot increase the overall size of the loan: you must first repay it completely and then move on to the next level of loan.
Saving:
Each time you take a loan, or top-up a loan, you place one third of its value into a long-term savings account in your name at Shohoz Shonchoy. Shohoz Shonchoy will hold this money for you until it reaches 20,000 taka.
When your savings reach 20,000 taka you have three options:
Option one: you can stop borrowing and take back your savings.
Option two: you can continue borrowing and build up your savings to an even greater value.
Option three: you can stop borrowing but keep your savings in Shohoz Shonchoyand start earning profit on them.
Operating the account:
You must visit our branch office to take or to top-up loans. But Shohoz Shonchoywill send a collector to your home or workplace every few days to collect your loan repayments. You do not have to make a repayment every time she calls, but we strongly encourage you to repay as quickly as you can. By repaying quickly you can get bigger loans more quickly, and your savings grow more quickly. This is an individual service: there are no groups, no meetings and you are never responsible for other people’s loans.
Costs:
The loans (and top-ups) are completely interest-free. When you open an account you must pay an account opening fee of 100 taka, which covers your passbooks and photo. Each time you take a loan or top-up you pay a disbursement fee of 1% of the loan or top-up.
If you succeed in building your savings to 20,000 taka, you pay nothing else. But if you want to take back your savings before they reach 20,000, you can, but Shohoz Shonchoy will keep back 5% of their value as a fee for early termination of the contract.
Open an account with Shohoz Shonchoy today!
$= about 68 taka
P9 Kalyanpur (Dhaka) Rules
Borrow and save big amounts quickly using interest-free loans!
We introduce our new account for people who want a simple, flexible and very cheap way to borrow large amounts of money interest-free, and to build up large savings balances very quickly. It will suit all sorts of people, including small-business owners, regularly paid workers, casual labourers, the unemployed, housewives, students and children.
Borrowing
As soon as you open your account you can take an interest-free loan of 5,000 taka. When you have repaid it in full you can take another bigger loan, and when you have repaid that one you can take an even bigger loan. Loans rise in value each time as follows:
5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, 75,000, 100,000
These are the maximum amounts allowed but of course you can always take a smaller loan if you want to. All these loans are interest-free, and you repay them whenever you like to our collector.
If you need extra cash while you are holding a loan, you can ‘top up’ your loan before you have completely repaid it. Suppose you took a loan of 10,000 taka, and you have already repaid 4000 taka: now you can take 4000 taka again if you want to.
Saving
Each time you take a loan you place half of its value into a long-term savings account held by us in your name. Whenever you need to withdraw your savings you can, provided you first complete the repayment of your current loan (or set the loan balance off against the savings). There is no fee for withdrawing savings, but once you withdraw savings you will have to start your borrowing from the base level of 5,000 taka all over again – so it’s better not to withdraw your savings until you really need them!
We recommend that you set a savings purpose and target for yourself, such as “40,000 for Rina’s marriage” or “75,000 for Joshim’s business’. If you like, we will keep a record of your target purpose and amount, so that our staff can encourage you to keep saving.
Note: when you take a loan top-up, you need place only 10% of it into your savings, or more if you like.
Operating the account
You must visit our office to take or to top-up loans. Then we will send a collector to your home or workplace every few days to collect your loan repayments. She will come at a time convenient to you, and as often as you like. You don’t have to make a repayment every time she calls, but we strongly encourage you to repay as quickly as you can. By repaying quickly you get bigger loans sooner, and your savings grow faster. Our service is personal: there are no meetings and no groups, so you never waste time and you are never responsible for other people’s loans.
Costs
The loans (and top-ups) are completely interest-free. When you open an account you must pay an account opening fee of 200 taka, which covers your passbooks and photo. Each time you take a loan or top-up you pay a disbursement fee of 3% of the loan or top-up, which covers the visits by our collectors, and insurance cover so that your loan is forgiven if you die.
You make no other payments. Loans and top-ups are interest free. We will never ask you to pay anything except 200 for account opening (once only), and loan and top-up disbursement fees.
Why not open an account today, and enjoy your first loan?
$= about 68 taka