Lending Layer
Community-governed credit
When members of a circle need access to capital before their rotation turn, they can apply for a loan from the circle pool. Member vote approves it. Repayment history feeds the trust engine.
Currently in development
The lending layer is fully scaffolded but disabled until our regulatory engagement with Bank of Jamaica is complete. Savings circles work today.
How lending works
Member submits a loan proposal: amount, repayment schedule, reason.
Other members review and vote according to the circle's governance rules.
If passed, funds are released from the circle pool through multi-sig signature.
Repayments flow back into the pool and feed the borrower's trust score.
Failure to repay is handled through the dispute system — never automatically.
Why community lending works
People who know each other personally are dramatically less likely to default than anonymous borrowers. Social trust + collective accountability outperforms institutional credit scoring for many real-world cases.
Circl encodes this trust into a transparent record — without replacing the human relationships that make it work.