Getting your savings back when you leave a SACCO
Sacco Societies Act regulations; Co-operative Societies Act; Co-operative Tribunal · sources read 4 Oct 2026
To leave a SACCO, give written notice. The regulations set 60 days from your written notice for refunding your deposits, once your loans are repaid and you're no longer guaranteeing anyone. Shares aren't refunded, but you can transfer them to another member.
- Deadline
- Deposits refunded within 60 days of your written notice to withdraw
- Deadline
- Appeal a Co-operative Tribunal order to the High Court within 30 days of the order. The High Court can extend this for sufficient reason.
- Where
- Your SACCO's board (written notice); the Co-operative Tribunal for disputes
Steps
- Write to the SACCO board saying you're withdrawing from membership. Model by-laws ask for at least 60 days' notice; check your SACCO's own by-laws.
- Clear any loans you owe and get released from loans you guaranteed for others. Your deposits are refunded only after that.
- Transfer your shares to another member, since the SACCO won't refund them.
- If the SACCO doesn't pay, take the dispute to the Co-operative Tribunal, not the ordinary courts. You can also try settling it through mediation, including via SASRA.
Watch out
- You usually can't take out part of your deposits and stay a member. They're refunded only when you leave.
- For deposit-taking SACCOs the regulations say the SACCO 'may' refund within 60 days, so it's less strict than for other SACCOs.
- If you disagree with the Tribunal's decision, the appeal goes to the High Court.
Who this covers
- Members leaving a SACCO regulated by SASRA
- Members and past members in a dispute with their SACCO
Official sources (5)
- Sacco Societies (Non-Deposit-Taking Business) Regulations, 2020 (L.N. 82 of 2020) sasra.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Sacco Societies (Deposit-Taking Sacco Business) Regulations, 2010 (L.N. 95 of 2010) sasra.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Model By-laws for Regulated Non-Withdrawable Deposit Taking (Non-WDT) Sacco Societies ushirika.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Co-operative Tribunal ushirika.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Co-operative Societies Act, No. 12 of 1997 (Cap. 490) new.kenyalaw.org · read 4 Oct 2026