Development interventions, specifically rural financial services, seek to bring positive changes in traditional rural agrarian contexts. However, short-sighted interventions can cause long-term societal, environmental, and economic challenges. Drawing insights from long-term ethnographic research on the social and economic implications of rural financial services in rural Bangladesh, this study cautions that sometimes development interventions by local non-government organizations (NGOs) contribute to the creation of long-term debt and dependency cycles on NGO services among their beneficiaries. While creating dependency or a debt trap is not usually the intentions of NGO services, mechanisms can strengthen the bonds between the NGOs and their beneficiaries who enter a complex relationship. This study argues that a lack of any locally feasible exit plans or sustainability roadmaps can contribute to strong bonds between NGOs and recipients, akin to world system models of dependency, rather than empowerment.