Membership fees

[krokodil]

I've received my annual letter regarding fees, no surprise they've gone up, explanation provided was credit crunch, dwindling member numbers etc.... I have no problem with this.
My beef is the club have involved an outside body to arrange the direct debits for which they are levying an additional fee. If I choose to pay the full amount in advance then I don't pay a fee- the club have my money in their account earning interest.( I checked, they earn a nice sum for this)

My question to all and sundry:
1. Are the club being unreasonable penalising for a service where the closts are spread out during the year anyway?
2. Should the club administer the dd forms- icant imagine that's a major headache?
3. Do all clubs sting you if you dont pay up front?

Thanks folks, not sure if I have a bee in my bonnet without justification.

 

[mikeyp74]

Only joined a course in September, and our fees run Jan-Dec, but they do the D/D option, and run it themselves, with no add-on for paying monthly.
For anyone who pays the joining fee they also let you spread that out with no additional costs.
Don't feel it's fair in your case.

 

[Imurg]

I would guess this is quite a common procedure. The Club wants your money. So you either pay up in one go and they've got your cash or you pay throughout the year. The only way a club can guarantee to get your money is by using DD. They use a finance company so they can still get all the money in at the start of the year and you then pay the Finance Company + a bit more for the privaledge of not having to cough up all in one go.

So the answers are

1. No as the club are still charging you the same amount - the balance goes to the Finance House
2. They could but they wouldn't get all the money in at the start and Direct Debits can be cancelled.
3. Yes but no - see 1.

Short answer is if you've got the cash then pay up and each round will cost you a little less than if you pay by DD. But the charges shouldn't be huge so it probably doesn't make much difference.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have an outside company that organise our DD's as well. There is a charge for the admin fee (I presume it is the cost passed onto the club by the service provider for offering the service). We also get hit if we pay by credit card (handling fee on that too!). Not sure what way I'm going to pay next year but probably looking for a dd as it is easier and I don't have to find the money in one hit.

 

[brendy]

I pay my 730 or whatever it is by DD, I think I get charged around 30 quid for the privilege, to be fair though it would be more of an incomvenience having to fork it all out in one go.

 

[StuartD]

We also have an outside company that organises our DD's and charge a fee. There is no surcharge for using a credit card which surprises me.

I have always put tmoney away into my instant access share ISA each month. That way i am paying the same amount each month as per the outside companies DD scheme but I get to keep the interest.

Thought I was clever doing this but it looks like I will be short this year unless the credit crunch ends soon

 

[krokodil]

Thanks guys, it seems that this method is par for the course (unintended!).

Stuart-sorry if I'm being thick but do you mean you chuck it in the year ahead to derive some interest from your ISA?

 

[StuartD]

Stuart-sorry if I'm being thick but do you mean you chuck it in the year ahead to derive some interest from your ISA?

Yes thats correct. It's worked well until this year

 

[cm_qs]

At my club, if you want to pay by direct debit, then you can and it's administered by the club but.......

and it's a big but.............

you need to pay your fees a year in advance and can only start this process after you've been a member for a year!

My fees for the first 3 years went something like this......

Year 1 - £500 joining fee + £500 fees ( year 1) - all up front lump sum

Year 2 - £500 fees - lump sum up front (for year 2) + £50 a month for 10 months by DD (year 3 fees in advance)

Year 3 - £50 a month for 10 months by DD(year 4 fees in advance)

On the bright side, I could chuck my membership tomorrow and get a year's golf with no monthly fees or a lump sum repayment which should cover any joining fee for an alternative club.

 

[Smiffy]

The "fairways" membership at the club I am going to join is either one lump sum of £525.00 or £250.00 deposit and 9 monthly payments of £33.00.
Doing it the latter way adds £22.00 to the cost, but I consider that a small price to pay over having to find the other £275.00 up front.
Rob