Club Subscriptions
by Direct Debit ?

Every year, during the period between the end of the fiscal year in March and the AGM in June, the MCofS has cash-flow problems. The reason for this is that there is no revenue stream from clubs until the per capita subscription rate is decided at the AGM. MCofS has no substantial reserves with which to bridge the gap.

This problem would not be so acute if clubs would agree to pay at least part of their annual subscription by direct debit (DD). A possible scenario is as follows: Each club would complete a DD mandate in favour of MCofS. At the beginning of every new fiscal year MCofS would debit each club for an amount equal to the previous year's per capita subscription multiplied by the number of members listed on the MCofS database at that time. Later in the year, after subscriptions have been decided at the AGM and clubs have a better idea of membership numbers and have notified MCofS, each club would be invoiced for any outstanding amount, or given a refund, as appropriate.

Many people dislike the idea of giving someone carte blanche to take unspecified amounts of money from their bank account, but the DD system has built-in safeguards:

1. the DD mandate can be cancelled at any time
   
2. advance notice of the amount to be debited must be provided if the payer requests it, and MCofS would notify clubs in advance.

Would your club agree to a direct debit scheme ? Please make your views known.

 YOUR COMMENTS 

Harry D. Hornby wrote:
Sorry to be cheeky but I work for a BACS bureau who could take all the hard work out of collecting these direct debits. Many other clubs and societies especially Golf Clubs are realising the benefits of DD and encouraging their members to sign up.The technology is holding some people up though.

Mark Williams wrote:
As an individual member living in England I would very much support the use of Direct Debit.

Stephen Browning writes:
Regarding the Direct Debit Question our Club (Air Na Creagan) may be willing to support this however, only by paying a set percentage.

As a fairly new club we would be concerned of a drop off in our own membership numbers and like the MC of S and probably many other clubs at this particular time we also may have cash flow problems and as such a DD may theoretically put our club in the Red! However, a percentage payment with the balance to follow would be agreeable, which would therefore assist in alleviating the cash flow problem for the MS of S.

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