Agreed. I'm our chapter advisor and I also happen to be a lawyer. Those Omega Fi contracts are pretty airtight, and I haven't had to yet, but I may be taking a young man to small claims court pretty soon, and with the contract he signed, it'll be easy peasy for me to get a judgment.

I was loling all through your post, don't know if it's because these all-nighters are getting to me but it just reminded me of a conversation I had with our old VP Finance and he was saying the exact thing you said about Econ Goon. Econ Goon proved himself right in the numbers game, though, according to this school year's numbers.


This is what I tried to advocate after he got the chapter behind him.

We've suspended and expelled some members this semester and last semester. After we expel them for indebtedness, we usually don't see a dime from them.

We have our membership agreements and financial records via Quickbooks and a receiptbook, but that's all we have and I'm afraid it'll look less legit in the eyes of a judge.

Hey TGTKPinkWhalepq, I think I might be a little late to this convo but I thought my experience might help. When my boyfriend was treasurer for his chapter he started out using OmegaFi. He liked it however his chapter was a lot like yours, they were the smallest on campus (also the newest), were growing at very small increments each quarter, and were having problems getting their members to pay. As treasurer, he didn't like using OmegaFi because the percentage they charged the chapter (I think it was 8%) was for the entire collection amount. So although they helped send out email and paper reminders, he still had to do the heavy lifting by finding members on campus and getting them to pay. A lot of his members paid in cash too and he felt it wasn't worth the percent they paid OmegaFi because he was doing the work and most members didn't pay attention to the reminders anyway.

In 2008ish (I think) he switched his chapter over to ChapterBoard.com because they only charged him a percent on the money paid online (through their website). Any money he collected in person, he didn't have to pay a percent on and that helped save his chapter a lot. He sent a few members to collections and used a partner company of ChapterBoard, Parson-Bishop, which worked out really well (I think the two companies work together on collections).

I don't know if this helps at all, but I thought I'd share. My chapter uses ChapterBoard (not for payments) and they really like all the social tools. Also, my friend's brother's chapter just signed up and she said they got a lower rate because ChapterBoard is running some kind of matching deal. I'm not sure what that is necessarily, but it might be something to consider if you're still looking.

When I was on HCB, my chapter had a ridiculous time with a girl who deactivated but still had outstanding charges. At my school, we were able to freeze her school records so she couldn't register for classes or graduate and that was a HUGE bargaining chip for us. Not sure if you're able to do that (I think we were because our housing is partially campus housing) but something to look in to.

Also, to your comment about people not joining your chapter because you're "not living up to the image [you] sell", I think you should take this as constructive criticism. From my experience (as an alumnae I've served on House Corp. Boards and alumni boards), the strongest chapters are the ones who know who they are and are very proud of it. I think one of the worst things a chapter can do during recruitment is try to be something they're not. Like your friend said, the truth comes out eventually, whether it's during recruitment or after, and then you're just stuck with an active who doesn't want to be there (i.e. collection problems). I'd figure out who your chapter is on campus and within the Greek community, and embrace it. I'd also take time to focus on the internal relationships of your chapter and to improve the brotherhood. The worst thing during recruitment is when one brother bashes another to or infront of a pnm. If your members get along and actually like hanging out with each other, that'll show during recruitment events and entice pnm's to stick around.

I know it sounds corny to "just be yourselves", but from my experience it really works. As your chapter grows in membership, your rep on campus will grow and change too. My boyfriend's chapter is now one of the top houses and, when I was in school (2004) they were brand new and pretty much unknown to the entire Greek community.

Sorry for the long comment but hope all this helps!

A lot of our guys pay in cash too, so it's not about how we get the money from them. It's those guys who rack up several months of dues after we've paid their lifetime fees that really suck. I'd like to have some bills sent home so the parents know what kind of crap their kids are pulling.

If we increase our size, the percentage would be worth it if the rate of brothers who leave with money owed stays constant. I'm hoping that won't be the case though.

We've put an end to paying those lifetime fees. Lesson learned the hard way.

Chapterboard has potential, I'll look into it. We've had problems in the past convincing members to use things like Chapterspot, OrgSync, etc. I hate to admit it, but the men we recruit avoid anything e-mail related, so registering for these sites is a "hassle" in their eyes. Yet they can check Facebook every 10 minutes. :mad:

As for our image, it's a work in progress but we've been making strides, and we're starting to become more selective in recruitment. Next fall is make or break probably because we may be on "notice to close due to manpower" for the third time in the past five years and the second year in a row now.

We met our challenge in terms of recruitment this year, but it turns out our classification is about to change because HQ wasn't aware of a fraternity recently chartering on campus. Personally, I appreciate the cause for motivation but wish we were being motivated by different circumstances.

I know that PIKE nationally has agreed to use Omegafi as their primary chapter hosting website...my fraternity is considering using them as well, but I have been unable to find any sites that Omegafi currently hosts...can any of you post a link to some chapters that use Omegafi as their website host so I can see how they do things?

Got a quote for 13.5%, but we are a small chapter. I really like all the benefits that you get with Omega Fi, along with the potential for 100% collection rates. That is about $35/brother. I am hoping with more recruitment and brothers, the percentage rate will decrease.

This isn't just a suggestion for your chapter or situation, but I can see the potential for groups to use Omega Fi as a gateway to helping students learn about money management, credit ratings, and those sorts of things early on in life.