OmegaFi
 

Does anyone know what percentage their commission is?

I've seen 30% and I've seen 10%. 10% is easy to swallow but 30 :eek: is not feasible. I'm sure it depends on services offered, but I'd like to know if anyone here can help me out.

My chapter just expelled several members for outstanding debt (over 60 days, though a few were long past that) and we are considering OmegaFi as a means to ensure we have better collection from former and current mems.

Your best bet is to talk with one of their representatives because it varies by chapter size, services offered, etc. I've not seen it as high as 30% but we (Alpha Gam) have a contract with them for all of our chapters.

I filled a contact form out earlier when I was browsing their site. I'm getting mixed feelings about no automated response but maybe that's just impatience on my part.

I haven't been a treasurer since sometime around 2001. That said, IIRC, their commission was based on a formula. The more the chapter was paying through Omega Fi, the lower the percentage was.

If you can afford it, it's a very good deal. Treasurers already have a lot of stuff to deal with. Actually getting people to pay dues on time and in full is a lot to ask from someone who is usually trying to focus on school, fraternity, etc.

About a decade ago, when I was using Omega Fi, we went from a horrible collection rate to over 100% (which is possible when people prepay a semester's dues). Again, I highly recommend those folks. There are other dues collection services out there, but none really compare.

So in other words, the smaller chapters - who, it can be argued, need this service even more since their members likely have multiple offices and since they have less $ to work with - have to pay more, while large chapters pay less?

That's not really fair. If they don't want to work with smaller chapters, then they should just say they need a minimum of x members to take on the account, not gouge people.

We were in a bad situation at the beginning of the semester because the VP Finance that we elected last November didn't make grades and we had to find someone else.

Thankfully the new VPF learned to use quickbooks recently and even discovered we have $8,000+ in accounts recievable from ex-members and alumni over the past 6-8 years. I know we'll be lucky to see any of that but we just expelled four members who owed ~$1,500, and we can't afford to let that disappear.

Plus current members not over the debt limit like waiting til the last day to pay, and that amount will vary between $1000-$2000 at any given time until the end of the month. Our current size is now 26, with 4 more graduating this semester and we're paying HQ insurance for 30 members this fall and next spring.

Just trying to give the summary of our situation. Hopefully our chapter collection rate will follow the same path ya'll's did. I'm President right now and just helping our VPF squeeze pockets and pay bills is turning my hair grey!

Oh dear, well this could bode ill for us then.

It's not gouging, it's a business model. The chapter can just say no. Alternatively, the chapter can ask their HQ to negotiate better terms across the org.

That's what I was going to ask/hope most HQs would do. TGTKPinkWhalepq - I would check and see if your HQ has done this.

This is probably because (and this is speculation, but it seems reasonable) there are certain fixed costs associated with servicing each account, so smaller chapters aren't going to be as profitable, therefore, they'll pay more.

Also, with larger chapters, when we're talking about funneling hundreds of thousands through Omega Fi rather than tens of thousands, there's a lot more money to be made.

Omega Fi does a very good job, when I was using them about a decade ago, our chapter was very small, less than 20. We're a lot larger now, but it was a good deal then and it's a good deal now.

33 Our HQ does recommend using OmegaFi. I'm not sure how much pull they have with them. I just got a response from one of their reps and will be gathering the necessary details for her today. We have to get this ok'd by our Alumni Board and simple majority of the chapter too.

Also in Bylaws Committee we are proposing an increase in dues as well. If I never post again after next Sunday the chapter may have resorted to mob violence.

Kevin, what kind of action did your chapter take to improve in numbers? We are training our Recruitment Committee this month with some Phired Up reps that the school paid for and some Alum are helping us with a freshman scholarship program :)

I like this person :)

Total side note- this happened when I was a freshman. The Treasurer didn't make grades, and I am 99% sure that she was told she was still in the sorority and still had her duties to perform, it's just that she couldn't do any of the actual "fun" stuff, including basically anything else that dealt with the sorority, for the rest of the semester. I'm sure you can all guess what her reply was. :)

Not to say you don't need a dues increase, but have you looked at doing payment plans that reward early payments/punish later payments? For example, if you pay the whole semester up-front, you pay $1500/semester, but if you don't pay up-front, you pay $400/month for 4 months.

I'm always amazed to see "payment plans" that really just let people spread their dues out over a bunch of payments but don't give anyone a reason to pay up front. I certainly understand working with women who hit a one-time financial bump, but letting everyone pay late with no consequences is a problem.

I fully agree with this. My chapter actually has a bylaw stating that payment plans may only be granted to "x" number of girls per semester. We do give people time to pay dues, though. They just have to be paid by the second business meeting of the semester. If a member doesn't pay dues, they go into financial poor standing, which means no fun stuff. If a member is in poor standing for two semesters in a row their membership can be brought up. This system works well for us. There are ways to make exceptions for women with extenuating circumstance, but it's not so lenient that we have a problem with everyone paying dues late.

We require members to make a semester GPA .2 higher than the chapter minimum in order to hold executive office or a judicial spot. If they don't we usually ask them to resign their position and we elect someone else.

The last member we allowed to have a payment plan racked up $587 in debt-only bought one shirt so the balance is odd:confused: and our new VPF lost the copy of the plan for a while so we didn't know how bad it was.

Oh we do need an increase. We increased a yearly total of $100 last fall to $900, and IMO we need to increase by another 150-200 so we can afford to offer those types of incentives. Everyone is griping about dues going up because they are used to paying out of pocket for events at their option, "nickel and diming," etc, and then COMPLAINING that our events are low-quality, instead of paying through their dues and having higher quality events b/c everyone would be pitching in. Granted, money doesn't = fun but it provides comfort, security, and an appearance of class. Paying bills and eating sardines while watching That 70's Show at the house isn't as fun as having formals, mixers, other events, though I have made some amazing memories here.

I REALLY respect that.

Ditto. I just remember my story as a side note- didn't think it'd actually be an option. Just thought it was somewhat amusing.

It sucks sometimes in a small chapter, but people stay focused on the important stuff when we enforce standards.

We did this to some actives a few years back. They didn't make grades again and both resigned from the chapter because they knew they'd be expelled for not making grades two semesters in a row. Don't like that bylaw either but when we follow it our GPA seems to improve/stay high.

Oh and I got in touch with OmegaFi! They gave me a quote and it was not bad at all. Way less than 10%. If out Alumni Corporation consents we're going to have them collect rent too. Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful relationship :P

Wait, you throw girls out for not making grades two semesters in a row? Are you an NPC group?

No definitely not...we're actually IFC :p

Our national minimum is a 2.6 beginning next semester. Our local minimun was already a 2.6.

And we do allow them to be reinstated but only once, for any reason.

Just thought I would update the thread: My chapter will probably refuse to use OmegaFi. We have an Econ major who has demonstrated that it is more cost effective to enforce our bylaws concerning collection, suspension, and expulsion, and even to write off some losses if need be. I'm kinda bummed out because we're missing out on that $$, the alumni board is bitching at us ( by us I mean me, it just makes me feel better to pretend that the frustration is directed at the other officers as well) because they're having trouble collecting rent from the brothers living in the house. ****

It's not just in recruitment, it's in retention. Both work hand in hand. You have to build an organization that people want to be a part of to the exclusion of others and that they want to stay a member of. And for that, it's all about creating a great first impression, creating a distinct image on campus and about building an internal culture to match that image. It's easier said than done.

I'd hold that econ major to it then. Yes, it's always cheaper if people would just pay. That goes without saying. But unless you're changing something with regard to enforcement, then nothing is going to change. In my experience, Omega Fi not only improved our collection rate, it also made the Treasurer position a lot easier.

In a chapter without Omega Fi, I imagine the financial performance of the chapter can vary widely, since you get a new treasurer every year. At least you can have probably the most important component of the Treasurer's job, realizing revenue, taken care of.

We make an awesome first impression is what most of our recruits have told me, whether they joined or not. The main problem we have is having a distinct (favorable) image and an internal culture that is consistent with that. The friends I made recruiting that went elsewhere always pointed out that we sell something different from every chapter on campus, but we're not living up to the image we sell, and that became apparent as they got to know us over time.

Do you know any chapters that have dealt with this issue?

We're the smallest chapter on campus so we have a great chance to align ourselves with the image we want. Average size on campus is 45+, and we'll have 17 or 18 going into this fall.

I told him that we needed to ensure collections not only from current members but from guys that leave with outstanding balances, and he just emphasized that we can't afford the short-term losses of Omega's 5% collection fee they quoted and we should just write off those losses. He's got more knowledge on the topic and better public speaking skills than me so my plan is to get some older members, like our former Pres and VP Finance to present the case in Chapter for using the service.

Your econ major sounds like a complete goon. What's your current collection rate? OmegaFi claims that most chapters using their service have an average collection rate of 96% or better. At least, that's what my last Term Review, a document that they generate for us at the end of each semester which gives us an overall financial analysis of how our chapter did during the semester, stated. If your current collection rate is anything less than 91%, then, if your chapter performs on average with OmegaFi, then the service will be paying for itself. If your current collection rate is only 85%, and OmegaFi could get you 96%....well after taking out that 5% fee, what you know you would have a whole 6% more money than what you were pulling in on your own. You stated earlier that your yearly dues are $900 right? So currently $450 per semester? So that extra 6% you'd be pulling in is like pulling in an extra $27 per member. What else can you do with $27 per member? More programming? more parties? More chapter expenses that you haven't been able to afford before?

The service pays for itself. Not to mention the features. Online payments (okay, yeah, you could use google checkout or paypal, but guess what? you pay fees to use those too). Paper statements mailed home, and email notifications sent out. Not just a "hey dude, you owe $$XXX. Pay your bill." Plus, if parents are paying the bill rather than the student, they like the professional notification of a statement. And if the parent has questions about the bill, they call call OmegaFi, rather that trying to hunt down the treasurer of the chapter, who is a college student, who they "probably" don't have must trust in anyway....And what treasurer wants to talk to Brother Joe's parents about money anyway? I have no desire to talk to my sisters parent's: they are big girls, they can take care of themselves. If mom and dad pay their bill, that's between them. I just care that dues get paid...I don't care how.

So Econ Goon thinks 5% is not worth the features and benefits, huh? If dues at $900 per year, then 5% is $22.50 per semester..... So increase dues to $472.50 per semester to offset the cost. That's less than $6 a month if you bill in 4 monthly installments. If your members can't afford a $6 increase per month in order to benefit the whole chapter's financial situation which would also increase their quality of membership, then they have serious issues.

While your econ major brother may be right, once he is out of the chapter the ability to do what he can do may be limited. What is great about Omega Fi is that they will be there beyond the current members and alumni/advisors, therefore able to hand these situations in the long term. Having this handled by someone who isn't a current member cuts down on internal issues. It now isn't a conflict between brothers, but a brother being handled by Omega Fi.

That 5% they take may or may not be less than the money your chapter would spend. When you look at the other costs, time mailing certified letters, filing in small claims court, kicking people out and all of the associated butt hurt and dramatics, that 5% may be worth it.

One of the issues I frequently encountered with chapters who were having collections problems was that they didn't have the documentation required to use a collection agency. Omega builds all of that in so that there are invoices, etc. The threat of non-payment actually affecting a college student's credit rating gets them paying too. Additionally, collection agencies charge significantly more than 5%.

Enforcing payments usually means having to suspend the membership of a member or two before people start to take it seriously and you still don't get the money owed to you.

Pull some hard numbers to make your case. Figure out what that 5% means in dollars for your chapter and how much has gone uncollected.

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.