Former pledge being bullied by fraternity for money
 

I pledged a fraternity for an entire semester, and became a neophyte. The chapter balled me, (for not paying any dues and other reasons... I was about to drop as a neophyte anyway, I didn't have the money).

Now the fraternity is telling me I still owe them $600 of the pledge semesters' $755 (the extra $155 is the initiation fee which I obviously won't be there for).

They have told me that if I don't pay before December 10th, they are sending my debt to a collection agency. I believe that this chapter uses the Omega system by the way... if that makes any difference.

Do they have a right to do this? CAN they do this? I refuse to pay for something that I am not a part of, but I am seriously worried about having my credit ruined by some sleezeball collection agency. What information does this chapter need about me to send my debt to a collection agency? What can I do?

You participated, you pay up. I'm sure you signed something pertaining to that. What, you didn't read it? Guess what, that's not the fraternities' fault.

If they do send it to a collection agency, which they are probably within their rights to do, your only recourse against your credit history is to contact the credit bureaus to dispute the debt.

My chapter uses Omega Financial and if you signed something then you’re going to have a tough time getting out of it. However, keep in mind that when the chapter sends someone to collections they only get a percentage of the money owed and the rest goes to the collection agency. With that in mind I’d talk the treasurer and discuss paying less then what is owed. Treat it like a negotiation. If you’re refusing to pay anything well it’s no surprise their looking to stick it to you. Meet them in the middle. It’s not worth screwing up your credit.

Thank you Kevlar, that was helpful

Ask to see paperwork that you signed

Then why did you choose to pledge when you didn't have any money to contribute towards dues?

I want to know why he thinks he is being "bullied". We have two threads going on the same topic and the bottom line is that he owes the fraternity the money.

I would say that he feels that way because he doesn't want to pay up.

Wait until the collection agent starts calling. You haven't seen bullying yet.

You should have already paid your dues up to that point. You were responsible for the $600 in services rendered. Sucks that you got balled but maybe it had something to do with you not paying your dues.

You're not being bullied. You're being a turd.
Pay the money, quit whining, and grow up.

Amen

He said it did:

Welcome to adulthood, house98.

You owe the fraternity money because you participated in their events for a semester even though you were not initiated. The recruitment chair, social chair, alumni chair, brotherhood chair, etc. all have budgets for their events. The money for those events comes from dues! Their budgets are based on how much money they will get from dues, which is dependent on the number of members in the chapter, so it doesn't really matter if you go to those events or not. Not to mention, the chapter has to pay a per capita insurance. Plus, if the chapter you pledged owns/rents a house, they require money to pay the salaries of any staff that work there (cooks, cleaners, landscapers if applicable), as well as food, upkeep, furnishings, insurance, and property taxes.

Definitely talk to the VP Finance/Treasurer of the chapter and he will be able to give you a break down on all the financials of the chapter (i.e. where the money goes). He can probably show you something you signed to the effect of agreeing to pay your debts upon termination of membership.

The chapter would probably rather not send you to collections since they will only see a portion of the $600 you owe. They'd probably rather settle the debt and cut their losses. See if you can pay less than what you owe, but more than what the chapter would get if they took you to collections. It's win-win, because you'll pay less money and they'll receive more money than if they took you to collections.

If you play....you must pay!
 

If you have been participating for several weeks, you don't get those perks for free.
If you played, you need to pay up. If you are late to pay, you need to pay a late fee, interest or get ready for Omega Financial to help you remember it for a long, long time.

What everyone else has said!

You owe the money. Sounds like something more than this is going on!

Uh...we already said that. You don't need to rephrase it.

And, what is your point?

Pay your debt and move on with your life.

If you signed an Omega contract, you will be responsible for both your debt AND collection fees. If you ignore Omega, you can be taken to small claims court and trust me when I tell you that you don't want a small claims judgment on your credit report.

The fraternity is being nicer about it than I would be. We generally cut people off if they miss even one payment.

Pay your bill.

I know that right now you can't possibly be seeing this the way many on this site are. I will admit that some of their responses are a bit harsh.

The fact of the matter is that you will need to pay this bill some way or another.
The good thing about this experience is that you will think a little harder about what you want and what is involved in that. Sometimes I wish that sororities and fraternities could have a program that would help pay dues (like schools with scholarship). There are a lot of great people out there that would be great greek members but are put off by the costs which are rarely set in stone.

I do think also that every organization should make sure and inform their members about the costs of being part of such an organization. Luckily, my mother was part of a sorority and said that no matter where I joined that she would pay the dues.

If only our organizations could have such a program.... ( I honestly think that is why so much of society views our groups as elitests who view others as lowly - which just isn't true. )