Bill Highway - Like it or Hate it?

[dzmindy]

Or somewhere in between?

I'm the house corp treasurer for our chapter and while the chapter itself started using BH this semester, house corp has not yet folllowed suit. I've actually polled some of the parents of the older active members and they have not been impressed with the service, not to mention the other changes that would be required if/when house corp also changes over. One of the parents even noted that she wasn't able to use the credit card she wanted to use to pay the bill because BH told her they couldn't take it due to the expiration date being so far into the future (2013), which seems kind of odd to me. Personally, we already have almost a 100% collection rate (we sent a total of 4 members to collections in the past year, and two paid off immediately; another paid at the start of the semester when she found out dad hadn't paid yet) and I don't see the need to make the change. I'd like to get some input from others regarding their experiences with this company.

Thanks in advance!

[cuteASAbug]

As a finance person for my sorority, I've heard mixed things about it. Personally, as a volunteer, I love it because it is accessible from any computer and when a chapter tries to pull the "oh the check is in the mail" with me, I can look up their transactions and see if they wrote the check or not. I've heard complaints from collegians about it, but officers like it because it makes their jobs easier.

[kchaptergphib]

I haven't worked with it personally, but I wasn't super-impressed with the presentation of the system, and was surprised how gung-ho some advisors were about it.
First of all, for a chapter (more often the sororities, and the ones that are well-run and have a tough collegiate Financial VP) that keeps most all members up-to-date financially it's absolutely unnecessary.
At one of the meetings by someone from Automatic Payment Highway (or whatever the program was called) I remember him saying that you couldn't pay by credit card until the bill was overdue, so that's not worth it at all, then. This was over 2 years ago, though, so I imagine they'd have changed that rule by now.
Also, your funds are essentially part of the (albeit FDIC insured) bank that Automatic Payment Highway uses. So APH gets all the benefits of your large financial deposits, and you don't. This was kind of the main kicker for me. If you have a good relationship with the bank you currently use, why switch to one that is so far away from you?!
So, in summation, if your collegiate FVP does a good job (doesn't let members continue to participate when they have outstanding bills), if you have a good relationship with the bank that you currently use, and especially if you cannot pay by credit card, I would say it's definitely NOT worth it.
For the (sorry to pick on 'em) chapters, often the less-organized fraternities, who will have seniors who haven't even paid initiation fees, and who have rather lackadaisical financial chairs, I'd say it'd have more of a value.
Good luck with your decision. Make sure it's a good deal for you.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by kchaptergphib

For the (sorry to pick on 'em) chapters, often the less-organized fraternities, who will have seniors who haven't even paid initiation fees, and who have rather lackadaisical financial chairs, I'd say it'd have more of a value.

Well, the fact is at small chapters, sometimes it's not a matter of organization, there just isn't anyone who's that comfortable with numbers. It makes things easier for them.

Seeing as this is a house corp (i.e. adult alumnae, not collegians) I'm guessing even if they all are numbers dumb, they have easy access to someone who is not to help them out or know where to get that help. Mindy, if you're happy with the bank you're using now, I'd just keep things as they are.

[PhiMu_Lindz]

Originally Posted by kchaptergphib

I remember him saying that you couldn't pay by credit card until the bill was overdue, so that's not worth it at all, then. This was over 2 years ago, though, so I imagine they'd have changed that rule by now.

My chapter uses Bill Highway ... and this rule still exists for us. It is nice to be able to easily pay online, but you have to pay by e-check, which is very annoying when you leave your checks and home and have no clue where they are. I don't really want to make my parents spend time searching for them, but now, I don't have numbers to use to pay. So, I end up waiting until like 5 days late and then paying by credit card and the small extra late charge. So yea, bill highway-- its good and bad....

[DoubleTDG]

My chapter used Greek Bill, and I must say it was more of a hassle than anything else.

My big issues was I always paid all of my dues upfront and then paid for t-shirts later, Greek Bill took the money I paid then the t-shirts I ordered were deducted out of my dues so it was not until second semester that I actually owed money for dues and had to be credited for the checks I had turned in for the t-shirts.

Greek Bill took my dues money for the whole year and then promptly lost it. It took 3 months for them to find the money that was taken out of my checking account by them. Now during these three months I was continually on the phone with the company, and they did not seem prepared for something that happened. (They kept telling me I needed to pay.) I had to show our VP Finance that I had infact put in enough money for the entire year by showing the debit on my bank statement from Greek Bill.

We also had issues of people not paying saying they had mailed a check into Greek Bill. Originally it was nice to be able to say to Greek Bill t-shirts, but that was quickly revoked when people would not pay for their shirts.

[MMiller]

My chapter considered all of the above and decided on EasyDues. I think that there are positives and negatives to every service, but EasyDues was far less expensive than the other companies and is exactly what our chapter needed. We could handle our collections on our own, but EasyDues has made it really easy to manage the collection and all the finances (plus the alumni directory etc. helped our chapter in other ways).

[denimeans]

My chapter used it my senior year. For a full year out of school, I was still getting annoying and sometimes alarming emails saying I had a bill due--becuase at some point I had overpaid the chapter by $40. I told the chapter to keep the money and stop sending emails, but they had problems removing me and some of my fellow alumni.

I paid my bills to Bill Highway through Chase bank's E-bill pay becuase I had a bad experience using an electronic check system once. Even though Chase said my bill had arrived on time, and even early, Bill Highway kept charging me a $5 late fee every month.

Don't use it. It's not a good system.