Membership fees not collected for years and I've only just realised

Grant90s

I have a bit of a financial and moral dilemma I'd like your thoughts about, and legal opinion if you have one.
I joined a small sports club of about 60 members around 5 years ago. When joining I gave my bank details for them to set up a monthly direct debit. This I believe is the norm for all members. This monthly direct debit was for a £17, which I did see going out of my account at the time. The membership fee goes towards venue hire, equipment purchasing, and insurance costs.
My dilemma is that recently I checked my monthly statements and notice that there was no membership fees being collected from my account. I'm not particularly well off, but my finances are under control enough for me to not read through my statements. Shockingly, after downloading every yearly statement going back 5 years I found that the original direct debit to the club only went out of my account for 10 months, so I owe them around £900. Currently they are not aware of this, and I expect they may never be at this rate as they don't seem to audit their members and fees.
I will need to discuss this with them, however I feel a bit conflicted as I don't feel completely responsible for this situation. Like most people, I can't easily find £900, especially as I am currently not earning any money due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Also, since 2018 I haven't attended the club very often so feel a bit put out that I would be paying past fees where I wasn't getting any value from the club. 

Undervalued

Legally you owe them the money. However if any goes beyond six years (five years in Scotland) then there is no legal mechanism for them to use to force you to pay the older amounts. They could of course revoke your membership!

Technically they don't have to agree "easy terms" to allow you to pay it off. However if you want to do the decent thing I would tell them that you will pay, say, £10 a month extra until it is paid off. They don't have to accept but I would be very surprised if they refused.

Grant90s

Undervalued said:

Legally you owe them the money. However if any goes beyond six years (five years in Scotland) then there is no legal mechanism for them to use to force you to pay the older amounts. They could of course revoke your membership!

Technically they don't have to agree "easy terms" to allow you to pay it off. However if you want to do the decent thing I would tell them that you will pay, say, £10 a month extra until it is paid off. They don't have to accept but I would be very surprised if they refused.

I had thought that they may allow me to increase my monthly fee to pay off the amount, so hopefully they will agree. They are a pleasant bunch and I think they will be on the side if fairness.
Thanks.

pjcox2005

I would expect it's one of those where if you highlight it, say you think it's been a while since payment (you don't have to say 5 years) and then suggest they reinstate a direct debit, take a top up payment of £100-£200 if you're willing and able to afford it that they would accept that and move on. Most clubs are only really looking at funds going forward.

By not saying the total years, then if they do demand full payment and you're uncomfortable with it (e.g. due to little income during Covid), then you can put the onus on them to do the calculations. I expect they may either not have the records or not be inclined to work through 5 years worth! Potential question on ethics but it was a genuine mistake on both sides and you've looked to rectify with a compromise.

You may want to suggest they run through their membership as well just to check that they are receiving payments from everyone as it will help all.

rach_k

Personally, I would keep quiet about it for a while to allow me to save up what I owed.  Then I'd approach them about it and make an offer to clear it.  

If they were struggling or came asking for the money, I'd pay asap but otherwise I wouldn't feel bad about taking a little longer as it's already been a long time!

vitaweat

rach_k said:

Personally, I would keep quiet about it for a while to allow me to save up what I owed.  Then I'd approach them about it and make an offer to clear it.  

If they were struggling or came asking for the money, I'd pay asap but otherwise I wouldn't feel bad about taking a little longer as it's already been a long time!

I agree.  Ultimately it is down to the club to keep proper accounts and for them, not the OP, to ensure that fees are taken.

I'd make an offer, say £500, to clear the debt.  It may well be that they have a flaw in their systems that the OP has uncovered which leads to them getting thousands in missing revenue.