It seems parents have no sooner paid for school books, uniforms and shoes—and for many Australian families, a decent amount for school fees—and the invoices begin arriving for the winter sports season.

For families with multiple children wanting to play AFL, hockey, rugby, soccer, netball, Oztag and more, the burden on the budget can be overwhelming and can even factor some children out altogether.

So how can sporting clubs and associations ease the financial pressure on families while retaining cash flow and boosting membership numbers?

Direct debit billing is an ideal solution.

The pinch point for many families is having to pay the membership fees or the fees for the season up front on sign-on day or shortly after the season begins. These bills can total in the thousands of dollars for families, and for the sporting clubs, this can result in a large influx of money to manage in one hit and becomes a major administrative task.

However, direct debit subscription payments made either on a weekly or monthly basis, allow families to ‘pay off’ their fees over time—whether it’s over the season or throughout the year.

Making sport more accessible for all Australian families

If you’re managing a sporting club or association and want to help make your services more accessible and affordable, a direct debit service like PaySmart is ideal. Fees are paid automatically, so families don’t need to physically pay an invoice each month or worry about late fees, and your staff won’t have to chase up late payments. Plus, PaySmart offers free support from our Australian-based Customer Service Centre experts should you or your members ever need it.

“PaySmart provided an ideal solution for us because we aim to be accessible to everyone in the community, and for many people and families, paying a lump sum for their membership is impossible. With PaySmart, members are able to pay their fees over time so it’s great for them, plus it means we’re not spending all of our time chasing payments—it’s a win-win.”

— Brendon Boss, President Toowong Football Club

Sporting clubs that use a direct debit billing system like PaySmart can also transform their cash flow management with a secure and ongoing line of cash coming into the club. It can also encourage membership retention with an easy system in place to pay fees for subsequent years.

It’s not too late to talk to PaySmart today about getting a direct debit payment system in place for your sporting club in 2016.

Talk to a local PaySmart Business Development Manager to get started with PaySmart, or if you’re a parent who is keen to recommend PaySmart to your club, get in touch and we can provide you with all the information you’ll need to share with management. We’ll even come out to your club and show you how easy PaySmart is to use for parents and staff.

This article was supplied by PaySmart and written by Colin Walker.