10.2.1 Online Renewals

If your u3a has enabled online membership renewal you may renew and pay for your membership via the Members Portal (see 10.2).

If another member shares your address you may renew both memberships at the same time (but read the notes about Gift Aid claims below first).

Note: The types of membership and membership fees shown in the pictures below are unlikely to be the same as you will see – they are for example only.

IMPORTANT: Notes about Gift Aid Claims

• Claiming Gift Aid does not reduce the amount of your payment – it allows your u3a to claim money back from HMRC.
  
  
• Your u3a may not have registered to claim Gift Aid. If this is the case, ticking the Gift Aid box will have no effect on your payment.
  
  
• If you have an Individual membership and you pay online for yourself and another member at the same address, only your subscription will be used for a Gift Aid claim. Therefore, if the other member is eligible to claim Gift Aid and wishes to allow a claim, it is better for their membership to be renewed separately.
  
  
• If you have a Joint membership with another member, you may claim Gift Aid on both subscriptions, even if the other members is not a UK tax payer but there are restrictions, principally depending on the source of the money.
  
  
• You will not be charged for using online membership renewal, although you u3a will have a small commission fee deducted from your payment by PayPal.

When can I renew my membership?
You can renew your membership any time from the start to the end of the membership year (and maybe a little earlier if your u3a has enabled an ‘Advanced Renewals’ period).

Depending on the time in the membership year, you will see a screen similar to one of the following when you log-in to the Members Portal:

Renewing Your Membership

1. Log-in to the Members Portal as described in 10.2 and click Renew your membership.
   
   
2. Read the information about Gift Aid before ticking one of the boxes to indicate whether or not you would like your u3a to claim tax relief on your subscription in the current year:
   
   
   
   
3. What you see next depends on the type of membership that you have.
   
   This is a typical screen that you will see if you are an Individual member:
   
   
   
   If another u3a member lives at your address, you have the option to pay the other member’s subscription at the same time:
   
   
   
   If you don’t wish to pay for the other member, untick the box and the amount to pay will update:
   
   
   
   If you are in a Joint membership category you can only renew and pay the total fee for both members:
   
   
   
   If you don't wish to pay for the other member you will need to contact your Membership Secretary and pay by other means.
   
   
4. Press the Make Payment button:
   
   
   
   If you did not select a box in the Gift Aid section you will be prompted to do so:
   
   
   
   
5.  Confirm by pressing Continue to PayPal to complete payment.
   
   

At this point you have 2 payment options:

• Debit or Credit card (see A below)
• PayPal (see B below)

Just to confirm that PayPal is a collection facility and the individual members does not need their own PayPal Account. If they have one then PayPal, by default, directs the person to use their individual account to pay because of the cookies in use. 

A) Paying with your Debit/Credit Card

To pay with a Debit or Credit card, enter your email address and press Pay by Debit or Credit Card

Enter your email address again at the next screen and press Continue to Payment

(There is also an option to Log in and pay with a PayPal account)

Enter the details of your payment card and your contact details

At this point you have the option of using the details that you have entered to create and pay with a new PayPal account by pressing Create Account & Pay Now

If you still wish to pay by card, untick the Save information & create your PayPal account button and click Pay now as guest

Now skip section B and continue to section C (Confirmation of Payment) below

B) Paying with PayPal

To pay with an existing PayPal account, enter your email address and press Next

If PayPal recognises your email address, you will see a screen similar to this. Enter your PayPal password and press Log in

Select one of your stored credit cards or click Add debit or credit card if you wish to use a different card, before pressing Complete Purchase

C) Confirmation of Payment

Press Return to Seller to return to the to the Members Portal screen, which will show your updated "membership continues to" date.

You will receive 2 confirmation emails:

• A confirmation of payment from PayPal
  
  
• A confirmation from your u3a. This may have your membership card attached (if your u3a has chosen to use this facility)

Revision History

v2	2021-04-27	Graham Tigg	Added link to setting up on-line payments instructions
v4	2021-06-12	Graeme Bunting	New PayPal screens
v5	2021-07-12	Graham Tigg	Added Joint membership class example
v6	2023-01-12	Graeme Bunting	New Gift Aid requirements and PayPal screens
v7	2023-02-27	Graeme Bunting	Changes to PayPal screens
v8	2023-03-21	Graeme Bunting	Reference to members that have lapsed for less than 12 months removed from 1st paragraph.
v9	2024-04-03	John Alexander	Add reminder about PayPal.