Joining a gym is a great step to keep yourself healthy, but some of the stories from people trying to get out of membership are horrifying.
One of the worst gym practices is that they charge fees directly from the bank, and there’s barely anything you can do about that. The only option seems to be paying with cash, but can you pay for a gym membership with cash?
You can pay for a gym membership with cash, but not all gyms will accept it. 24 Hour Fitness, Anytime Fitness, and Gold’s Gym are a few gyms that will take cash, while Crunch Fitness and Lifetime Fitness won’t.
Read the Terms and Conditions of the contract before signing to know how the gym will charge you.
Find out which other gyms accept cash and how to deal with the contracts here.
Which Gyms Accept Cash for Payment?
Smaller gyms are more likely to accept cash payments because they’re often more accommodating to new members. Large and popular franchises may also accept cash, but only for limited services. These are some of those gyms that accept cash as a payment method.
- 24 Hour Fitness
Pay in cash at 24 Hour Fitness if you’re looking to make an advance or monthly membership payment. Each month you have to pay ten days before the due date, and you have to add a payment method on your file.
Other accepted payment methods include debit, credit, prepaid card, and bank account numbers. Annual renewal payments can be online using a credit card, at the club using a credit card or check, through the phone with a credit card, or via mail with a check.
- Anytime Fitness
Anytime Fitness accepts cash payments for an annual membership, drop-in classes, and weekly passes. Alternatively, you can pay via debit, credit, or using your bank account number.
- Crunch Fitness
Crunch Fitness doesn’t allow cash payments for memberships.
- Golds Gym
You can pay your monthly fees with cash at Gold’s Gym, but you also have to pay an extra $5 for each statement. Use cash to pay for a day or weekly pass too. Gold’s Gym also accepts debit, credit, and bank account numbers.
- LA Fitness
LA Fitness is open to cash payments, allowing you to pay monthly memberships as long as you pay it seven days before the expiration date.
Plus, the gym requires you to have the payment method on file. Besides debit, credit, and bank account numbers, this gym also allows prepaid card payments.
- Lifetime Fitness
Cash payment for memberships is not allowed.
- Orange Theory
You can’t pay for a membership at Orange Theory with cash.
- Planet Fitness
Planet Fitness doesn’t accept cash as a payment method for club fees. This gym demands either a credit card or checking account number on your file, which the gym uses to deduct fees when they’re due automatically.
Members can pay per month or annually, and there are some promotions where Planet Fitness accepts full cash payments in specific locations.
- Snap Fitness
Snap Fitness allows cash payments for a day pass, signup fee, and weekly pass, but that’s about it. Otherwise, you need to pay with a debit card, credit card, or banking account number.
- Youfit
Pay with cash at Youfit locations for an annual membership or enrollment fees. Additionally, you can use cash for day passes or monthly payments ten days before the expiration date. Other payment methods accepted in this gym are debit, credit, and bank account numbers.
Beware Gym Contracts
Before signing a contract, make sure to read the terms on the most important elements, such as cost. Check whether the gym states that it’s their right to increase membership costs, charge annual fees, and the different payment methods available.
You also want to be clear on how much time you get locked under this contract and if there’s an easy way to get out of it. Don’t let the pressure get to you. Ask for a copy of the contract or ask the manager to take the contract home with you to read it fully.
Another thing to consider is the Health and Injury Termination Policies, which should be clear in the contract. This section covers the terms under which you can cancel or freeze the membership if an emergency takes place.
Say you break your leg, does the gym charge a fee if you want to pause your membership? Will you need a note from the doctor? Are there programs in the gym that could help you recover? Ask yourself all of these questions and make sure whether the contract is clear about it.
Tips for Dealing with Gym Contracts
Some gym practices can be a bit sketchy. So much so that they could still charge you after canceling your membership. However, you can avoid all of these potential issues by following the next tips.
- Negotiate the Contract
After reading the contract, identify the elements that could be up to negotiation. These elements can be the cancellation policies and the payment methods, to name a few.
Bigger gym franchises are likely to refuse this type of negotiation, which is why you should try smaller gyms first.
Smaller gyms usually are more open to engage with the members and listen to their demands. If you reach an agreement, make sure that you and the manager sign the contract agreeing on the new terms.
“To be enforceable against the gym, someone on behalf of the gym has to sign it,” says Simeone & Miller LPP’s attorney Thomas J. Simeone.
Signing it only yourself will leave the door open for the gym to claim that they didn’t agree on these terms.
- Look Out for Cancellation Policies
It may come as a surprise that your gym has a 45-day cancellation policy, which naturally means that you would have to pay an extra month and a half after canceling.
This policy varies from gym to gym, but most gyms likely have a cancellation policy of at least 30 days to guarantee a full month’s payment if you quit in the middle of the month.
- Three-Day Provision
Some gyms offer the option to exit the contract binding within three days of signing it, while others offer five days. Smaller gyms can offer even more days.
This policy may have its origins in the laws of your state. For example, California demands that gym contracts include a provision of five days if you want to cancel the membership. Check if your state’s law covers this matter.
Cancellation fees are another issue you must consider. The cost of the fee varies, but the contract must state how much it is. Don’t forget to check this information too.
- Freezing or Transferring Membership May Be Better than Cancelling
Breaching the gym’s contract could lead to a lawsuit, even if the possibility of that event happening is low. Talk to the gym’s management to check if freezing or transferring your membership to another family member is possible.
- Talk to a Manager If You Want to Terminate Your Gym Membership
Many gyms allow you to cancel membership via phone or email, but not all of them do. Therefore, speaking to a manager is the only option here. Be ready for a hard back-and-forth debate because they will try to make you reconsider about leaving the gym.
- Get Confirmation
If the manager agrees to terminate your contract, put all of your efforts into getting a confirmation. It’s likely that the staff request a change in your contract, but they may not pull through with that action. Demand confirmation via email and take photos if necessary.
Being this cautious will help you later if the gym keeps charging you even long after canceling your membership.
“Keep all of your paperwork and emails, because the way it works is, somewhere down the road, if you need to prove the agreement or the date you terminated, and you received a notice, you can testify to it all. You’ll have a better chance of it holding up in small claims court or in front of a judge,” says Simeone.
What Happens If the Gym Keeps Charging You?
It’s possible that the gym keeps charging you after canceling your membership. But why does that happen? And is it legal?
Technically, a gym can still charge you as long as the contract you signed states it. These contracts provide gym management with a certain amount of time before they stop charging.
They often use excuses like there was an error in the system or for bookkeeping tracking issues, but that’s not always the case.
When you cancel a gym membership, you have to make sure you’re complying with the terms established on the contract. Additionally, contact your financial institution and ask them to disallow any other charges coming from the same source.
Conclusion
Smaller gyms are more likely to accept payments in cash, but larger franchises require credit or bank numbers due to their cancellation policies.
You have two options here; either look for a gym that accepts cash, or you could try negotiating the payment method with the gym representatives.
Be wise, and you won’t have the gym charging you even after you decide to terminate the contract.
