Municipal Clerk Manual – Courts with JIS - Chapter 4 - Financial Procedures: Missouri Debt Collection Program

Clerk Handbooks

Municipal Clerk Manual – Courts with JIS

		Section/Rule:	4.8
Subject:	Chapter 4 - Financial Procedures	Publication / Adopted Date:	July 2007
Topic:	Missouri Debt Collection Program	Revised / Effective Date:	July 2021

Municipal Clerk Manual
Courts with JIS
Chapter Four – Financial Procedures

4.8 - Missouri Debt Collection Program

References
Statutes: 67.136, 479.356, 488.014, 488.5025, 488.5028 and 488.5030, RSMo
Court Operating Rules: 21.07 and 21.09
Published: July 2007
Revised: July 2021

Quick Index

ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement Bankruptcy
Collection Process Used by the Debt Collection Vendor
Court Personnel Customer Service Representative
Criteria
Debt Collected by Tax Offset and Debt Collection
Debt Collection - Court Information Sheet
Debt Collection Overpayments Received and Underpayments
Debt Collection Vendor
Debt Collection Vendor’s Disbursements to the Court
Debt Collection Vendor’s Payment Processing
Debtor Customer Service
Enter Payment Plans
Establish Procedures
Exempt, Recall, Hold and Resume Process
Extract Process
Legal Basis
Letters and Reports
Memorandum of Understanding
Paid in Full Notice
Participation in Debt Collection Program and Payment Plan Policies
Purpose of the Program
Responsibilities
Review Existing Payment Plans for Exemptions
Signing Up for Debt Collection
Tasks to be Completed Prior to “Live” Date on Debt Collection
Tax Intercept Occurred But Has Not Been Distributed to the Court and the Debtor Pays Debt Collection
Tax Intercept Occurred and Was Distributed to the Court and the Debtor Pays Debt Collection
Tax Intercept Occurs and Debt Collection Vendor Receives a Payment but Has Not Sent the Funds to the Court
Tax Intercept Occurs for the Entire Debt and Court Receives a Partial Payment from Debt Collection
Tax Offset Program
Unidentified Payments

Note: The debt collection vendor as of January 1, 2018, is Municipal Services Bureau (MSB) and will be referred to as “debt collection vendor” or “the vendor” throughout most of this handbook section.

Purpose of the Program

The purpose of the Missouri Debt Collection Program is to increase current collection efforts to ensure that people owing a debt to the court comply with the orders of the court.

Legal Basis

Section 67.136, RSMo, authorizes municipal courts to use collection agencies to collect court or administrative fines or costs associated with a finding of guilt for a criminal offense or an infraction, or entry of a civil judgment owed, enforceable, past due and remained uncollected.

Section 488.5030, RSMo, authorizes courts to contract with public or private agencies which are under a contract with the Office of Administration or the Office of the State Courts Administrator (OSCA) to collect past-due court-ordered penalties, fines, sanctions, court costs, including restitution and juvenile monetary assessments, or judgments due to the state of Missouri or one of its political subdivisions. Fees and costs of collections shall be added to the amount due, but shall not exceed 20% of the amount collected.

Section 488.014, RSMo, states that courts are not required to collect any court costs due that total less than five dollars.

Participation in Debt Collection Program and Payment Plan Policies (COR 21.07 and 21.09)

All divisions of the circuit courts using the approved statewide case management system shall participate in the debt collection program for the collection of court debt. Municipal divisions using the approved statewide case management system shall participate in the debt collection program within six months of the implementation of the approved statewide case management system and the related accounting functionality. Participation in the program requires that the court:

Create payment plans in the approved statewide case management system for all amounts not paid in full at the disposition of the case; and

Establish payment plan policies and procedures to include at a minimum:

Effective date of the plan;

Minimum payment due at case disposition or prior to granting a payment plan;

Minimum monthly payment to ensure the repayment time frame is reasonable; and

Obtaining the debtor’s social security number.

Debt Collection Vendor

The Office of State Courts Administrator (OSCA), on behalf on the Judiciary, has signed a contract with Municipal Services Bureau (MSB) (the vendor/debt collection vendor) to provide debt collection services to the courts.

The vendor ensures the confidentiality, security and safety of court files, documents, computer files, etc, that are utilized in the debt collection process.

The vendor will not at any time disclose, directly or indirectly, any information gained during the performance of their debt services.

All work performed by the debt collection vendor abides by applicable provisions of the Federal Trade Commission, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliely Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act. In addition to these Acts, the vendor shall abide by any state or federal laws, rules or regulations pertaining to the collection of government debt. The vendor observes all requirements of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Direct debtors to send all payments and correspondence to:

Municipal Services Bureau

PO BOX 389

Arcade, NY 14009

Online payments can be made at: www.msbselfserve.com

Debtor Customer Service:

Toll free number - (800) 616-0166

Customer service Hours of Operation
Monday – Friday 7AM - 11PM CST

Court Personnel Customer Service Representative:

Questions about the client portal, to have a password reset for the client portal, or requests for additional fliers and mailing envelopes should be directed to:

Juanita Valdez - Account Executive

(512) 323-4318 or toll free number (800) 616-0166

(866) 283-6484 (fax)

Email: Juanita.Valdez@gilacorp.com and copy: clientservices@gilacorp.com

Note: The contact above is for court personnel use only and should not be provided the individual debtors. Debtors should use the customer service number previously provided.

Criteria

1. Courts must be using the approved statewide case management system and have an active iNotes account with an email address ending with courts.mo.gov to participate in the Debt Collection Program to meet the electronic communication and data capabilities.

2. Courts must utilize payment plans to submit cases for debt collection. Only eligible payment plans will be referred to debt collection. An eligible plan meets the following criteria:

2.1 The Payment Plan has not been marked “Exempt from Debt Collection” or been “recalled”;

2.2 There are no “ineligible” fees attached to the payment plan. If any ineligible costs are included on a payment plan, the entire payment plan will be excluded from the debt collection program. (Currently, there are no municipal fees set up in the system that would be “ineligible” for debt collection)

2.3 The party type of the owner of the payment plan is not JUV – Juvenile

3. Unlike the Tax Offset Program, Debt Collection does not require that the debtor’s social security number be provided by the court. However, providing a social security number can improve the success of the debt collection process.

4. The amount of delinquent court costs, fees, fines, etc. on each case for an individual must total more than $5.00.

5. Only “eligible” costs (court-ordered penalties, fines, sanctions, court costs, including restitution and juvenile monetary assessments, or judgments to the state of Missouri or one of its political subdivisions that have not been paid) may be submitted.

5.1 Costs that are “eligible” for the debt collection program include, but are not limited to:

All unpaid fine, costs and fees in criminal cases as there is no statute of limitations in criminal cases for the nonpayment of fines and costs;

Surcharges such as legal services fees and law enforcement training; drug testing costs, Crime Victims Compensation Fund (CVC);

Time payment fee (See section

488.5025

, RSMo); and

Unpaid restitution only while the debtor is on probation. The court in

Grossoehme v. Cordell

, 904 S.W.2

^nd

392 (Mo.App. 1995), held that the jurisdiction of the court did not extend beyond the period of probation.

5.2 Costs

NOT

collectible through the debt collection program are:

5.2.1 Victim restitution owed to individual or company after probation is over;

5.2.2 Deposition costs due an individual or company (since by statute these are judgments, not costs);

5.2.3 Judgments due an individual or company;

5.2.4 Costs, fines, and fees assessed against a juvenile;

5.2.5 Civil cases that have been disposed 10 years or more and have unpaid costs attached are ineligible for collection. The statute of limitations for civil judgments is 10 years. Plans on civil cases that have been disposed for 10 years or more will automatically be removed from debt collection and marked exempt.

5.2.6 If an individual has filed bankruptcy

and

has requested that court costs, fines, and fees be discharged, they are no longer collectible, although the obligation continues to exist. The court is responsible for determining if their cost, fines and fees have been discharged.

Note:

Although Notice of Bankruptcy does not necessarily mean the debtor’s obligation to the court has been discharged, it does prevent further collection activity (i.e., notices, telephone calls, etc.).

6. The payment plan will not be submitted to Debt Collection until 60 days after the last payment due date on the payment plan.

Example:

John Smith is ordered to pay court costs of $100.00. He agrees to pay $25.00 per month for four months beginning June 1st. Mr. Smith makes his first payment of $25.00 on time (June 1st); however, he fails to make the July 1st, August 1st or September 1st payments. Mr. Smith has a total debt of $75.00 as of September 1st. Mr. Smith’s debt totaling $75.00 is sent to the vendor on November 1st because he owes more than $5.00 and the due date for the last payment (September 1st) is over 60 days old.

Due Date on Payment Plan	Amount Due	Amount Paid	Debt Owed Court	Will the Extract Program Send the Payment Plan to Debt Collection?
June 1	$25.00	$25.00	$0	No, because debtor is complying with payment schedule.
July 1	$25.00	$0	$25.00	No, because last due date on payment plan has not been reached.
August 1	$25.00	$0	$50.00	No, because the last due date on the payment plan has not been reached.
September 1	$25.00	$0	$75.00	No, because the last due date is not 60 days old.
November 1 The debt is submitted to the debt collection vendor			$75.00	YES. The debtor owes more than $5.00 and the last due date is 60 days old.

7. The Court must accept the standard notices and processes as jointly developed by the vendor and OSCA. Courts should not request the vendor to make changes to the standard notices and reports provided by the vendor. If there is a need to make changes to the statewide notices and reports the court should email their request to:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

8. The Court must have a bank account capable of electronically receiving the collections from the vendor. The Court will provide the necessary bank account information to OSCA using the vendor’s ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement form. OSCA will verify the information and forward the information to the vendor.

Changes to the Court’s bank account will require a new ACH Credit Vendor Client Agreement form to be submitted to OSCA prior to any banking changes to ensure the funds are transferred to the correct bank account.

The ACH form can be forwarded to the following email group for processing:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

Responsibilities

The Debt Collection Process requires that the three entities involved (OSCA, the Court and the vendor) work together to ensure success. This section outlines the responsibilities of each shareholder in the debt collection process.

OSCA

1. OSCA will work cooperatively with the vendor to develop and maintain the interface to submit and receive data electronically.

2. OSCA will work cooperatively with the vendor to develop and test the automated processes for JIS.

3. OSCA will provide training materials and procedures for the courts.

4. OSCA will act as liaison with the vendor for the courts.

5. OSCA will act as liaison with the courts for the vendor.

6. OSCA will assure that the vendor meets its contractual obligations for Debt Collection Services.

Court

1. The Court will follow the process and procedures as set forth in the Municipal Clerk Manual and in the SMC Help Tool for assessing costs, creating payment plans and receipting payments.

2. The Court will use the Create and Maintain Payment Plan process in SMC to submit, recall, resend, put on hold and release any holds placed on debt that has been sent to the vendor.

3. After receiving funds collected by the vendor, the Court will receipt the amount noted on the “Invoice” report or “Overpayment” report sent to the court to the payment plan(s) identified by the vendor using the pay type 1106 – Debt Collection Elec Transfer.

Note:

The vendor’s records are not updated when pay type 1106 – Debt Collection Elec Transfer is used by the Court. The pay type 1106 – Debt Collection Elec Transfer should only be used by the Court to receipt payments received from debt collection to the identified payment plan. This pay type allows the Court to reduce the court debt on the payment plan by the same amount the vendor has reduced the debtor’s balance due for the court debt. Using this pay type for any other type of payment, such as tax intercepts, payments made to the court, etc., will result in the vendor showing a higher balance due than the Court’s balance due on the related payment plan.

4. Once a payment plan has been referred to the vendor, the Court will only be allowed to use the following additional pay types when receipting payments to a payment plan in debt collection:

1105 Tax Intercept Elec Transfer

1108 Pre Debt Collection Out of County Bonds

8520 Debt Collection Bad Debt

Receipting payments using these pay types will result in an adjustment being sent to the vendor through the Debt Collection Extract Process, resulting in the vendor’s account balance being updated. The vendor’s commission is not assessed when the funds are collected through the Tax Intercept Program or when the outstanding debt has been reduced by judicial order or Pre Debt Collection Bond.

5. After a payment plan has been sent to debt collection, the court may still receipt payments from the debtor to the case but not to the payment plan. Payments received after the debt has been sent to debt collection shall be forwarded to the vendor within five working days, or the court can instruct the debtor to pay the vendor directly.

6. If a warrant has been issued for non-payment of court costs and the amount of funds collected by the vendor satisfies the outstanding balance, the Court shall withdraw any outstanding warrants if all other conditions of the warrant have been satisfied.

7. The Court shall issue a compliance letter if a license suspension has been issued for failure to pay fines and costs and the amount of funds collected by the vendor satisfies the outstanding balance.

8. The Court will answer inquiries from the vendor to verify the accuracy of the court balance due on the debt. See Establish Procedures section below for more information.

Debt Collection Vendor

The vendor will follow the process and procedures as set forth in this document, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

1. The vendor shall obtain approval from OSCA on the verbiage format and content of any and all correspondence sent to a debtor or their representative. Any concerns noted by the Court regarding the correspondence used by the vendor shall be emailed to:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

2. The vendor shall perform skip-tracing activities to locate debtors, with a debt to the Court in excess of $100, as needed.

3. If the vendor discovers the debtor is deceased, the court may authorize the vendor to pursue any estate residual if the vendor provides a copy of the death certificate to the court.

4. The vendor must have advance written approval from OSCA prior to pursuing litigation as part of its debt collection activities.

5. The vendor is responsible for collecting on any non-sufficient funds items resulting from a payment transaction received by the vendor on referred accounts.

6. If the vendor receives monies for payment on a court debt and discovers that there is not enough identifying information available to apply the payment to a payment plan, the vendor is responsible for contacting the sender of monies to secure the information needed to identify the account(s) on which the payment was made. If a court can be identified, the court shall be contacted in an effort to identify the applicable debt. All funds remaining unidentified where the remitter can be identified shall be returned to the sender within 30 days of receipt. Funds that cannot be identified, or that are returned with no other address available, shall be submitted to the Missouri State Treasurer, Unclaimed Property. Unidentified funds being held by the vendor shall be reported to OSCA monthly.

7. The vendor shall ensure the confidentiality, security and safety of court files, documents, computer files, etc., that are utilized in the debt collection process.

8. The vendor shall post all payments and adjustments in its collection system within one working day of receipt.

9. The vendor shall ensure that all payments received by the vendor during a one month period shall be forwarded electronically to the courts within five business days after the end of the month. All money collected by the vendor shall be disbursed to the appropriate court without regard to whether payment is received in full or part. If payment satisfies the debt in full, the vendor shall notify the court within one business day of such payment. The vendor may deduct from any payment its prorated share, contracted collection rate, which shall not exceed the statutory maximum of 20% (current rate is 14.9%) of the court debt collected before disbursing payment to the courts. Additionally, the vendor shall maintain appropriate mechanisms for verifying and tracking all payments. Concurrent with the electronic funds transfer, the vendor shall electronically send to each court a list of the accounts included in the funds transfer.

10. The vendor shall provide to the courts a secure application that allows the Court inquiry access to each of the debtor accounts that have been submitted to the vendor. This account access will allow the court to view the status to the account, payments and adjustments made to the account as well as notes regarding the collection efforts being performed by the vendor.

11. The vendor shall update account records only from information received from OSCA through the Debt Collection Extract Process and to correct data entry errors. If the Court becomes aware that an account balance does not agree to the court’s payment plan balance the court shall contact the OSCA Help Desk to request assistance from an Accountant and/or send the issue by email to:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

Collection Process Used by the Debt Collection Vendor

When a payment plan is referred to debt collection, the vendor utilizes a number of collection “tools” to remind the debtor of their obligation to the court and to encourage the debtor to pay their debt. The following are some of the processes used by the vendor:

1. Skip Tracing

The term “skip tracing” refers to finding missing persons. Since address information in the court records may not be accurate, the vendor uses National Change of Address (NCOA) data, credit bureau data, and other automated information sources to verify the accuracy of the address information they received from the court and to locate missing addresses.

2. Service Members Civil Relief Act

Once a month the vendor conducts a monthly “scrub” to identify protected debtor accounts under the Service members Civil Relief Act. Upon identification of an SCRA protected account, the vendor change the account status to inactive and will discontinue all collection activities. Once a service member is no longer active and/or a deployed service member, the inactive status will be removed. Payments are still accepted when a debt is in inactive status.

3. Notice/Letters

After an address has been verified, the vendor issues the first of a series of letters. The purpose of the letters is to remind the debtor of their debt and to encourage them to pay their obligation. Each notice provides information about the amount owed and payment options.

Email questions or concerns about the letters to:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

4. Outbound Calling

The vendor uses outbound calling to contact debtors. 100% of all inbound and outbound agent calls are recorded and the recordings are retained by the vendor for a minimum of two years. A Quality Assurance Department monitors the calls handled by the collection agents. If a debtor has a complaint about how a call was conducted the court can request the recording to be reviewed by submitting a request to:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

Include the following information with the request:

Subject – Municipal Division – Recording of Outbound Call Request

Provide as much information about the debtor and the call as possible including:

Account number (Circuit number-Payment Plan Number-Case ID)

Debtor’s name

Date and time of call

Agent name if possible

Nature of the complaint. The more specific the better. If the debtor felt threatened, what about the call made them feel threatened?

Debt Collection Vendor Payment Processing

The vendor processes payments within one working day of receipt. The vendor accepts cash at designated locations, as well as, personal checks, money orders, or cashier’s checks, and credit cards. (See the on-line payment website www.msbselfserve.com for more information regarding payment methods and locations available for making in-person payments.)

The debt collection vendor will apply payments to the debt the debtor specifies. If the debtor does not specify a case and payment plan and has more than one case or plan referred, all payments are applied to the case with the oldest filing date. If there are multiple payment plans on a case the vendor will apply the payment to the lowest numbered plan created on the case first unless instructed to do otherwise

Debt Collection Vendor’s Disbursements to the Court

The vendor will disburse payments applied to the balances owed during the month, by the fifth business day of the subsequent month. Overpayments received will be disbursed later in the month.

Note: Payments made directly to the vendor by check from the debtor are held for ten days before they are available to be paid out. The vendor is responsible for all returned checks.

Collections on active accounts are disbursed to the courts via electronic funds transfer (EFT). When the vendor makes the monthly disbursement to the court, an email is sent to the court contact identified on the Courts Information sheet to receive reports. The email will contain an Invoice report that will document all payments being paid to the court. This information is provided so the court can receipt the funds to the appropriate payment plans. Courts should not receipt debt collection payments until confirming the EFT has been received by the bank. Email issues with payments noted on the invoice report to:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

Or contact the OSCA Help Desk and ask for an Accountant for assistance.

Debt Collection Overpayments Received and Underpayments

The vendor will forward all overpayments received to the court. Overpayments will be sent via ACH approximately the third week of each month.

If the overpayment totals $5.00 or more, the court shall refund the overpayment to the debtor or apply the overpayment to any additional debt is owed on the payment plan case.

Note: If the overpayment is being applied to another debt that is also in debt collection do not receipt the payment to the payment plan. Instead follow the procedures for sending a payment to debt collection. Trying to use the 1106 – Debt Collection Elec Transfer pay type to receipt the overpayment to another payment plan that is already in debt collection will result in the debtor’s balance with debt collection being different from the court’s balance.

If the overpayment is less than $5.00, section 488.014, RSMo, states that the court is not required to refund the overpayment and the overpayment can be forwarded to the municipality for the operation of the municipal court.

Unidentified Payments

In the event the vendor receives a payment that has no identifying information (i.e., cash with no accompanying transmittal, a money order with no identifying information, etc.) after due diligence to locate the account, the vendor will return the payment to the payer.

Paid in Full Notice

The vendor is required to notify courts within 24 hours of when a case is paid in full. The payment will not be sent to the court until the fifth business day of the following month. (Or the subsequent month if the payment was by check during the last 10 days of the month.) The notice is sent to give the court an opportunity to stop any other collection activities (i.e., release outstanding warrants and inactivate payment plans that could be reported for tax intercepts). Paid in Full Notices are sent via email to the designated court contact identified on the Courts Information sheet to receive reports.
Bankruptcy

When a written notice of bankruptcy is received by the court or the vendor, federal law requires that all collection activities (i.e., notices, telephone calls, etc.) stop immediately. The notice does not discharge (excuse or dismiss) the debt. The court’s debt is only discharged if the debtor has listed the court as one of his or her creditors when the bankruptcy was filed. The court has to contact the bankruptcy court to determine if the debt was discharged.

When notice of bankruptcy is received, the court must immediately recall the case.

Signing Up for Debt Collection

Before a court can participate in the Debt Collection Program, the following documents must be completed and returned to OSCA:

Debt Collection Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement

Copy of voided check

Court Information Sheet

To obtain a copy of the MOU, contact OSCA’s contract staff who will send the forms needed to get the process started.

Memorandum of Understanding

Each court must submit a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to participate in the debt collection program. The MOU is a written agreement between the court and OSCA outlining the criteria that must be met to participate in the debt collection program and the responsibilities of OSCA, the Court and the contractor. The MOU must be signed by the presiding judge and municipal judge. By signing the MOU, OSCA and the Court agree to comply with the timeframes; criteria and responsibilities listed in the debt collection program procedures and MOU. A Memorandum of Understanding form follows this section.

Return the signed MOU to:

Office of State Courts Administrator

Attn: Contracts – Debt Collection Program

P.O. Box 104480

Jefferson City, MO 65110

After OSCA receives the MOU signed by the presiding judge and municipal judge, the State Court Administrator will sign it to acknowledge OSCA’s responsibilities.

ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement

The ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement and copy of a voided check from the court’s bank account is necessary for the vendor to complete the setup of the Courts account information and will allow the vendor to electronically transfer collections they receive to the court’s bank account. A court cannot participate in Debt Collection if their bank is unable to accept an electronic fund transfer (EFT). The ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement and voided check can be returned with the MOU. An ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement form follows this section. This form is to be returned to OSCA to ensure the account is linked to the proper account.

Note: A new ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement form must be submitted prior to a Court changing bank accounts. Send ACH creditor forms (new and changes) email to:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

Subject: (Name of county) ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement (New or Change)

Debt Collection – Court Information Sheet

The Debt Collection Court Information Sheet provides the vendor with the Court’s contact information along with the staff authorized to assist with settling disputes, receiving reports, as well as providing court staff with access to the vendor’s debtor account information. The Court Information Sheet is also used by OSCA to set up email groups and stage the court for the debt collection program.

Note: An updated Court Information Sheet must be submitted whenever there is a change to the Court’s contact information. Send new and updated Court Information forms to:

Debt.Collection.OSCA@courts.mo.gov

Subject: (Name of county) ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement (New or Change)

Tasks to be Completed Prior to “Live” Date on Debt Collection:

Enter Payment Plans

Debt cannot be submitted to the vendor unless it has been entered on a payment plan. If additional assistance is needed, contact the OSCA Help Desk - Accounting Assistance Unit.
(See Create Payment Plans and Maintain Payment Plans in the SMC Help Tool)

Review Existing Payment Plans for Exemptions

If payment plans have already been entered, review them to determine if there are any payment plans that should be exempted (the debt should not be sent to debt collection). Generate the DC (Debt Collection) Analysis Report (CZRDANA). The DC Analysis Report (CZRDANA) will list all the payment plans that will be sent to the debt collection vendor after OSCA activates the court location for debt collection.

The parameters for the preliminary report are:

Court Code	Required. Circuit Number.
Location Code	Required. JIS Location code.
Case Type Code	Optional. If left blank, all case types will be included.
Begin Date	This parameter is not used at this time. The report will be blank if a value is entered.
End Date	This parameter is not used at this time. The report will be blank if a value is entered.
DETC Codes	Optional. Displays only cases or plans that have the entered DETC code(s) attached.
Category	Required. Enter “N” for plans not sent to debt collections.
Print Mode	Required. Enter “D” for detail, which lists each plan/case number that meets the criteria and amount.

Note: The court can exclude payment plans from debt collection by selecting the Exempt from Debt Collection box. (See Maintain Payment Plans – Debt Collection in the SMC Help Tool)

Establish Procedures

Establish procedures for handling the following situations:

1. Inquiries

Payment plan and debtor information is extracted from SMC twice a day, five days a week and is provided to the vendor by and Extract Process. Refer to

Extract Process

section for the information sent to the vendor. The vendor’s customer service will respond to inquiries on the information received; however, they will not be able to respond to specific questions regarding what court costs make up the debt reported to them. The vendor is only provided demographic information on the debtor, the case number, case description, case filing date, payment plan number and total due on the payment plan. Details regarding specific court costs or previously paid amounts is not provided.

1.1 Telephone Inquiries and Written Inquiries

The vendor’s Customer Service will answer general inquiries regarding a case (i.e., what court is owed the debt, the balance of the debt, etc.), but they cannot answer questions regarding how the debt accrued or any specifics about regarding the amounts that make up the balance due. These inquiries will be referred to the court.

Debtors may dispute the amount the vendor is trying to collect for the court. To resolve the dispute the vendor may request the court to validate the balance of the court debt. The Court can send the vendor a copy of the account balance shown on the Case Party Fee report. It is not necessary to provide the entire copy of the report. If there are multiple payment plans on the case being sent, it would be helpful to provide the total balance due on the plan in question.

If all costs on the case are on one payment plan the Court can also use the Financial Summary in SMC to access and print a Detail Case Statement for the vendor.

(See

Financial Case Summary

in the SMC Help Tool)

The court needs to determine which staff will answer inquiries regarding debt collection. The staff assigned to these duties will need to be designated on the

Contact Information Sheet

2. Payments

Once a case has been referred to the vendor for collection in the Debt Collection Extract Process, the Court will not typically receipt payments received directly from the debtor or the debtor’s representative. The vendor has envelopes and fliers that can be provided to the debtor to let them know where payments can be made. Contact the court’s Customer Service Representative to obtain additional envelops and fliers.

3. Show Cause Orders and Warrants Issued for Costs

Courts may decide to discontinue the practice of issuing show cause orders and warrants for outstanding costs. Both of these collection practices are very labor intensive. Instead of trying to collect through these remedies first and then referring the debt to debt collection, let debt collection do the work. Establish a due date for the debt and if the debtor becomes delinquent, allow the system to automatically refer the debt to debt collection.

4. Paid in Full Notices

The vendor is required to notify courts within 24 hours when a payment plan is paid in full. This gives the court an opportunity to stop any other collection activities (i.e., release outstanding warrants and inactivate payment plans that could be reported for tax intercepts). The court should determine who will be responsible for processing Paid in Full Notices. Paid in Full Notices are sent via email to the staff designated to receive reports on the Court Information Sheet.

5. Outstanding Warrants

Establish procedures for handling situations in which a warrant was issued prior to the court signing the MOU, the debt is referred to debt collection, the debtor is arrested and posts a cash bond. If the bond is ordered to be applied to outstanding balances due, see the Bond Order to be Applied to Costs that have been Referred to Debt Collections section below.

6. Notification

There is no statutory requirement that debtors be notified that their case may be referred to debt collection. Formal payment agreements are the best way to inform individuals of the consequences of not paying their court debt. (See

MU185 Agreement to Pay

form). In addition, some courts have posted notices and provided additional fliers to individuals needing additional time to pay their court debt that explain that their debt will be submitted to a debt collection agency if they fail to pay.

Extract Process

After a court submits the necessary documentation to join the Debt Collection Program, the Information Technology Division of OSCA prepares the court’s data to be sent to the debt collection vendor. Twice daily (1pm and 4 pm), five days a week, programs are executed that:

1. Identify and refer eligible payment plans to the vendor that meet the criteria established in Criteria section of these procedures; and

2. When a new payment is identified, the programs will automatically update the “Date Sent to Collection” field. This date will also appear when the user hovers over the Debt Collection icon in SMC.

(See

Maintain Payment Plans – Debt Collection

in the SMC Help Tool)

The following information is sent to the vendor on each payment plan referred for debt collection:

Transaction Type (i.e., is it a new case referred to debt collection or an update to a case that was previously referred);

Court JIS Location Code;

Circuit;

Payment Plan Number;

Debtor Party ID;

Case Number;

Case Type (criminal, traffic, etc.);

Case Description (style of case);

Debtor Name;

Debtor Address;

Debtor Date of Birth (if available);

Debtor Social Security Number (if available);

Debtor Driver’s License (if available);

Balance Due;

Original Due Date (due date of the final payment on the payment plan);

Case Filing Date;

Debtor Telephone Number (if available); and

Debtor Sex (male or female).

3. Eligible Payment Information – The Extract Process captures eligible payment information for payment plans previously sent for collection. The amount of the payment is reported and the vendor applies these payments to the referred debt. The vendor does not receive a commission for any reductions to the debt due to an eligible payment being applied to the payment plan by the court. Eligible payments include:

Missouri Tax Intercept Payments – pay type code 1105 – Tax Intercept Elec Transfer. Payments received from DOR for tax and lottery intercepts;

DOC Payments – Pay Type Code 1107 – DOC Payment. Payments received from the Department of Corrections (DOC) on behalf of inmates for Crime Victims’ Compensation Judgments; and

Pre Debt Collections Bond – pay type code 1108 – Bond received on case prior to the debt being referred to debt collection.

4. Payment Plan Balance Adjustments – The Extract Process captures adjustments made by the court to the balance(s) of the costs on the referred payment plan by:

Increases or decreases to the balances due on fees associated to the payment plan in debt collection; or

Reduction of the balance due on the payment plan by using a non-monetary payment pay type code 8520 – W/O Debt Collection Bad Debt. (Which should be supported by a judicial order.)

5. Payment Plan Owner Information Updates – The Extract Process captures the following changes to debtor demographic information:

The vendor will receive updated demographic information (i.e., name, address, driver license number, date of birth, telephone number and social security number) on the owner of the payment plan in the event demographic information is changed or updated.

Note:

Demographic information is only updated once a week on Friday.

Exempt, Recall, and Hold

Although the extract process will automatically identify and submit payment plans to debt collection, the court makes the ultimate decision as to whether or not a payment plan is referred to debt collection. If the court does not want the automated program to refer a payment plan for collection, the court can override the automated process by updating the referral status of the payment plan by:

Exempting the payment plan

Recalling the payment plan

Placing a hold on the payment plan

Tax Offset Program

Effective August 28, 2015, section 479.356, RSMo, provides that if a person fails to pay court costs, fines, fees, or other sums ordered by municipal court, to be paid to the state or political subdivision, the municipal court may report such delinquencies in excess of twenty-five dollars to the director of the department of revenue and request that the department seek a setoff of an income tax refund

Payment plans that have been submitted to Debt Collection may also be submitted for tax offset.

It is recommended that courts utilize both tax offset and debt collection. If a court decides to use more than one collection activity, they must make sure that all payments and case information is entered promptly to ensure payment plan balances are properly reported to the Department of Revenue and to the debt collection vendor.

Debt Collected by Tax Offset and Debt Collection

When a court participates in both the debt collection and tax offset programs, there is a possibility that the debt will be collected by both programs and result in an overpayment. It is extremely important courts stay current in reviewing collection information received from both programs so that any overpayments can be identified and resolved as quickly as possible. Depending on which program collected the money and where the payment is when the overpayment is discovered will determine how the overpayment will be resolved.

Tax Intercept Occurred But Has Not Been Distributed to the Court and the Debtor Pays Debt Collection

The court can request that any Tax Offset collections not disbursed be refunded to the debtor. The court can request a refund to be released by sending an email to Tax.Offset.Workflow@courts.mo.gov. The email should be attached to the Notice of Intercept and state that the tax intercept should be returned to the debtor since the debt was collected via debt collection.

Tax Intercept Occurred and Was Distributed to the Court and the Debtor Pays Debt Collection

When the court receives the tax intercept, they will receipt the tax intercept which will reduce the balance due on the case. The payment is reported to the vendor on the daily extract; however, if the debtor also pays the vendor the payment less any commission for the balance due at the time of payment will be sent to the court. The court will refund any overpayment to the debtor. Courts should not request the vendor to return the funds to the debtor.

Tax Intercept Occurs and Debt Collection Vendor Receives a Payment but Has Not Sent the Funds to the Court

If the court receives a Paid in Full Notice from the vendor prior to receiving the tax intercept funds, the court can request that the Tax Intercept be refunded to the debtor. A refund can be requested by sending an email to Tax.Offset.Workflow@courts.mo.gov. The email should be attached to the Notice of Intercept and explain that the intercept needs to be returned to the debtor since the debt was collected via debt collection.

Tax Intercept Occurs for the Entire Debt and Court Receives a Partial Payment from Debt Collection

If the court receives a tax intercept notice for the entire amount of the debt and also receives a notice that the vendor received a partial payment, the court can request that the tax intercept be adjusted. The amount of the tax intercept can be adjusted by sending an email to Tax.Offset.Workflow@courts.mo.gov. The email should be attached to the Notice of Intercept and explain that part of the intercept should be returned to the debtor since some of the debt was collected via debt collection.

Letters and Reports

Processing Procedures

Reminder: For courts using the Document Management System (DMS), while on the appropriate docket entry, access the DMS icon to attach the document(s). (See Document Management System in the SMC Help Tool)

1. Payments Made to the Court from a Debtor:

If the debtor wants to pay off the balance of the debt in debt collection, the court can verify the balance due on the debt by checking the vendor’s website/portal: (

https://www.muniserv.com/ClientPortal/index.aspx

) and adding the Creditor Balance + MSB Balance to equal the total debt collection balance due. This should equal the court’s balance due (on the payment plan in debt collection) times the collection rate, provided the vendor has not received a payment that has not been remitted and receipted by the court. (Court records total balance due on the payment plan x 1.149 = total debt plus commission). See section

4.8a, Debt Collection Appendix A – Debt Collection Vendor Website/Portal

of this handbook.

Note:

Only staff that have been provided access to the Portal will be able to log into the website to access the debtor account information. This access is granted when completing the

Court Contact Information Sheet

1.1 Accepting Cash or Check/Money Order Made Payable to the Court:

Assess the detail code 5074 – Due to Debt Collection for the amount being paid. Associate the fee record to the debtor and add Municipal Services Bureau (MSB-Debt) as the recipient in the Payee Name field.

(See

Manage Assessments

in the SMC Help Tool)

Receipt the payment applying the payment to the Due to Debt Collection fee and issue a receipt to the debtor.

(See

Receipting

in the SMC Help Tool)

Issue a check to the debt collection vendor for the full amount of the payment. (The payee check can be issued using Check Printing in SMC.)The vendor will deduct the collection fee and return the balance to the court.

(See Check Printing in the SMC Help Tool)

Note:

Do not attempt to remit only the collection fee to the debt collection vendor. At this time, SMC and the Extract Process have not been designed to handle this functionality. The full payment MUST be forwarded to the vendor.

1.2 Credit Card Payments

While the court can accept a credit card payment following the cash payment procedures, it is suggested that the court refer the debtor to the vendor’s website (

www.msbselfserve.com

) or telephone number (800) 616-0166.

1.3 Money Order/Personal Check Made Payable to the Vendor

Forward the money order or personal check to the vendor in the envelopes provided. Envelopes can be obtained by contacting the Court Personnel Customer Service Representative.

2. Other Payments Received as Payment on a Debt that is in Debt Collection

2.1 After a case has been referred for debt collection, only four types of special payments can be receipted in SMC. These payments do not require funds to be sent to the debt collection vendor.

(See

Receipting

in the SMC Help Tool)

Payments received from the Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR). Use pay type 1105 – Tax Intercept Elec Transfer;

Payments received from the vendor for funds collected from debtors on behalf of the court. Use pay type 1106 – Debt Collection Elec Transfer;

Payments resulting from bonds collected by another county or city on warrants issued

prior

to the court’s debt collection implementation date. Use pay type 1108 – Pre DC OofCo Bond; and

Judicially ordered, non-monetary write-off of referred debt. Use the non- monetary pay type 8520 – W/O Debt Collection Bad Debt.

3. Bond Ordered to be Applied to Costs that have been Referred to Debt Collection

Assess the detail code 5074 – Due to Debt Collection for the amount of the bond to be applied. Associate the fee record to the debtor and add Municipal Services Bureau (MSB-Debt) as the recipient in the Payee Name field.

(See

Manage Assessments

in the SMC Help Tool)

Apply the bond to the Due to Debt Collection fee.

(See

Receipting – Bonds – Applying a Payment Via a Bond

in the SMC Help Tool)

(See Check Printing in the SMC Help Tool)

Note:

Exempt, Recall, Hold and Resume Process

1. Exempting a Payment Plan

Exempting a payment plan from debt collection will

prevent

a payment plan from being referred for debt collection. A payment plan can only be marked exempt prior to being sent to debt collection. Selecting the “Exempt from Debt Collection” check box changes the payment plan referral status to Exempt.

(See

Maintain Payment Plans – Debt Collection

in the SMC Help Tool)

Exempt a payment plan when one or more of the following conditions exist on the case:

The court has ordered that the payment plan be exempted from debt collection.

The debtor has made other payment arrangements with the court.

The court is unable to accurately determine the amount of debt due.

The court has determined that the person on the payment plan is not the debtor on the case.

2. Place a Payment Plan on Hold

2.1 Placing a payment plan on hold suspends collection activities by the vendor. Selecting the “Hold” radio button will update the referral status to of the payment plan to “Hold.”

(See

Maintain Payment Plans – Debt Collection

in the SMC Help Tool)

The court may place a debt on hold after it has been referred to debt collection if one of the following situations exists:

The debtor has asked the court for a determination of indigency.

The court needs time to determine the validity or amount of the debt.

The court needs to add new debt (debt that was not previously reported, i.e., the court needs to add the time payment fee to the payment plan).

2.2 Releasing a hold on a payment plan allows collection activity to resume from the point that it was suspended. Release the hold on a payment plan by selecting the “Release Hold” radio button. The “Date Sent to Collection” field will be updated to the date the payment plan was released from hold.

(See

Maintain Payment Plans – Debt Collection

in the SMC Help Tool)

3. Recall a Payment Plan

3.1 Recalling a payment plan from debt collection discontinues all collection activities. Recall a payment plan by selecting the “Recall” radio button. The vendor will retain their collection fee rate for amounts collected prior to the recall of the payment plan.

(See

Maintain Payment Plans – Debt Collection

in the SMC Help Tool)

After a debt is recalled from debt collection:

No payments or changes to debtor information entered by the court will be sent to the vendor.

Payments received by the vendor from the debtor may be returned to the debtor.

Payments received by the vendor from the court may be returned by the vendor to the court by check.

The court should recall a payment plan when one or more of the following conditions exist on the payment plan:

The court has determined the costs were incorrectly reported to the vendor;

The debtor is declared indigent and allowed to serve jail time or community service work in lieu of costs, and/or;

The debtor is declared indigent and costs are waived.

3.2 Resending a payment plan to debt collection may start the collection activity over from the beginning depending on the amount of time that has passed since the debt was recalled. Select the “Resend” radio button to send the debt back to the debt collection vendor. The “Date Sent to Collection” field will be updated to the date the payment plan was resent to debt collection.

(See

Maintain Payment Plans – Debt Collection

in the SMC Help Tool)

Payment Plan Creation Using Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT)

Note: Currently this feature is not available in SMC. Access JIS to proceed with case processing.

1. Payment plans can be created by using the Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT) in JIS. This process creates payment plans automatically for multiple cases. Cases must be disposed to be eligible for this process.

2. The due date that appears on Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT) is calculated using the following rules:

For civil cases, the due date is the disposition date plus 30 days.

For criminal cases, the due date is the disposition date plus 180 days.

If the defendant was placed on probation, the due date is the date in the “Due” field or the “End” field on

Custom Programs/Services

(CZAPROG)

, plus 180 days.

Note:

Probation due or end date must be less than the current date. If the resulting date is after the current date, the case will not appear on

Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT)

For traffic cases, the due date is the disposition date plus 180 days.

If the defendant is sentenced to DOC, the due date is the sentence start date plus 365 days.

3. CZADEBT – Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation

The first time this is accessed in each court, the user will have to select Repopulate Eligible Cases from the Navigation Pane before any queries can be performed.

The debt collection password is required.

For any changes made to cases to be reflected, Repopulate Eligible Cases must be selected.

Note:

It may take several minutes for this process to run.

4. There are several fields in the control block that can be used to minimize the number of cases returned in the query:

Court – The user’s circuit number.

Location – The user’s JIS location code.

Note:

If this is left blank, only cases from the user’s location will be included in the query.

Case Type – The desired case types to query.

Note:

If left blank, all case types will be included in the query.

Starting Case ID – A case number can be entered if the user wants the query to begin at a specific case number. Queries are returned in case number order.

Note:

If left blank, the query will begin at the first case.

Records Returned – Any number between 1 and 999 can be entered in this field, if the user wishes to limit the size of the query.

Note:

If left blank, all records meeting the criteria will be returned.

5. For a case to be eligible to appear on this form, and therefore be available to have a payment plan created through this process, the following criteria must be met:

The court must be participating in the debt collection program.

The case must not be sealed.

The balance of the eligible fees is greater than $5.00.

The party type of the debtor is any other than JUV – Juvenile.

The Party ID (debtor) does not have an inactive date less than or equal to the current date.

The case has at least one fee that meets the following criteria:

NOT defined as a non-collectible fee, and

NOT included in a payment plan.

6. If a civil case appears in the query but has fees associated to the case that are not associated to a party, those fees will be included in the “Amount Due” for that case.

The “ID” and “Party Type” fields will be blank to further alert the user that this case has fees that are not associated to a party.

These cases will have a selection reason (Sel Reas) of “Civil *Not Eligible* Complete Assessment” and will not be available for selection.

Note:

If the user desires, they can associate the fees to a party using

Create and Maintain Payment Plan

in SMC, then return to

Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT)

in JIS and select

Repopulate Eligible Cases

from the Navigation Pane and the case will be eligible for selection.

7. If the user wishes to create a payment plan for any of the displayed cases, select the “Select” check box and save.

A window will appear noting “Payment plans will be created for all cases. Do you want to proceed with plan creation?”

If Yes is selected, plans will be created for all selected plans. The plans will be created for the amount shown in the “Amount Due” field and the effective date will be the date displayed in the “Due Date” field. There will be only one scheduled payment, and it will be for the full amount due.

8. The cases that were selected and saved will no longer appear on Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT) when an inquiry is performed.

9. If any other changes are made to any cases, those changes will not affect Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT) until “Repopulate Eligible Cases” from the Navigation Pane is again generated.

Note:

If a particular case does not appear on

Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT)

, it does not necessarily mean that a plan can’t be created for that case. Even though a plan can’t be created for the case using

Custom Debt Collection Plan Creation (CZADEBT)

, it’s possible a plan could be created using

Create and Maintain Payment Plan

in SMC.

Forms

Debt Collection Memorandum of Understanding-Muni.doc

Court Information Sheet.doc
Debt Collection Court Information Sheet Instructions
Debt Collection ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement
Debt Collection ACH Credit Vendor – Client Agreement Instructions