| |||||
|
Under the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, the Department of the Treasury is required to maintain a schedule of private collection agencies (PCAs) or private sector companies having expertise in the area of debt collection, to assist the government in its debt collection efforts. As part of Cross-Servicing, the Treasury Department attempts to collect delinquent debt through several means, including demand letters, telephone calls, the Treasury Offset Program (TOP), Administrative Wage Garnishment, and credit bureau reporting. Once Treasury has exhausted efforts to collect the debts internally, the debts are sent to the PCAs for collection activity. The activities of the PCAs are monitored by the personnel of the Private Collection Division (PCD) of Debt Management Services (DMS). What is a private collection agency? A private collection agency (PCA) is a private sector company specializing in the collection of delinquent debt. A PCA will attempt to find and contact a debtor by searching various databases, making telephone calls and sending collection letters. Once the debtor is located and contacted, the PCA will encourage the debtor to satisfy the debt. Recently, Administrative Wage Garnishment has been added to the list of debt collection tools available to the PCAs. DMS awards new private collection agency contracts. On March 12, 2007, Debt Management Services (DMS) awarded five new Treasury debt collection contracts to enlist the services of private collection agency contractors. These contracts were awarded in order to increase the recovery of and resolve non-tax federal debts by collection or write-off. The new contracts are one-year contracts with four one-year options available. The following contractors were awarded a Treasury debt collection contract to provide delinquent debt collection services:
Private Collection Agency Performance. Private collection agency contractors continue to provide valuable services to DMS. From March 1998 to October 2007, the PCAs have collected nearly $449 million in delinquent, non-tax debt for the government. With federal agencies referring more debts to Treasury's Cross-Servicing Program, DMS expects collections will continue to rise in upcoming years. For questions, please use our Comment Form. Quick Links |