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In Dallas, the North Texas Tollway Authority, an entity responsible for collecting tolls, has been under fire for months over its toll collecting policy. This policy charges drivers who do not pay up at the toll booth fines of hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. Because the NTTA has been scrutinized by the public, it announced today that they are taking two steps it says that will target improving customer satisfaction.

The first measure that the NTTA took was to allow all drivers to use the electronic toll collection lanes, including those who do not have one. They are able to do this without being punished with a twenty five dollar fine.

Before this measure, drivers without toll tags that utilized the electronic lanes on the Dallas North Tollway were seen at as violators and would be fined twenty five dollars for each time they passed through an electronic toll booth, rather than a cash booth after the fact.

However, after February eighth, the drivers without a toll tag who use the electronic lanes will be given the opportunity to pay off the tolls before being hit with the additional twenty five dollar fine. But these toll charges will continue to be calculated at the cash rate, which is twice as high as the rates paid by toll tag consumers.

However, the change will not affect the NTTA’s collections policy in any other way and it will not prevent customers without toll tags who don’t pay toll bills mailed to their homes from being charged twenty five dollars for every unpaid toll. This is a policy that can turn a week’s worth of tolls into a thousand dollar bill.

The NTTA’s second move was to appoint an internal auditor as a sort of mediator, which will be available to frustrated customers who have first complained their way through NTTA customer service hierarchy without a result that satisfied them. The auditor will then review the account and determine if customer service and billing reps have followed their own rules.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution, a third party collection agency. Looking for credit card services or skip tracing? Contact us today. This article, Texas Toll Booths Cater To Consumers is released under a creative commons attribution licence.

More than 200 Scranton taxpayers might have received a letter from a collection company they didn’t deserve. The notices are for unpaid garbage fees that may have actually been paid. According to officials, the garbage bill itself for 2009 could be to blame for more than 200 collection notices sent to city taxpayers in error last week.

They believe the issue might be the way the bills were folded into the envelopes. The bill comes along with a perforated line above a bar code that identifies the customer, but because a crease made by the folding of the envelope, a second line under the bar code was formed, causing people to pull the bill off without the bar code.

Bills that didn’t have a bar code would cause a bank to not register the payment. The mailing house that Scranton hired to stuff the envelopes was fingered. If the bill was mailed to the bank, it would be the pay stub in their payment that goes straight into a lock box. The stubs are then scanned and the bar code is read. After that the bank sends the town a list of those who had come through based on the bar code readings.

Representatives from the debt collections agency who sent out the letters say that they are taking every dispute from people who might have already paid extremely seriously. Company protocol allows consumers to dispute a notice within 30 days of receiving a collections letter. In addition, representatives said that no bill will be collected while they are still sorting out the issue.

The company look into each claim from people who said they had paid the bill and received the notice. Those that they think have paid will be absolved from their debt and will no longer get collections notices and will not be pursued by the collection company.

Rapid Recovery Solution is a third party collection agency. Looking for collection debt? Contact a debt collector. Check here for free reprint licence: Scranton Tax Payers Might Have Received A Collection Letter They May Not Have Deserved.

Growing numbers of patients unable to pay their medical bills due to the economic downturn will be the greatest challenge to hospitals going forward, according to more than half (54%) of those responding to a survey conducted this month by MedAssist.

The survey, which polled health-care executives attending HFMAs Annual National Institute in Seattle, Wash., June 14-17, showed that one in three respondents believe the next greatest challenge facing providers will be changes to the American health-care system as a result of President Obamas health-care reform.

Additionally, 80% of those surveyed speculate health-care providers will need more aid administering their revenue cycles in the coming year. Closely reflecting this wide consensus, more than 80% of respondents chose outsourcing financial/revenue cycle services and establishing new IT programs ” over cutting fixed cost ” as the best strategies to reduce hospitals administrative costs. At the same time, three out of four (75%) executives acknowledging the survey believe customer-facing functions (e.g., patient access services, financial counseling) should continue to be handled by providers staff.

Its clear that health-care providers are facing a perfect storm that combines growing costs, declining revenues and industry reform, said Michael Shea, president of global health-care solutions and CEO of North America for MedAssist. Whats also clear is that providers will need to become more innovative than ever in finding ways to boost economic efficiencies without lowering standards of care.

The survey confirms our belief that certain functions are core competencies that belong in the domain of health-care centers, while other areas will continue to be addressed most effectively by experienced providers of financial and revenue cycle management services, said Brenda Snow, executive vice president, strategic planning and analysis at MedAssist. The question is how soon health-care providers can make this transition.

Asked which categories afford the greatest savings opportunities for hospitals, 29% of respondents pointed to improved technology (e.g., electronic health records, computerized physician order entry), while 26% mentioned preventative care and chronic disease management (e.g., asthma, diabetes). Survey participants also cited streamlining administrative costs and reimbursement contingent upon quality outcomes (both at 21%) as viable areas for cutting costs.

Mallory works for a debt collection agency. Also, she writes stories on business and finance, and collections. .

Companies worldwide lose millions of dollars every year because their clients are unable to pay their outstanding invoices. Bigger companies can usually continue their business without any major problems. For small and medium companies, this can become a risky financial situation where their cash flow is greatly reduced. In this article, we will discuss the various ways you can recover your lost money.

When you grant open credit to your foreign customers, unforeseen circumstances can develop that can affect your collections. Or, if you have made the sale based on a letter of credit or some other type of documentary collection, things can occasionally go wrong. In these situations you will be faced with the need to pursue other measures to collect from your international customers on your unpaid invoices. This is where an international debt collection agency can help.

A debt collector usually works by commission which represents no risks for you. They will not bill you until they have recovered some of your money. To clarify, if they are unable to get any money back, they will not charge you anything. This is basically a win win situation for both parties. Debt collection agencies employ experienced specialists and lawyers in this particular field to increase your odds of getting your money back. Some of these agencies may charge high commission rates.

It is important to state that you will sometimes need extra legal actions. If you find yourself in this situation, negotiate the prices beforehand to avoid paying more than you expected. Look for agencies with strong international experience and global network to represent you.

In the end, you will need to analyze whether it is worth your time and money to pursue a client with bad debt or write this lost money as expense.

Global Trade consultant Joshua Adekane specializes in assisting businesses to successfully import and export globally. To browse his tips and resources, click here Collection Attorney

In part one of this series, I spoke about some of the pros and cons of mutual funds. I let you know that there are a number of expenses that come with investing in a mutual fund, including the high price of management fees and brokerage fees that come with trading frequently. But, the fund manager is bound by a responsibility to find the best deals on commission for you that she or he can. Also, the expertise of a fund manager can be quite helpful for beginners when they start to invest.

In addition, some mutual funds offer more than one class of shares. The way it works is this: each class invests in the same pool of securities and the investment objectives and policies are the same. However, each class has different shareholder services and distribution arrangements for different fees and expenses. Therefore, if you pay more money for a higher class of share, you can expect different services, and better performance out of the mutual fund. This multi-class structure gives investors the ability to choose their own fee that fits their investment goals best.

Despite the fact that all of these aspects of mutual funds are pros, critics return to the high cost of mutual funds as a major con. They are also quick to point out the lack of efficiency of mutual funds when compared to a simple index fund. An index fund will invest in companies that are part of major stock or bond indexes and thus tries to profit from simply riding the market, while funds that are run by a manager attempt to outperform a relevant index through advanced stock picking techniques.

The assets of an index fund are geared to closely match the performance of a particular published index that shows positive trends. Because there will be little changes associated with a stock index, an index fund manager performs less trades than an active fund manager. Due to this fact, the management fee will be much less, and because there are less trades, there will be lower trading expenses. In fact, mutual funds have fees that are usually four times as much as those charged by index funds.

Also, evidence proves that mutual funds typically don’t, in fact beat the market, and actually under-perform other portfolios with similar characteristics. One study illustrated that almost 1500 United States mutual funds underperformed the market in about half of the years between 1962 and 1992. What’s more, analysis shows that funds that did well in the past aren’t able to beat the market again in the future. And maybe what is worst is that even if your manager proves to be a dud, and your mutual fund doesn’t do well, you will be stuck with a premium in fees – and often a large tax bill. Ultimately, it is a decision you should make after long thought and weighing all of the pros and cons, and not one that you should take lightly if your money is important to you.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies. Free reprint avaialable from: Is Investing In A Mutual Fund Worth Your While? Part Two.