Greg Berky Billing Specialist gtb2psu'edu 814 8672450

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Greg BerkyBilling Specialistgtb2_at_psu.ed
u(814) 867-2450
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Unique or how I learned to stop
worrying and love collection agencies.
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History

• Uncollected Library bills had reached
• 400,000.
• The University Comptroller required a
• more effective collection system.
• The majority of unpaid bills were from
• recently graduated students and
• resident borrowers.

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What brought about the problem?

• Under the old procedures, we would send a
• bill and block the patrons library account
• once the outstanding bill reached a certain
• level.
• We found that for some patrons, more
• incentive to pay the bill was needed.

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Students

• A way to collect bills from current
• students had been in place since
• the 1980s.
• -The bills were transferred to the University
  Bursar. This blocked the student from
  registering for classes or obtaining
  transcripts.

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Faculty and Staff

• We have always insisted that our faculty
• and staff pay their bills.
• Under the new system, we instituted wage
• garnishment. This did not result in much
• additional collection. It just automated the
• process. It also helped us more quickly
• identify faculty and staff that had been
• terminated.

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Residents and newly graduated students

• Resident borrowers and recent graduates
• were responsible for the majority of the
• unpaid bills.
• -Residents have access to public libraries,
  public ILL, Access PA ect. Obtaining needed
  material was possible.
• -Barring recently graduated student from
  registering for classes did not provide the
  needed incentives.

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The solution

• We decided to use a collection agency.
• The agency we selected was Unique
• National Collections.
• -Unique represents only libraries.
• -They use a trademarked gentle nudge approach.

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• Since Unique works only with
• Libraries they soon recognized
• the need to work with Library
• automation vendors.
• This includes SirsiDynix.

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How it works

• The patrons we mainly use the collection
• agency for are residents and former
• students.
• To identify former students we get a report
• from the Registrar what we call the
• Student Master Load- any student who
• is no longer registered has their workflows
• profile automatically changed to
• unenrolled.

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• Before sending accounts to collection, we
• give these patrons time to pay their bills or
• return library material.
• -Any bill for these patrons that is 25.00 or
  more that remains unpaid for 60 days is sent to
  collections.

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• The bills remain payable to the Library.
• Unique does not collect bills.
• -They do not receive a percentage.
• -They receive a flat fee for every account
  turned over to them.
• -The logic of this is that return of material is
  the focus of their efforts.

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• As with any collections agencies, Unique
• sends letters and makes phone calls.
• The language used is often more gentle but
• at the same time the consequences of non-
• payment are made clear.
• If the latest address we provided is not
• correct, Unique will use several tricks to
• find a correct address.

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• If lost library material is returned,
• workflows automatically cancels the
• lost fee.
• The patron is still responsible for a
• 25.00 processing fee for each item,
• any overdue fees, and a 9.00 referral
• fee we charge on any account sent to
• Unique.

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• We can suspend the process
• permanently or for a period of
• time if the patron contests the fee
• or if they need more time to deal
• with the situation.

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• After four months with Unique,
• the patron is credit reported.
• -This is six months since they were billed or
  seven months since Library material became
  overdue.

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• For any account that is settled after the
• patron is credit reported.
• -Workflows automatically notifies Unique within
  3 days.
• -Unique notifies the credit reporting agencies.
• -On the patrons credit report our bill marked
  as paid and this remains on the credit report for
  one year.

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The results

• We tried a final invoicing of all bills in June
• of 2003 with a warning that the bills could
• be sent to collections.
• Then in August of 2003, we sent 1,559 bills
• to Unique.
• -Bills dated from 1995-present
• -Any bill over 24.99

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• From August 2003 September 2007
• -Submitted 529,501
• -Cash Recovery of 147,913
• -Material Recovery of 71,033
• -Versus invoice of 29,437
• -Return on investment of 71

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• 2007 totals indicate results remain strong.
• -Submitted 65,603
• -Cash recovery of 24,112
• -Material recovery of 16,954
• -Versus invoices of 3,132
• -Return on investment 131

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• Impact on staff
• -During launch of the program Lending staff and
  Business Office staff fielded quite a few
  questions.
• -These have been reduced to a few a week. Many
  wondering how to pay the bills.

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• Patrons formally contesting the fees are
• currently at the rate of about one a month.
• We have set a high bar for expunging a
• patrons credit report. These are extremely
• rare.

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• Greg Berky
• Billing Specialist
• gtb2_at_psu.edu
• [phone]