Posted at 2:07 a.m., Friday, October 5, 2007
Texas firm to get traffic fine information electronically
Advertiser Staff
Beginning Oct. 22, the Hawai`i State Judiciary will refer unpaid and delinquent traffic fines and fees electronically to a Texas collection agency. Prior referrals were done by court staff manually.Manual referral is a labor-intensive and painstaking process, court officials said.
"The Judiciary's new computer system allows us to automatically and electronically send delinquent account information daily through a secure interface," said Thomas R. Keller, Administrative Director of the Courts. "Once the collection agency receives this information, it will pursue persons who have chosen not to pay their fines. Justice is promoted when judgments are enforced."
The collection agency is Municipal Services Bureau (MSB) of Texas. MSB handles government collections exclusively, and has more than 450 court clients nationwide.
Once a delinquent judgment is sent to MSB for collection, the responsible party must pay MSB directly. If payment is mailed to the court after the judgment is referred, the payment will be forwarded to the collection agency for further action. The responsible party, which may be an individual or an organization, will be required to pay the collection agency's fee of approximately 21 percent of the total amount owed to the State.
Unpaid judgments of $500 or less are referred to the collection agency 90 days after the date the judgment was entered. Unpaid judgments greater than $500 are referred for collection 180 days after the date the judgment was entered.
The Judiciary currently collects an average of $23 million dollars each year in statewide traffic-related fines and fees, a significant portion of which is remitted to the State of Hawai`i general fund. An estimate of the number of delinquent judgments to be transmitted each day to MSB will be determined when final testing of the interface is complete.
