![]() In one case, she spoke with a man who said his 88-year-old father racked up hefty collections fees even though he doesn’t drive anymore. The measure, also referred to as Senate Bill 312, isn’t expected to affect existing accounts and it’s still unclear if the cap on administrative fines will also limit collections fees.Ī former TxTag customer service representative says she felt powerless while fielding calls from hundreds of frustrated drivers. The amendment, which was adopted earlier this year as part of the TxDOT Sunset Bill, will go into effect by March 1, 2018. Ina Minjarez, D-San Antonio, filed an amendment to cap administrative fines for nonpayment of tolls at $6 per transaction and $48 a year. Recognizing the burden excess fees have on thousands of Texans, Rep. “We want to pay them the money that we owe them, not the crazy, sky-high, ridiculous fees that they, for some reason, feel that we owe.” We’re practically stalking them to give them the money we owe them,” Louviere said. “They couldn’t have been more unhelpful to us when trying to set up a payment arrangement. By the time a manager called her back, it was too late. She continued to call TxTag multiple times between April and June and spoke with representatives who told her to be patient. Issues with TxTag customer service and billing have been ongoing for years and even resulted in TxDOT fining contractor Xerox in February 2015 for not meeting the terms of their agreement. “Now it’s come time where we still have no resolution and the cost of us to continue to pursue these – we have to be able to recoup some of those costs.” “(The collection letters) are advising the customers that we have made every attempt to collect this toll on their behalf without the fees,” said Linda Sexton, deputy division director of toll operations at TxDOT. And, the number of Texans affected could be even higher since the Texas Department of Transportation, which oversees TxTag, said each account could have more than one vehicle tied to it. This year, more than 2.2 million Texas toll accounts had a bill sent to the agency Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott, who added nearly $1 billion in fees to drivers’ accounts, according to information obtained through an open records request. According to a Houston-based collections agency, her account was overdue and she was hit with a $25 penalty for each individual toll. “There had to be something mistaken because we hadn’t done anything that was worth $6,000.” “We assumed there had to be some sort of computing error, human error, something,” said Louviere, of Pflugerville. The bill showed she owed $5,750 in administrative fees for only $412.85 in toll usage. Mela Louviere let out a laugh when she opened a collections letter for her TxTag toll account earlier in June. ![]()
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