Daily Digest – July 20. AG Responds to Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of TCPA; City Loses Out on $750K Because It Didn’t Tell Contractor To Hire Collection Agency

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The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN, a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs, and collection agencies worldwide. 

AG RESPONDS TO LAWSUIT CHALLENGING CONSTITUTIONALITY OF TCPA

• Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General of the United States, has responded to a lawsuit filed by a number of political action groups that challenged the constitutionality of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Among the points argued by the Attorney General in its response were that the suit was filed in the wrong court, that the plaintiffs did not allege an injury-in-fact because they failed to allege that they use autodialers to contact cell phones, and that the parts of the TCPA being challenged were included in a separate order, and only that can be ruled on, not the constitutionality of the entire law.

CITY LOSES OUT ON COLLECTING $750K IN PARKING TICKETS BECAUSE IT FAILED TO TELL CONTRACTOR TO HIRE COLLECTION AGENCY 

• An audit has uncovered that the city of Durham, N.C., has left $750,000 in unpaid parking tickets not collected because it did not instruct the contractor to hire a collection agency. A new company took over managing the city’s parking facilities last year and was never told to hire a collection agency to go after individuals who did not pay their parking tickets, according to the audit.

HOW MEDICAL OFFICES CAN TOE THE LINE BETWEEN BEING THERE FOR CUSTOMERS AND GETTING PAID

• Doctors’ offices and other healthcare providers have seen a massive shift in the way they are paid, with individual patients being forced to cover more costs as insurance companies cover less. This has led to a number of issues for healthcare offices, from collecting on unpaid bills, to navigating awkward conversations about money while also trying to help people get better. One healthcare publication laid out some of the steps and a number of ideas that practitioners can take to help manage this new dynamic.

ILLINOIS TOWN HIRES LAW FIRM TO HANDLE COLLECTIONS

• B-D Lawyers Group of Peoria, Ill., has been hired by the town of Galesburg, Ill., to collect on unpaid fines and bills. The collection agency will add a 30% fee to the unpaid debt to cover its expenses. But the agency is only keeping 25% of that fee; the other 5% will flow back to the town with the amount collected.

FEWER PEOPLE CLAIMING TO HAVE ‘FINANCIAL STRESS’ — SURVEY

• The number of individuals with “no financial stress” has increased fivefold in the past six years, according to a study conducted by Financial Finesse, a research organization. Correspondingly, the number of individuals with “some financial stress” or “high or overwhelming stress” have decreased during the same time period.

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The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN, a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs, and collection agencies worldwide.