Summary: According to Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS), about 89 percent of the $59.2 billion of debts more than 180 days delinquent were excluded from cross-servicing for fiscal year 1999. The accuracy and the completeness of amounts reported by agencies (including exclusions) were not independently verified. As of April 2000, about $3.7 billion of the $6.4 billion of eligible debt had been referred for cross-servicing. Many eligible debts were not promptly referred by the agencies, not referred at all, or not always eligible for cross-servicing. FMS had requested written debt referral plans from 22 of the 24 chief financial officers, but the plans were of limited use because they were incomprehensive, inaccurate, or incomplete. The FMS staff and some private collection agency contractors did not always follow established written standard operating procedures. Collection industry statistics as well as FMS' collection experience so far have shown that collection rates are generally higher on debts with smaller dollar balances and debts that are less delinquent. Cross-servicing fees FMS charged to agencies referring delinquent debts have not covered FMS' estimated cross-servicing costs and are not likely to in the near future.
