Business Office Policies for External Billing

The Business Office is responsible for external billing for various departments. Billing is considered external if the charges are not being billed to an internal departmental account. All departments having external business should send the appropriate information to the Business Office for collection.

By sending external billing to the Business Office, your department is immediately credited for the revenue generated by the service you have provided. It then becomes the Business Office’ responsibility to collect the funds. The centralization of this function improves efficiency and provides for better cash control. If you are currently doing your own billing and would like additional information on how the Business Office could assist your department please contact Leslee Kafka at (651) 962-6603.

BE ADVISED:

Should you choose not to use the Business Office’ external billing services there are specific regulations that must be followed regarding collection of accounts. Proper training of individuals involved in collection is necessary to remain in compliance with state and federal Fair Debt collection laws. Contact Dan Gallivan at (651) 962-6609 for further information.

EXTERNAL BILLING PROCEDURES

External billing statements are run on the fifth of each month. We ask that billing information be sent to the Business Office in a timely manner. Information can be forwarded to the Business Office upon completion of the service provided. However, complete billing information for the previous month must be received at least one business day prior to the bill date to ensure accurate and timely billing statements are being sent to our customers.

The following information is REQUIRED for all external billing (please obtain complete information prior to providing any service):

1. Billing detail (description of service provided, date of service, amount owed)
2. Full name of person(s) responsible for payment of the bill
3. Full residential address (including zip code) and phone number (including area code)
4. Full work address and phone number
5. A copy of the contract if applicable

        **Use of a contract will allow for optimal collection effort**

The Business Office will take the following steps to recover your funds:

1. Send monthly external billing statements for a total of three months.
2. If after three billing cycles the account remains unpaid, the Business Office will forward the account to their internal collections department.
3. The internal collections department will send a series of collection notices and will make a series of collection calls (to resident and work phone numbers) to recover the funds.
4. If internal collection action is not successful, accounts with a remaining delinquent balance of $100.00 or more may be forwarded to a 3rd party collection agency for further action.

Important items to be aware of regarding the collection process:

If complete billing information is not provided, our ability to collect outstanding debt is diminished. If after sending three external bills, we have not received payment and it is apparent that we do not have the information necessary to continue collection efforts, we have no other recourse than to reverse the charges back to the department. Departments will be notified via e-mail if this occurs.

Accounts will only be forwarded to a third party collection agency if a copy of a valid contract for the related charges exists. Additionally, if the contract does not include the University's right to assess collection costs, the department will be responsible for paying the agency's commission fee. If you would like more information about this process, or would like to discuss implementing the use of a contract, please call Dan Gallivan at (651) 962-6609.