Collection Referral Process:
In order to increase the likelihood of collection, debts should be referred to the Attorney General’s Office in a timely manner. For each debt referral, complete the Universal Client Agency Cover Sheet for each debt referral and attach relevant supporting documentation (copies of demand letters sent, certified mail receipts, Orders, license applications, police reports, etc.). There is no set minimum referral amount cut-off, but referring a debt through the Uncollectible Debt Referral Process should be considered when the cost likely exceeds the benefit to pursue the debt. **Please send all electronic referrals for collection to [email protected]. You will receive an email confirming that your referrals were received from a member of the Intake Team within 48 hours.
NSF Debt Collection Referrals
Specific guidance as to collecting NSF debt for twice the amount owed or fifty dollars, whichever is greater, can be found in A.R.S. §12-671. Prior to sending an NSF debt to the Attorney General’s Office for collection, you should send a demand notice to the debtor’s address as it appears on the check via certified mail with a return receipt requested. If you are successful in getting the debtor to sign for the notice at that address, and the debtor does not respond or pay within 12 days of receiving the notice, then a collection referral packet as described above should be sent to the AGO. Acting quickly on NSF’s should be a high priority, as the likelihood of collection will be greatly diminished with time. If you are unable to meet the requirements of this statute, you should then consider referring the debt for collection through our normal Collection Referral Process (see above), or referring for write-off (see the Uncollectible Debt Referral Process below).
Uncollectible Debt Referral Process:
For cases that were not referred to our office for collection but need to be placed on the JLBC report for write-off, please utilize the Uncollectible Debt Detail excel spreadsheet and the Uncollectible Debt Referral Certification & Recommendation cover sheet. Also, please ensure that you include your case reference number on the debt detail spreadsheet as this will be helpful to your agency in reconciling cases that have been written-off down the road. All cases that were referred to our office for collection and were subsequently closed will automatically be placed on the JLBC report with the following close reason exceptions:
- Agency Has No Claim or Interest
- Debt Paid in Full
- Duplicate File
- Duplicate File - Consolidated
- Judgment Satisfied
- Per Agency Request
The close reasons above are not valid close reasons for deeming a debt uncollectible. There is nothing further that the referring agency needs to do with cases closed with these reasons except for the following:
- Per Agency Request
Any case with a “Per Agency Request” close reason is being returned to the referring agency to take next steps or to place the debt on the Uncollectible Debt Detail form with the most appropriate uncollectible reason selected. **Please send your uncollectible debt forms to [email protected].
Once all uncollectible cases have been favorably reviewed by the JLBC, you can click on the link(s) below to review the debts that you may now "write-off" your books. If you have a significant number of debts to review for uncollectible abatement, you may also request an excel version report by sending your request to the Collection Manager, Joseph Arechavaleta, at [email protected]. Please keep in mind that after a debt has been favorably reviewed and “written-off”, the debt can always be re-established and payment collected (in cases where a debtor calls in after-the-fact to make payment, etc.).
Below are links to prior JLBC meeting minutes in which you can view debts that have been favorably reviewed by fiscal year. FY2000 to FY2016 can also be found on the JLBC website.
FY 2000
FY 2001
FY 2002
FY 2003
FY 2004
FY 2005
FY 2006
FY 2007 and 2008
FY 2009 and 2010
FY 2011 and 2012
FY 2013
FY 2014 and 2015
FY 2016
FY 2017
FY 2018
FY 2019
FY 2019 - Revised
FY 2020 – Detail List Report (with DHS Summary)
FY 2020 - DHS Detail List only
FY 2021
FY 2022
FY 2023
Bankruptcy Referral / Notification Process:
**Please forward bankruptcy notices immediately to [email protected] and include whether or not you have already referred the case to our offices for collection. If the case has been referred to our offices for collection, please also include the BCE# if available and/or the date referred. If the case has not been referred to our office, please email the same supporting documentation that you would a referral for collection including a completed Universal Client Agency Cover Sheet to [email protected] so that our Bankruptcy Unit can validate the debt is owed and begin protecting your agency’s interest in the debt.
Quarterly Debt Notification Process:
Pursuant to A.R.S. §41-191.04, all State agencies, boards, commissions and departments shall submit periodic reports of debt owed to the State. This report should be remitted on a Quarterly basis, preferably by the third Monday following each quarter to [email protected] and [email protected] in excel format. The report should include the following:
- Date debt was incurred
- Debt type
- Debtor name
- Agency specific case / Reference number
- Original debt amount
- Current debt amount
- Status of Case (include whether it has been referred to the AGO for collection or not)
Case Status Update Requests:
Our office provides case status reports which contain general information as to what stage of collections each referred case is currently in, including the reason and date that any cases were closed within the last two years. Requests should be sent in writing to [email protected], and should be made no more frequently than every 3 months. Requested reports will typically be sent within 10 business days.
**If you have original documents that need to be sent to this office, please send the entire physical referral packet to: 2005 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85004 Attn: Intake Team, Cap Center 3rd Floor/BCE Unit. Agencies with which the Attorney General's Office already has secure email (TLS encryption meeting State standards) not requiring a password to access are:
- Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System
- Arizona Department of Administration
- Arizona Department of Revenue
- Arizona Department of Health Services
- Arizona Departments of Economic Security
- Arizona State Retirement System
If you are not one of the aforementioned agencies and emailing confidential information (social security numbers, etc.) would require the recipient to be set up with a login/password, we ask that either have your IT engineer(s) contact our IT Helpdesk at (602) 542-4746 to work on obtaining secure email between our agencies, or you send your documents in the following manner:
- Collection and Bankruptcy referrals: Fax to (602) 542-4273
- Uncollectible or Quarterly Debt Reports: Disc or flash drive (so that your report does not need to be manually reproduced by our support staff)
Thank you in advance for following the referral processes that have been outlined. Your cooperation allows the Attorney General's Office to service all client agencies as efficiently and confidentially as possible.