NTTA Board Approves Collection and Administrative Fee Policy

At its regularly-scheduled March meeting, the NTTA Board of Directors approved its new collection and administrative fee policy. 

Many initiatives of the new policy have already been implemented such as:

• Reducing the $25 administrative fee on the violation invoice by 67 percent to $8.33 per transaction if the invoice is paid before the invoice is sent to the collection agency
• Allowing all transactions on the NTTA System to be processed through the ZipCash process, providing motorists another opportunity to pay their tolls without any additional fines
• Creating an ombudsman program to ensure consistency and fairness in the NTTA collection process
• Redesigning invoices to communicate the benefit of prompt payment as well as consequences if the request for payment is ignored
• Streamlining the process used to gather forwarded addresses by communicating directly with the National Change of Address Database 

The NTTA will be launching a comprehensive communications program to inform motorists of the NTTA’s collection process and the benefits of prompt payment.  Furthermore, the NTTA is in the process of developing an incentive program to reward motorists who keep their TollTag account sin good standing and customers who pay their ZipCash invoices on time.

“Our collection process aims to recover tolls and the cost to collect the toll in a cost-effective manner.  We’ve already made many customer-centric enhancements to our current process.  Going forward, we are going to focus on communicating the benefits of each payment type,” said NTTA Executive Director Allen Clemson.  “We appreciate the 90 percent of customers that pay for their toll road usage on-time without the need for additional fines.  It’s important that we do everything we can to collect from the violators so the paying customers are not subsidizing violators’ trips on the region’s toll roads.”

The NTTA encourages all customers to get TollTags. Motorists without TollTags pay 50 percent more than TollTag customers.  TollTags can also be used to pay tolls on any toll road in Texas, as well as parking and/or pass-through at the Dallas/Fort Worth International and Dallas Love Field airports if the account is backed with a credit or debit card. 

“We’ll also be communicating directly with our TollTag customers on the importance of making sure their account information is accurate so the NTTA does not incur costs pursuing payments from TollTag customers. The NTTA currently waives all administrative fees for TollTag customers but will begin charging TollTag customers the ZipCash rate if their accounts fall into arrears to offset the additional cost of collection when they are billed,” said Clemson.

The NTTA is statutorily required to bill the registered owner of the vehicle when the tolls are not paid at the toll booths. All motorists have a responsibility to update their vehicle registration information with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.  Updating vehicle registration becomes more important as the NTTA continues its transition to all-electronic toll collection.  

“If motorists have concerns about their ZipCash invoices or TollTag accounts, we encourage them to contact the NTTA.  We have a history of flexibility with our customers and want to make the payment process as smooth as the driving experience,” Clemson said.