Overview: "Financial Connection"

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By Birmingham Debt Management Operations Center

The Treasury Offset Program (TOP) Call Center, now in its tenth year of operation, is geared up for what it expects to be its busiest call season ever. The Call Center receives approximately 3.4 million calls annually, with two- thirds of these calls coming in during tax season. During the 2007 tax season, from January 1, 2007 through April 17, 2007, the TOP Call Center received 2,714,387 calls, as compared to 2,577,663 for the same period during the 2006 tax season. Answering thousands of calls is a challenge that the Financial Management Service (FMS) meets daily with well trained staff, terrific technical support, and automation.

FMS created TOP in response to provisions of the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA). TOP utilizes the FMS centralized disbursement process by matching a database of delinquent debts owed to federal agencies and some state agencies against payments issued by FMS. When TOP matches a delinquent debtor record to a payment being issued, the payment is offset and applied to the debt. Each time a payment is offset to help satisfy a debt, the payee receives an offset notice from FMS providing information about the offset, along with the creditor agency’s address and phone number(s). Each notice also contains the toll-free TOP Call Center number 1-800-304-3107 as the secondary point of contact.

The TOP Call Center responds to inquiries from the public and from agencies concerning federal payments that have been offset or scheduled to be offset. The traditional types of questions are “Will I be offset?” or “Who took my money?” As you might assume, some of the callers are upset about collections of their debts through the offset program. The Call Center staff is trained to handle each call with professional tact so that each caller receives accurate information as quickly as possible.

The TOP Call Center has improved customer service to taxpayers with an expansion of its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capability. The IVR system gives taxpayers around the clock access to answer many of their offset questions. The popularity of self-service using the IVR has increased every year since its implementation in December 2000. At the height of tax season in 2007, almost 90 percent of callers chose the IVR option.

The Treasury Offset Call Center may be reached at 1-800-304-3107. Our normal business hours are Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central time. There is also a line available to assist Spanish speaking callers from 12:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. During our peak season from January 22, 2008 through April 11, 2008, the hours have been expanded from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with the Spanish speaking line being available 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The IVR automated system is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

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