$30,000 E-ZPass fee and nowhere to go for help

Brett Wilson’s small, plastic E-ZPass transponder once helped him save time on his daily round trip from Bel Air to Baltimore. But within a few years, without him even realizing it, it also turned into a debilitating debt ticket.

His 2019 Toyota Camry, with nearly 98,000 miles on the odometer and payments still outstanding, has been sitting parked outside his home since a sheriff’s deputy pulled him over earlier this year. Vehicle registration has been suspended. Harford County resident He owes tens of thousands of dollars to the state of Maryland before he can drive again.

Despite spending hours on the phone with state officials each week and even seeking legal help, he still can’t fully understand how the fines and fees have reached nearly $30,000. He says the 20% down payment he was forced to make was well above the original tolls.

Owned and operated by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA), the state’s toll facilities finance and maintain critical transportation infrastructure, including the Bay Bridge and the Interstate 895 and 95 tunnels. E-ZPass allows drivers to navigate these roads and transit to toll facilities in more than a dozen states without physically stopping to pay tolls.

But the stories of Wilson and others who spoke to The Baltimore Banner show that customers have few recourses for help when billing problems arise. There is little indication that Wilson’s experience was widespread, and the MDTA says it offers multiple avenues for repayment to people who received fines. But advocates say not all options are available to everyone.

Wilson’s saga of trying to understand the charges, work out a payment plan, and get help managing them dragged on for years and took a toll on him, straining his relationships with his family and even eating into the time he could devote to schoolwork.

“You just want to kind of relax in a fair way,” said Wilson, who attends the University of Baltimore. “You know, I don’t want to not pay. That’s not what I’m trying to do. “I’m just trying to pay off my debt without a huge amount of money ballooning over my head.”

toll roads

Wilson’s troubles began after he got a job as a truck driver in 2020. He commuted from Bel Air to an industrial area southwest of Baltimore most days to work, using one of three toll booths at the time. Patapsco River.

At one point in 2021, he said, a “phonebook’s worth” of tolls arrived on his doorstep, totaling between $3,000 and $4,000. He was shocked because, except for a brief period in 2020, his online E-ZPass account showed him as green., he said; and had linked his bank account to it for automatic withdrawals.

“I see debits and credits coming into my account, but I don’t understand where this charge is coming from or why I’m late for things,” Wilson said.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Maryland switched to completely cashless tolling overnight and paused toll collections for vehicles without E-ZPass until October 2020. However, they never considered forgiving the tolls, they just postponed collections.

When payment time came, the agency’s call center was thrown into chaos, receiving more calls than ever before. They were still texting accumulated toll fees To customers’ accounts in summer 2022.

This may be why he got little help when he called to find out where thousands of dollars came from. He said he’s seen online reports of other E-ZPass users claiming false charges. He said he was busy worrying about his job and stopped receiving any notifications that his payments were late.

When a Carroll County sheriff’s deputy pulled him over two years later, he realized he was deeper in debt than he thought.

A “consumer information form” he received from an E-ZPass representative and shared with The Baltimore Banner shows the original balance totaling about $30,000 in a “Pri” account. It was never explained to him what Pri meant or represented, he said.

According to an agency representative, MDTA does not issue such documents. The agency provided a general response to The Banner’s questions.

“At MDTA, we are committed to providing our customers with the tools and resources necessary to keep their accounts in good standing,” an agency representative said in an email. To avoid large toll debts, the representative advised customers to pay early, contact the call center or visit a customer service center to resolve issues, and maintain a positive account balance. They also suggested downloading the E-ZPass mobile app.

Wilson said he’s tried them all. His problems now lie with the Maryland Central Collections Division, the state’s debt collection agency.

According to the MDTA, if the toll is not paid within 30 days of the “Toll Notification”, a fine of $25 per transaction is imposed. CCU usually kicks in after 90 days and adds an additional collection fee.

Raquel Coombs, chief of staff for the Maryland Department of Budget and Management, said in an email that CCU tries to work with all individuals to develop voluntary payment plans. There is more than one way for someone with debt to reach CCU. summarized on the websitehe said.

A 17% collection fee is assessed on all debts for collection, Coombs wrote; This percentage does not vary depending on the type or amount of debt.

Marceline White said not everyone can get a payment plan. Economic Action MD. CCU also has powers that other debt collectors do not have; for example, using government databases to access residents’ contact information; and seize state tax refund As debt repayment. This happened to Wilson.

“It’s not consistent or clear, it’s really capricious whether you get a payment plan or not, which is problematic from a fairness perspective and an equity perspective,” White said. He said people struggling to make ends meet are struggling with increasing debts because payment plans do not take into account other debts and living expenses.

Wilson could not find any flexibility. “They say that’s what you’ll pay. That’s all there will be in this much time. And he said, ‘Thank you, I hope you have a wonderful day.’

Something similar happened to Monique Washington of Baltimore County, who was forced to make car payments for a vehicle with suspended registration. He said his car insurance payments had increased recently, even though it was just outside his home.

“That’s why people get out-of-state tags because of the way Maryland moves and operates,” Washington said.

She recently acquired the car and the thousands of E-ZPass debts that came with it in a divorce settlement with her ex-husband, who she said collected fines and fees. He said the MDTA and the Motor Vehicle Administration, which do not deal with E-ZPass issues but can block someone from renewing their registration until the account is flagged, were not willing to work with him on payment plans. They want her ex-husband to be there even if she shows them the divorce papers.

“I miss my doctor’s appointments, I miss taking my medications, I can’t get them because I can’t reach them,” she said. “My insurance does not cover transportation, so what should I do?”

Where to turn?

Wilson wonders if others have had similar experiences. But it’s hard to know whether they have it, at least in real time. There are plenty of threads on Reddit — a $700 charge here, problems after getting a transponder on a rental car there — but little official record.

Consumer protection department The state attorney general’s office said it has received 121 complaints from customers against E-ZPass in the past six years.

They may not be the best barometer, though. The department forwards such complaints to the governor’s office, but ultimately MDTA cannot help consumers because it is a government agency. The attorney general’s office is not an MDTA watchdog; They look more like their lawyers.

Maryland Office of Legislative Audits (OLA) operates a hotline to report fraud, waste and abuse within the state government. When asked about E-ZPass-related calls, an official stated that the hotline was private and declined to disclose the nature of any calls.

OLA had previously found problems in the MDTA’s operation of E-ZPass. An audit conducted between 2016 and 2020, which the MDTA partially disputed, showed calls to the hotline alleging the agency was overcharging drivers on certain fares facilities.

An audit for 2021-22, also stemming from claims made on the hotline, found that more than 80,000 E-ZPass customers were potentially overcharged at a northeastern Maryland toll facility. The audit found that some of these charges were dismissed due to customer disputes, but most were not. The next financial compliance audit is scheduled to begin this year.

White said there is no such government body to mediate such matters.

“There are few measures in Maryland that would provide ways for an individual to repay debt in an affordable and sustainable manner without exacerbating an already fragile financial situation.” Establishment’s 2018 reportIt was then known as the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition.

Wilson and Washington resorted to enlisting the help of local lawmakers to ask if they could intervene in some way; He even wrote a letter to Washington Governor Wes Moore.

Wilson made an unsuccessful attempt to get a state administrative hearing. He also sought help from legal nonprofits, but they referred him to lawyers for whom he would have to pay.

If he had extra money to hire a lawyer, he said, he’d prefer to use it to pay off his debt so he could drive his Camry again.