OK, so what you gonna do?

May 11, 2009 6:32 PM

What are the consequences of not paying a parking ticket issued in a city you don't live anywhere near anymore?

I moved from the Chicago area recently and have received forwarded mail about parking tickets. They're ridiculously priced and mention that they'll be referred to a collection agency if I don't pay them. I haven't dealt with a collection agency and don't know how good they are at finding and effectively harassing people.

I'd prefer not to pay these tickets, so what will consequences will I face if I don't, keeping in mind that I no longer have the same license plates or driver's license?

Let's stay away from whether or not I should pay these tickets and focus on what will realistically happen if I don't.

posted by ignignokt to law & government (33 comments total)

If you ever plan to go to Chicago again in your life I would pay it if I were you. It will come back to bite you someday in the age of databases that never forget stuff.
posted by crapples at 6:40 PM on May 11

Dunno how aggressive an agency the city might employ, but collection agencies are very good at finding and harassing people--that's their thing.
posted by box at 6:45 PM on May 11

If they're referred to a collection agency, they very likely will end up on your credit report. I don't know how this would affect your score, if at all.

Keep in mind that many jurisdictions (and this is spoken as someone who was quite the uh, parking ticket-receiving connoisseur at one point) love to send THREATENING LETTERS TYPED IN ALL CAPS ABOUT THE TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT PAYING PARKING TICKETS which are basically designed to get you to pay the tickets and avoid going to court to contest them.
posted by hamsterdam at 6:46 PM on May 11

I believe the judge issues a bench warrant.
posted by Houstonian at 6:47 PM on May 11

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. Someone may call you, but that's what caller ID is for, right?
posted by The Light Fantastic at 6:47 PM on May 11

A credit agency won't care that you have different plates / a new license. In the past, the credit agency threat might have been empty, but cities are hurting these days. If they sic a credit agency on you, it will ding your credit pretty badly and probably cost you more in the long run.
posted by charmcityblues at 6:48 PM on May 11

I believe the judge issues a bench warrant.

For a moving violation, yes - for a parking ticket? No.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 6:48 PM on May 11

Can someone please explain to me how a credit report can be dinged by this? Parking tickets aren't "Credit" - they are a fine - failure to pay a fine isn't an extension of credit or a breach of contract. If collection agencies are threatening to ding peoples credit for this, I'd love to know how.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I just don't know how it could be, same as taxes.

This is all moot if you agreed to terms and then didn't follow up with them.

I ask this question because people seem to base a lot of actions on "keeping their credit score good", but don't really consider what a good credit score actually is.
posted by bensherman at 6:53 PM on May 11

What might happen: They'll find you, prevent you from renewing your drivers license, and put a hold and lien on your bank accounts and garnish your wages. And the parking ticket fees may triple or quadruple over time, meaning you'll be on the hook for a lot more than if you paid them now.

Parking tickets are linked by the license plate number to the identity of the registered owner of the vehicle. Changing license plates doesn't change the fact that they know the identity of the person who got the ticket. Once they have your identity - I don't just mean your name - they can find you.

It's just not that easy to hide out from creditors these days, unless you go completely off the grid, meaning you get all of your income under the table, keep your cash under a mattress, stop using credit cards, and stop using an address altogether. Welcome to the 21st century.
posted by jabberjaw at 6:54 PM on May 11

Well, there are any number of posts on forums from people complaining that unpaid parking tickets are having a bad effect on their credit report. So clearly, whether or not they ought to, they are. That in and of itself would get me to pay any tickets.
posted by lore at 7:01 PM on May 11

Thanks for the answers so far, guys!

They'll find you, prevent you from renewing your drivers license, and put a hold and lien on your bank accounts and garnish your wages.

Wow. jabberjaw, do you actually know someone whose wages were garnished and had their bank account frozen as a result of not paying parking tickets? I hear about people not paying parking tickets all the time without anything like that happening.

If anyone can provide details or actual experiences with unpaid parking tickets affecting credit as bensherman asked, that'd be great, too.
posted by ignignokt at 7:07 PM on May 11

@bensherman, when local governments contract with private collection agencies to collect fines, those agencies will report amounts owed to the three major credit bureaus, which will register as a collection on your report and affect your FICO score. You don't have to agree to any terms.

Sounds a little shady? It is!

I have unpaid parking tickets from both Buffalo, NY and New York, NY on my credit report (along with New York Public LIBRARY fines). I couldn't tell you how these items have affected my score, since mine is so far in the tank as it is. But they're on all three major reports for sure.
posted by hamsterdam at 7:10 PM on May 11

ignignokt - Yes. This was in California, so ymmv.
posted by jabberjaw at 7:10 PM on May 11

^ actually, his bank account wasn't frozen, but the drivers license renewal and the wage garnishment happened. Due to unpaid tickets.
posted by jabberjaw at 7:12 PM on May 11

And in my case, the unpaid tickets didn't prevent me from acquiring a driver's license in another state (CA).
posted by hamsterdam at 7:14 PM on May 11

IANAL, but it's my understanding that parking tickets, like other fines, have a grace period where you can contest their legitimacy and/or appeal. If you don't, then you are considered to have "accepted" the outcome of the ticket and are then obligated to pay it. The fine is a debt owed to the city or municipality that issued the fine. That debt is then sold to the collections agency, who then chases you down to pay the debt. I don't see a reason why this wouldn't end up on a credit report eventually. Credit companies will track you down- they use all sorts of records to locate you and get you to pay. Don't think that leaving the state is going to keep them at bay- they'll track you down.

Chicago and Illinois are ruthless about tolls, tickets, and the like. I've heard some horror stories about what they cost and how long they'll chase you after the fact.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 7:19 PM on May 11

Can someone please explain to me how a credit report can be dinged by this?

Court judgments, etc. are in the public record. There's little restriction on 'reporting' them, the way there is on regular bad debts. Typically credit reports will show civil court/small claims/conciliation court judgments, which are usually about garden-variety bad debt. They'll also show tax liens and, often, unpaid child support -- those are scary things that could mean the government could come in, take your assets and destroy your ability to pay other obligations, something that lenders care about.

It seems theoretically possible that unpaid parking tickets could show up. Back in the day, when I was in the industry, I never saw it explicitly, but it's possible that it might have just shown up as some unspecified court action.

And, as people have already noted, databases are linking up much more than they used to, so past experience is no guarantee of what could happen now or in the future.

Note that parking tickets aren't bad debt, they're violations of the law. If you're in the same city/county, they have the option of using law enforcement rather than a collection agency. If you're in a different city but the same state, they might have a way to withhold them from your state tax return. Way too many variables to give you a definite answer, though: depends on the location, the total amount, how cranky the traffic enforcemnt supervisor is that week....


(My background: credit industry yes, lawyer no. Haven't had a parking ticket since age 18.)
posted by gimonca at 7:19 PM on May 11

I believe the judge issues a bench warrant.

For a moving violation, yes - for a parking ticket? No.

Depends on how many tickets and what city. I know a couple people who've had warrants issued for unpaid parking tickets. They had quite a few.
posted by fshgrl at 7:20 PM on May 11

If parking tickets ended up on my credit report, I'd have the storm of the FCRA thundering upon the heads of that agency so fast, they would be underwater.

That kind of action is deplorable, but if its a tactic they are taking, it is worth your time (and probably money) to get this taken care of quickly. Collection agents are the worst kind of awful there is to deal with. I know this because I've had them chase me down over debts that were not legitimate.

The phone calls you will get claiming you are a worthless man and that your wife should leave you are just the beginning.
posted by bensherman at 7:24 PM on May 11

The parking nerd says: If it’s only a single ticket, I don’t think much can happen in an answer to someone who still lives in Chicago.

They also claim that Technically, the city can boot your new car with new plates for an old vehicle, with old plates that is/was on the boot list. However, if your new plate is clean and ticketless or you’re all paid up on your tickets, chances are VERY slim they’ll make the connection to your new vehicle

I wouldn't pay it.
posted by zenon at 7:26 PM on May 11

I had my driver's license suspended last year in New Jersey for an unpaid parking ticket. A single $20 parking ticket, I might add. Thanks, Montclair Parking Authority!
posted by crankylex at 7:29 PM on May 11

Can someone please explain to me how a credit report can be dinged by this? Parking tickets aren't "Credit" - they are a fine - failure to pay a fine isn't an extension of credit or a breach of contract.

It’s simple: Fees that are not paid become debts; unpaid parking tickets can therefore be reported to credit agencies, like any unpaid debt. The “contract” being broken in this case would be ignignokt's implied contract to follow Illinois traffic laws and ordinances, which he entered when he obtained an Illinois license and/or drove his car on Illinois streets.
posted by applemeat at 7:30 PM on May 11

Also, back in the day when actual humans looked at credit reports, if I or someone would have seen "$9 CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS PARKING" on someone's report, I would have gotten a good bellylaugh out of it, then aggressively ignored it. Nowadays, with FICO and automated systems, things are somewhat less forgiving. If there's nothing else bad, what it would probably mean is that you wouldn't be able to get "immediate credit" in some situations because an automated system would ding you for that public record. It would be referred to a supervisor, who would probably approve it. A minor hassle, and an occasional rare embarrassment.

I'd like to say it would cut down on junk mail, but that might be too much to hope for.

Something big and unusual, like a $3000 public record, for parking tickets or anything else, would be treated more seriously.
posted by gimonca at 7:31 PM on May 11

If parking tickets ended up on my credit report, I'd have the storm of the FCRA thundering upon the heads of that agency so fast, they would be underwater.

If it was action taken by a court, or if it was, in fact, referred to a collection agency, you wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
posted by gimonca at 7:34 PM on May 11 [1 favorite]

It’s simple: Fees that are not paid become debts; unpaid parking tickets can therefore be reported to credit agencies, like any unpaid debt. The “contract” being broken in this case would be ignignokt's implied contract to follow Illinois traffic laws and ordinances, which he entered when he obtained an Illinois license and/or drove his car on Illinois streets.

Oh, my. I'll leave it to someone with an actual legal background to tackle that one.
posted by gimonca at 7:38 PM on May 11

How many tickets, and how far did you move? I know someone whose car was towed for unpaid tickets, and yes, they went to collections. It prevented her from renewing her driver's license until they were paid off.
posted by snickerdoodle at 7:49 PM on May 11

My experience was this: Received speeding ticket in central Mississippi in August of 1992, stuck little blue slap on the wrist in glove box and promptly forgot its existence. Moved to Virginia in September 1994, transferred my license to that state, got a job as a courier driver working most of the East Coast... (Assume that my driving record had been checked a couple of times by this point.) Ran out of cash on the 95 Turnpike and pulled in to sign a Promissory Note for the fare and was taken off the road. My $35 fine had become $200 in court costs, which had become a bench warrant, which had been entered into NCIC and dropped from the State system so it didn't show up anywhere until an overzealous tollbooth attendant ran my license through a Federal system. Required two weeks back in Mississippi tracking down a ticket that did not exist and nearly $2000 in fines and lost wages to resolve. You cannot know with any certainty how far an unpaid fine can reach. Pay the fine with a smile and a "Thank you, Sir."
posted by EnsignLunchmeat at 8:00 PM on May 11

My brother blew off a bunch of CA parking tickets when he moved to MA. Months or a year or two later, when he went to renew his license and registration, CA had caught up with him. MA wouldn't let him renew his stuff until he paid his tickets in CA. He blew THAT off, and kept driving around with an expired license and registration and no insurance. Guess how that ended? Yeah, in a huge car accident, an unbelievable amount of fines and legal nonsense, and a day in court where the judge told him in no uncertain terms what a dumbass he was. He was lucky to avoid jail as a result of this whole mess. Naturally he could have paid the tickets when they caught up with him in MA, and so could you. But maybe just pay them when you get them (or contest them if you think they're unreasonable) and get on with your life.
posted by autojack at 9:31 PM on May 11

snickerdoodle: It's two tickets, and I moved about 1,000 miles.
posted by ignignokt at 6:06 AM on May 12

Just to echo the thought that you might someday move back and unpaid tickets could create problems for you then. I was in the DC DMV in 2001 and the woman in line behind me was trying to clear up a problem in which her husband had received a DC parking ticket in the 1980s. The outstanding balance including all the fees and interest was over $17,000. She showed me the print out of how that was computed and it was two pages long. Apparently he didn't know he had ever received a ticket (or had forgotten in 20 years) and when he moved to town and went to the DMV they took his out of state license, checked the computer and found this ticket, and then refused to give his license back. He was off in Virginia or Maryland trying to get a license there so he could drive while she argued with the DMV over the money.
posted by procrastination at 6:46 AM on May 12

Isn't the peace of mind gained by paying them now worthwhile? You'll know that it'll never catch up with you, as opposed to wondering each time you renew your license or get pulled over, "Is this the time that they figure it out?"
posted by Simon Barclay at 9:01 AM on May 12

Isn't the peace of mind gained by paying them now worthwhile? You'll know that it'll never catch up with you, as opposed to wondering each time you renew your license or get pulled over, "Is this the time that they figure it out?"

Well, I don't want to make a decision out of fear. The idea here is that I'm trying to get a solid idea of what will happen so I'm not "running from ghosts" so to speak.

So far, there's a lot of vague conjecture about harm to your credit score, serious and real consequences for people that have not paid California tickets, and collection agency harassment. I still don't know how much real damage it'd do to my credit score, these aren't CA tickets (there could be serious out-of-state consequences for IL tickets, but I haven't heard any real specifics about them yet), and collection agencies sound easily ignorable.

However, it is a possibility that I may move back someday, something that I haven't thought about before. So, I'm leaning toward paying them.
posted by ignignokt at 10:54 AM on May 12

A single St. Louis, MO parking ticket unpaid long enough goes bench warrant. Long enough = about 6 months.

Do you want to spend time handcuffed or in jail? Don't try to push it, the government can be like an elephant and never forget. Fix it now while its relatively cheap.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 7:20 PM on May 12