Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Can one unpaid parking ticket (less than $100) that I got ages ago grow in size (with interest) to few grand and come back years later to bite you? I heard stories like that, but wonder if they're true (lets' say you've got the ticket, cancelled your license and moved - will this ticket be growing year to year with interest)?

Can one unpaid parking ticket (less than $100) that I got ages ago grow in size (with interest) to few grand and come back years later to bite you? I heard stories like that, but wonder if they're true (lets' say you've got the ticket, cancelled your license and moved - will this ticket be growing year to year with interest)?

I don't know about a few thousand, but yes. The fines get larger after 2 days here. Then they tack on penalties for every 90 days.

Even if the license/registration has been cancelled years ago? Some parking ticket still would be tacking on penalties and interest? :(

...It's a legal, valid debt...

Even worse.... CREDIT! :eek:

Can a parking ticket grow?
Especially if you get it wet or feed it after midnight.

acreature
I am interested in getting only ACCURATE answers. Are you seriously implying unpaid parking tickets of < $100 get reported to credit bureaus? I'm not talking about some "freak case scenario", but about what happens realistically. If they do not have a procedure in place for reporting parking tickets to credit bureau, they're obviously not going to single mine out and report it individually :)

DC Law
If I felt the ticket was fair, I would have just paid it, as you said. Unfortunately many cities use parking tickets as a way to do some "on-the-side" tax collecting.

how can I find out if the traffic ticket is still on the record and how much is it now?

acreature
I am interested in getting only ACCURATE answers.

Wow, you sure know how to be appreciative. :rolleyes:

If you feel it was unfairly given fight it, don't dodge it.

Uhh...Did you try contacting the agency/department that issued the ticket?

And what does disagreeing with the validity/propriety of the ticket have to do with ignoring it? If you want to fight it, then do so...Ignoring it seems a pretty immature way to go about solving the problem.

-Citicop.

Especially if you get it wet or feed it after midnight

Darn it tx, you beat me to it.

I appreciate all the answers and information I got.
I am not going to fight it because airplane tickets to go back there will cost me more than what that whole parking ticket was worth. So my options are to pay it or continue doing nothing. It's been years and I never heard anything about it. But it has been popping into my mind lately, since I heard that tickets can grow and grow and come back to bite you years later.

Im not an LEO, nor am I claiming to be one. But why dont you just pay the ticket and be done with it? problem solved...

acreature
I am interested in getting only ACCURATE answers. Are you seriously implying unpaid parking tickets of < $100 get reported to credit bureaus? I'm not talking about some "freak case scenario", but about what happens realistically. If they do not have a procedure in place for reporting parking tickets to credit bureau, they're obviously not going to single mine out and report it individually :)

I'll tell you my NY story: I got a parking ticket and (unfair or not!) I paid it. Unfortunately, they received it one day late, and they tacked on a $10 late fee. I had just moved to this apartment about 4 months before and hadn't changed my address yet with DMV. Anyway, aparently the parking bureau sent at least one letter telling me of the fine, but sent it to the old address. Fast forward a year, and I applied for a credit card and was denied. I looked at my credit report, and viola! parking ticket on it - now for $100. The bureau decided I wasn't going to pay and sent it on to a credit bureau.

So, from my personal experience her in NY, I can tell you that they DO send tickets onto a credit bureau.

Why screw around and take the chance? Tickets don't ever drop out of site. Find out if there is an amnesty period, so you can avoid paying all the fines.

If you were parked illegally, then you deserve to pay the fine. Cops don't ticket cars parked legally. I don't buy the baloney about them wanting to boost their revenue. Its not like it goes in the cops' pocket, so they wouldn't risk their job to ticket a car parked legally. :rolleyes:

My ticket was years ago and never made it onto my credit report. I have credits cards, no problems.

Find out if there is an amnesty period, so you can avoid paying all the fines. What exactly is an amnesty period? You can only pay the ticket but not fines?

acreature
I am interested in getting only ACCURATE answers. Are you seriously implying unpaid parking tickets of < $100 get reported to credit bureaus? I'm not talking about some "freak case scenario", but about what happens realistically. If they do not have a procedure in place for reporting parking tickets to credit bureau, they're obviously not going to single mine out and report it individually :)



Any and ALL debt can and may be reported. You're young aren't you.

Majority of any parking tickets are civil infractions, which mean they aren't things that go on your driving or criminal records. That way the money oes to the town/city rather than state as speeding law violations etc do.

DC-

You took the words out of my mouth...

Rep on the way (after I spread it around)

-Citicop.

acreature
Thanks for clarification. Maybe they were not reporting it back then - it never showed on my credit report. But it's good to know that it's more of a risk now for something like this to happen.

Especially if you get it wet or feed it after midnight.

LMFAO...rep for that one

What exactly is an amnesty period? You can only pay the ticket but not fines?
Exactly.


ASPNT, You may have not gotten it on your credit report yet, but who knows, it may. You may be on the "boot" list, where they wil boot your car for the unpaid fine (that is doubtful, but you never know). Each municipality can have different rules. Some may take action if a ticket goes unpaid for 1 year, some may do something about it when the fine reaches $500 or more.

In CA you won't be getting your license renewed, the fines will be doubled (at least) and you won't be allowed to register any vehicles until you pay your fines.

In CA you won't be getting your license renewed, the fines will be doubled (at least) and you won't be allowed to register any vehicles until you pay your fines.


Ahhh...I love the style.

Where I work, if you have $45 worth of unpaid tickets, we have the right to clamp your vehicle anytime you're on campus, regardless of whether you are parked legally when we clamp you. Lots of people get mad at us for doing so, because they think they are good as long as they are legal at the time. If we are bored, we will just punch license plates into our handheld computer to see if we get a hit :)

once upon a time, in a college town far, far away............
(heard this story huh?)

Very important alumni comes back for a football game.
(just ask him, he will tell you how important he is)
During the course of the evening after the game he come
in contact with a Univ LEO who does a local record check.
(amazing thing, you couldnt drink hard alcohol on campus when you are
a student and you cant drink hard alcohol as an alumni EITHER)

Guess who has a local warrant for $14.00 for failure to pay
a parking ticket in the local bar district all those years ago.

To add insult to injury, they make him bond on the alcohol violation
also

Next customer.......................................

Bringin back the dead...

Fight it or Pay it! Sitting on it is as dumb as sitting on a grill during the middle of summer.

acreature
I am interested in getting only ACCURATE answers. Are you seriously implying unpaid parking tickets of < $100 get reported to credit bureaus? I'm not talking about some "freak case scenario", but about what happens realistically. If they do not have a procedure in place for reporting parking tickets to credit bureau, they're obviously not going to single mine out and report it individually :)

DC Law
If I felt the ticket was fair, I would have just paid it, as you said. Unfortunately many cities use parking tickets as a way to do some "on-the-side" tax collecting.

Well, way to contest it by not paying it, the judge should understand that logic completely. :rolleyes: