Hi Everyone,
I have a son who at one point was living with his grandmother, during this time I took out some library books for him to do a report. Well, he never returned the books, and now I have a mark on my credit report due to this. I recently pulled my credit report (after hiding under a rock for years) and was so pissed to see this!
The fine is $87 dollars, which I would be more than happy to pay...but since it has been sent to a collection agency I am not sure what my best step would be. My credit as of July was in the low to mid 600's and I am really trying to get my score to at least 680-700.
Any advice on how to handle it? I may have gotten a letter from the collection agency, but I honestly don't remember. 
What kind of letter would I have to right them to see if they would strike this mark off? I don't want to say that they never sent me notice, as they may well have sent me a notice but I overlooked it.
harleyquinn wrote:Hi Everyone,I have a son who at one point was living with his grandmother, during this time I took out some library books for him to do a report. Well, he never returned the books, and now I have a mark on my credit report due to this. I recently pulled my credit report (after hiding under a rock for years) and was so pissed to see this!The fine is $87 dollars, which I would be more than happy to pay...but since it has been sent to a collection agency I am not sure what my best step would be. My credit as of July was in the low to mid 600's and I am really trying to get my score to at least 680-700.Any advice on how to handle it? I may have gotten a letter from the collection agency, but I honestly don't remember.What kind of letter would I have to right them to see if they would strike this mark off? I don't want to say that they never sent me notice, as they may well have sent me a notice but I overlooked it.
First know your SOL
more detailed
call the libary and find out if they OWN the debt. If they sold it to the CA then you must deal with the CA.
If they still own the debt send them a PFD. remember you must have it in writting. In your PFD tell them to have the CA delete all reporting info. also. If they say that they can not tell the CA to delete. They CAN, BUT it might be easier to wait for the libray to delete & then go after the CA.
keep all copies of your CR for years! That way if any other CA shows up you can refer to old CR.
Personal story dealing with a NY library (Nassau County to be exact).
I had overdue books for umm... way over a year let me leave it at that. 
It had gone to collections but was not appearing on my CBRs. Apparently it was not sold to collections. With the total fines I could have bought the books three times over.
It had gone to collections but was not appearing on my CBRs. Apparently it was not sold to collections. With the total fines I could have bought the books three times over.I brought the books back to the library where they asked if anyone from collections had been in contact with me. I said no (they only tried!). They reduced the fines per policy to be no more than the total value of the printed prices on the returned books. I had no further activity on or off my CBRs and saved a huge amount of money. Took me 10 minutes.
I had nothing at all in writing, did not do a PFD.
Just a story. 
Hmmm, well apparently Queens County takes their library fines a litttttttle more seriously. 
Keep your fingers crossed, I will post the letter before I send it off.