Judgement timeline and question

[Anonymous]

A TIMELINE ~
Ok, I failed to pay a stop sign violation in July 2010.
Apparently it went to court or something and I ended up owing the circuit court 190.00
I never received any papers on this or anything (I am guessing if you don't pay a ticket, this happens)
I got a notice today from law office -like collections- that I owe 190.00 and they had the account since Jan. 2011
I had no idea why so I called to get any info on this debt and found out it was for ticket.
They told me it was not on my credit report (which I knew) and it was judgement

MY QUESTIONS: Is this word "judgement" mean the same thing as a court judgement that can be reported as a judgement with credit bureau?
AND..What are the odds that after them having this collection account for like 14 months already, what are the odds they will report it now?
Being short on the funds..should I pay this debt or just hope it won't be reported since it has not yet been reported already?

Thanks

[pizzadude]

I'm not sure what the laws are in your jurisidction, but where I live you can be arrested for failure to appear if you neither paid the fine nor showed up for the court date for any moving violations, including speeding, failure to stop, etc....  And you won't get any notification that there is a warrant out for your arrest.

If I were you I would pay it and also you should check with your state/local authorities to see if they might have suspended your driver's license or something else on top of the fine for the ticket.  

Typically judgements that appear on your credit report are the result of a civil action, such as being sued for unpaid debt or breech of contract.    I don't think that a court judgment for a speeding ticket is the same but I wouldn't be surprised if it were to show up as a collection at the very least. 

I would try to negotiate an agreement with them whereby they agree not to report it to the CRAs in exchange for payment.

[RobertEG]

If the state filed suit for the unpaid debt and received a judgment, that is a ruling of the court against you, and is a public record.

It is available to anyone, including a debt collector.

Debt collectors are not above reporting information to your credit file that will increase their leverage.

[Booner72]

Since it's public record, you could get it reported at any time - See, the CRA's, they pay these folks to go comb courthouse records to get stuff on us, and then they report it.  So either the CA could report it, or the comber.

So it's, IMO, it could only be a matter of time, really.  Even after it's paid.  In fact, paying it might cause it to show up easier to these courthouse combers as it will make it more recent.

I'm certain that the ticket-judgment is different than other judgments, though. 

And your question, Should I Pay it?  well,  I think that's a no brainer. 

[Anonymous]

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@pizzadude wrote:

I'm not sure what the laws are in your jurisidction, but where I live you can be arrested for failure to appear if you neither paid the fine nor showed up for the court date for any moving violations, including speeding, failure to stop, etc....  And you won't get any notification that there is a warrant out for your arrest.

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I'd second that. Where I live failure to appear is automatic contempt of court and arrest warrant issued even for moving violations. Personally I'd make sure I was OK on the legal front on this one first.

[pizzadude]

Yep.  This language appears on every ticket that I have received.   And unfortunately I have waaaayyyy too many of them......

If you have not settled this case prior to the appearance date and you do not appear in court on that date, a warrant will be issued for your arrest and the Department of Public Safety will be notified to suspend your driver's license.