Parking ticket question, what to do?

[Anonymous]

Apologies in advance if I put this in the wrong forum.

I got a Notice of Liability from a Chicago-based law firm today saying that the city has hired them to try to get some money out of me for three traffic / parking tickets.

1. One is a moving violation from 2010 (red light). The weird thing is, I've been pulled over twice since 2010 (one in 2013 and once in 2014, and shouldn't there have been some kind of action on my driver's license for a moving violation that is several years old? The officers said nothing.)

2. The second is a parking ticket from 2010

3. The third is a parking ticket from 2011

I checked my credit reports this morning and none of them are on my reports as collections yet.

I called the law firm and in a call that was recorded, the woman said that if they didn't hear from me or get payment from me in "two or three weeks" (a direct quote from her), they would refer the matter back to the city and at that point it would go on my CR.

What's the best way to handle this? I didn't admit fault or liability on the phone, but I would like to get this taken care of. 

Assuming that I am willing to pay, is there a way to protect myself so that it stays off my CR after I pay? 

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Apologies in advance if I put this in the wrong forum.

I got a Notice of Liability from a Chicago-based law firm today saying that the city has hired them to try to get some money out of me for three traffic / parking tickets.

1. One is a moving violation from 2010 (red light). The weird thing is, I've been pulled over twice since 2010 (one in 2013 and once in 2014, and shouldn't there have been some kind of action on my driver's license for a moving violation that is several years old? The officers said nothing.) Nah, once it goes to collections status, they just put a hold on your licence. Next time you try to renew is when they will get you - even if you change your state of residence. The hold is nationwide.

2. The second is a parking ticket from 2010

3. The third is a parking ticket from 2011

I checked my credit reports this morning and none of them are on my reports as collections yet. This varies by jurisdiction. Some places will hit your reports, some places won't.

I called the law firm and in a call that was recorded, the woman said that if they didn't hear from me or get payment from me in "two or three weeks" (a direct quote from her), they would refer the matter back to the city and at that point it would go on my CR.

What's the best way to handle this? I didn't admit fault or liability on the phone, but I would like to get this taken care of. 

Assuming that I am willing to pay, is there a way to protect myself so that it stays off my CR after I pay? There is no way to gaurantee it won't land on your reports, but the faster you settle it the more likely it is that it will not go on your reports.

Thanks.

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[Anonymous]

response in blue below

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Apologies in advance if I put this in the wrong forum.

I got a Notice of Liability from a Chicago-based law firm today saying that the city has hired them to try to get some money out of me for three traffic / parking tickets.

1. One is a moving violation from 2010 (red light). The weird thing is, I've been pulled over twice since 2010 (one in 2013 and once in 2014, and shouldn't there have been some kind of action on my driver's license for a moving violation that is several years old? The officers said nothing.) Nah, once it goes to collections status, they just put a hold on your licence. Next time you try to renew is when they will get you - even if you change your state of residence. The hold is nationwide.

2. The second is a parking ticket from 2010

3. The third is a parking ticket from 2011

I checked my credit reports this morning and none of them are on my reports as collections yet. This varies by jurisdiction. Some places will hit your reports, some places won't.

I called the law firm and in a call that was recorded, the woman said that if they didn't hear from me or get payment from me in "two or three weeks" (a direct quote from her), they would refer the matter back to the city and at that point it would go on my CR.

What's the best way to handle this? I didn't admit fault or liability on the phone, but I would like to get this taken care of. 

Assuming that I am willing to pay, is there a way to protect myself so that it stays off my CR after I pay? There is no way to gaurantee it won't land on your reports, but the faster you settle it the more likely it is that it will not go on your reports.

Thanks, Norman. I could hypothetically go online at this moment and pay these things with a credit card. What's I'm worried about is even if I pay today, right now, it won't stop them from putting it on my credit report. I KNOW this is paranoia talking, but if anyone has dealt with the City of Chicago, you will know why I am worried.

Is there any way that I can get a PFD or some kind of documentation that says if I pay within a reasonable amount of time (like by the end of business tomorrow), it won't hit my reports?

Thanks again.

Thanks.

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[Anonymous]

Most CA's will not ding you "after the fact" if you pay off something before its been reported. For one thing it needlessly increases their overhead, because the CRA's actually charge furnishers to place an item on your reports (Quite a racket the CRA's have built - charging for data both coming and going.... theres just something completely immoral about such a business model IMHO).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

response in blue below

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Apologies in advance if I put this in the wrong forum.

I got a Notice of Liability from a Chicago-based law firm today saying that the city has hired them to try to get some money out of me for three traffic / parking tickets.

1. One is a moving violation from 2010 (red light). The weird thing is, I've been pulled over twice since 2010 (one in 2013 and once in 2014, and shouldn't there have been some kind of action on my driver's license for a moving violation that is several years old? The officers said nothing.) Nah, once it goes to collections status, they just put a hold on your licence. Next time you try to renew is when they will get you - even if you change your state of residence. The hold is nationwide.

Here's the thing, though: I got this red light ticket in 2010, but renewed my license in 2012 and have been able to renew city parking medallions (needed for motos in Chicago) and to get new registation for the bike.

There have been some threads about the law firm in question -- Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson -- on the boards and I'm going through them now. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I got some answers after talking to someone from the City of Chicago revenue department.

1. I thought this whole ticket thing might be a scam; in this case, it is not.

2. These citations have not been flagged for reporting to the bureaus.

3. The lady said I have been able to reregister my bike renew my license because the red light citation was not a moving violation (red light camera, classifed as parking tickets level)

4. What is most likely to happen, according to this woman: No reporting to the bureaus. If I don't pay, I will continue to get letters, but eventually the city will just pass it onto the state and the state will garnish it from my wages/taxes at some point. I asked her how long this would take and she (obviously) wouldn't say. It leads me to believe that this could go on for a long time.

I'll pay it anyway just to not have it hanging over my head, but what pisses me off the most is that it took time away from important work this morning. I should have paid them when I got them, if the tickets are legit, but I was moving around alot at the time.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

response in blue below

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Apologies in advance if I put this in the wrong forum.

I got a Notice of Liability from a Chicago-based law firm today saying that the city has hired them to try to get some money out of me for three traffic / parking tickets.

1. One is a moving violation from 2010 (red light). The weird thing is, I've been pulled over twice since 2010 (one in 2013 and once in 2014, and shouldn't there have been some kind of action on my driver's license for a moving violation that is several years old? The officers said nothing.) Nah, once it goes to collections status, they just put a hold on your licence. Next time you try to renew is when they will get you - even if you change your state of residence. The hold is nationwide.

Here's the thing, though: I got this red light ticket in 2010, but renewed my license in 2012 and have been able to renew city parking medallions (needed for motos in Chicago) and to get new registation for the bike.

There have been some threads about the law firm in question -- Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson -- on the boards and I'm going through them now. Thanks again.

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Oh, yes, vehicle registration is never an issue - its your drivers license they get you with - usually 3-4 years later. I registered two different vehicles in Oregon, as well as getting my Oregon DL (2010), while I had a collection for a ticket in CA (from 2010-2011), but as soon as I tried to get my license back after a 30 day suspension in 2012 thats when they got me with the national database hold.

Yes, I was a BAAAAAD boy. But I've been clean since 2012.