There is a $80 chargeoff on my reports that pertains to a parking ticket in 98. I don't remember getting this ticket, or getting anything in the mail about it. When I called the city, they said it is mine and was issued to my vehicle. How can the city verify that a person recieved notice of a ticket, and if I were to take them to court, what case would they have?
I just went through the search engine regarding parking tickets. I found a member named Matt that is or was dealing with the same people about a year ago. Can't e-mail him through the system. His last post was 7/01. Does anyone out there know how to get ahold of Matt of if he has been lurking around lately?
Seems to me that this is not a "credit" account and certainly not a charge off. I could see if they had actually obtained a judgement then the judgement could be reported. On the merits, after you dispute, it seems you would have a decent FCRA case against the municipality. One could even argue this isn't a debt owed since you must be given due process of law. The municipality could issue an arrest warrant to bring you to court regarding the ticket but credit reporting, that seems a stretch to me. If you do end up filing a lawsuit and really want to get their attention, do it in Federal Court and bring denial letters that show considerable damages due to the parking ticket being reported incorrectly and the subsequent denials of credit. The City Attorney will likely not want to deal with this once he determines you have the facts and law on your side. In addition, the city would have to produce the officer who wrote the ticket as witness against you. Hope this helps.
Tourmo, Allow me to clarify. If you recieved a ticket and had no opportunity for due process of law, you have a strong case. If you choose to litigate this the City must prove that you violated the parking law, produce the officer that alleges the violation for you to cross-examine, (this is key, meter maids are not highly paid and municipalities tend to have a high amount of turnoverin these positions). Secondly, dispute this "debt" in two separate ways: 1. Notify the city that you dispute the ticket, were not given due process and that your first knowledge of this was by reading your credit report. Ask them to provide you with any and all documentation including the original ticket and copies of any subsequent notices sent to you. Do not forget to demand the city remove the item from your report. If the city does not remove the item, the city must notify the CRA this "charge-off" is in dispute. If they do not, you have an FCRA violation. Send all correspondence to the City Attorney. You may find him willing to remove the item in exchange for payment. 2. Dispute the item with the CRA. Claim your due process rights were violated and this is not a legitimate debt. The CRA should so indicate on your report or remove the item. If not, you have a second FCRA violation. Do not sue until you have documented violations and you have damages (couldn't get credit etc.) 3. Once you have followed the first two steps and have only beaten your head against the wall, file suit against the city. If you can, do it in Federal District Court. This will get the attention of the city attorney, and he is not going to want to fight you, especially in Federal Court. At this point, it will not matter if it is actually your ticket because of the FCRA violations and you will likely collect damages. As a negotiating tactic, you could prepare the Federal complaint and mail it to the City Attorney and let him know the suit will be filed unless an accomodation can be reached. Keep us posted....
Thanks for the great info!!! How long does the city have after they receive my my inquiry to notify the CRA that the CO is in dispute?
George, I realize what I have to say, but I'm trying to look down the line when they say, tough. My next step would be to try to get them on a violation. Hence the question I asked in the post above.
Looks like I am having the same issue. After working for months to get TU cleaned up, yesterday I pulled the report. And I had a $100 Collection for the City of Vernon Hills in Illinois for a parking ticket in 1998. I have probably been to this suburb maybe 2 whole times in my life. I was furious. I immediately called them and this was for a car registered in Iowa that did not belong to me. But the collection company indicated that the car owner ( who has the same name as me, which is not an uncommon name) had a forwarding address to a building I lived at 5 years ago. This building has over 900 apartments (it is 55 stores tall). So based on the matching previous address on my credit report (they do not have a SSN, or any other information) they inserted this on my credit report. I am planning on sending a validation letter to this CA and I have also put in a dispute with TU. But for at least 30 days, I have to deal with this bad mark on my credit report. How is it legal for a CA to insert items on your credit report without knowing your SSN and based on a previous address?
TL, If you want to have this removed or at least have an excellent FCRA case against the City do the following: 1. Write them and ask for validation of the debt. Original copies of the ticket. When you write them, be sure to state you "dispute this debt" and point out they MUST mark the item in dispute at the credit bureau. If they do not place a disputed notation, then they have violated the FCRA. Explain your case that you did not own the car. (You sold it on a previous date, never owned it, etc). Be sure to send this to the City Attorney. 2. Write the bureau and dispute the item as not yours, if it is legitimately not yours. If it is yours, inform the bureau that the item is in dispute and litigation is pending. 3. Apply for some credit that will be denied because of the collection. This gets you damages. 4. When you hear back from the city, if they haven't removed the item from your report or worked this out with you, SUE THEM in your local small claims court or better yet IN FEDERAL COURT for $1000 per violation plus defamation of character and making you unable to obtain credit. BE SURE YOU CAN PROVE YOU DID NOT OWN THE CAR. The strategy will be different if this really was your car.
It's outrageous that parking tickets end up on credit reports. After all, it's not as if you took out a loan and failed to pay it back nor are these the kind of "debts" that will impact your ability to repay the loans you do take out. An amendment to the FCRA explicitly stating that these are not reportable would be a good idea. I had one of these end up on my credit report a few years ago. I contacted the CA and made an agreement to pay in exchange for deletion. This is alot easier than drafting a federal complaint against the City which is probably exempt from the law and can assert various immunities even if it isn't, and then have the complaint tossed on a motion to dismiss. Net result, you still owe the parking ticket, it stays on your report, and you've wasted $150 to file your federal case.
In my case the city is listed as the creditor or CA, whichever way you want to look at it. I happened to pay the ticket in 1999 when I had to register my car. At the time, I didn't know what or where the ticket was from, just that if I didn't pay it, I couldn't get my tags. The catcher is that the city and the California DMV don't always report to one another. I did contact the city about 4 months ago and they told me what it was from and that it was never paid. Not admitting guilt, I told them that I paid the ticket with my DMV registration. They said that by that time it had already been sent to the citys collection dept. and to the CRA. So it doesn't really matter that I paid it, it will still be a charge off. When I recently checked my credit reports, they reaged the debt to when I had called four months ago.
Okay, Thanks to all that I learned as a Creditnet member, I was able to make a big enough of pesk of myself and know enough about credit law that the CA has agreed to send in a Universal Data Form and have this removed. They had nothing to tie me to this ticket except for an old car registration to an address with over 900 apartments. My drivers license for the last 14 years has been tied to only 1 address in Illinois, which is not an address they have for this car. So after hounding the CA, they actually hung up on me a few times. And calling Vernon Hills (the city that placed this "1" parking ticket for collection), and making a a pesk of myself. They agreed to a deletion. Shoot, I probably wasted more of their time then this $100 ticket was worth. Not to mention, all of the time they have spent trying to trace this car registration and placing it on credit reports. It makes you wonder, what the city of Vernon Hills was thinking in trying to go after 1 measley parking ticket. If they didn't remove this ticket, my next step would have been a small claims lawsuit. Mind you this ticket is only for $100 and is over 4 years old, so they would have spent a lot more to defend the lawsuit never mind having to travel to downtown Chicago (30 miles for them in rush hour traffic, about 90 minute trip). So the lesson in this case, is to know your rights, never give up and if that person you are talking to doesn't give you what you want, move on to another person.
You've been given some great advice on getting them for fcra violations. One addendum: when you send a letter to the municipality asking them for proof and disputing the debt... hold off on the direct cra dispute. why? you have to give the municipality time to not notify the cra that it's "in dispute". Repull your credit report about 15 days and then at 30 days after they receive your dispute... no notation on the account? bingo. violation. I think you may have them on another very large issue. If they have pulled your credit in any way (hard or soft inquiry) they won't have permissible purpose... I believe. check to see if they have and I'll do a bit more research for you.
