Parking Ticket Validation

Milkmom,

A parking ticket is a fine and doesn't meet the definition of consumer debt as defined by the FDCPA.
They don't have to provide validation. It stinks but you can still get them deleted with some effort.

I had the same problem with a CA, they wouldn't budge, the only way I was able to have them removed is through constant and unrelenting harassment of the parking enforcement agency, our mayor's office and government officials.

If the tickets are beyond the SOL you can have alot of fun getting them removed. Find someone at the agency and then call, write, and fax until they get tired of dealing with you. Think of the dumbest questions that will require that person to do alot of research and send only one question at a time. If they begin to ignore you find out who their supervisor is and start over with them.

After about a month of nonstop calls and faxes I recieved a letter saying they would delete.

 

Yes, deal with the agency that issued the parking tickets. In my state the parking tickets were issued by a private contractor the city had contracted with. But even if the city does the enforcement themselves you can use their bureacracy against them. I would look up the SOL for fines in our state ours is 3 years. Don't even bother dealing with the CA on this most of these collectors love to argue and will welcome a chance to argue with you.
If the SOL is up you just need to harass the enforcement agency and any agency that oversees them. Remember, you want to make them realize that you are not going away and create enough work for them to make them see that it isn't worth the effort for them to do all this work when you are no longer required to pay the fines.
The first thing they will do is ignore you, find one person to deal with, when they do ignore you go to their supervisor and raise holy H@!!, and keep going up the ladder until they think your a nut and delete.

It took me a full month of constant calls, faxes, letters and emails they ignored me at first but by the end of the month they thought I was a lunatic and sent me a letter saying they would delete and apologized for the inconvience. I had a ball.

 

Check the statutes for vehicles or moving violations for your county. They should list the SOL there. If you can't find any info, request a copy of the rules and regulations from the agency that enforces the parking tickets. Tell them you are a student doing research or something.

As far as your letter, did the enforcement agency ever send you notices in the mail? if not you could tell them that you only found out about this after a review of your husbands credit report. Tell them that since you never recieved notification you were never able to contest the tickets and too much time has passed for you to gather info to prove your case.

If you did recieve notice in the mail was it sent certified? Demand copies of the original tickets, the officer's name who issued the tickets and an accounting of how and when they attempted to contact you. Call them every day and check the status of your request. If they tell you that you must deal with the CA explain that the CA refuses to provide the info and ignore any attempt for them to pass the buck back to the CA.

 

Ha Ha, Susitna. I am dealing with the same schmucks. So you did have luck? Whats the SOl here? Which are we talking about. Dimond or A.P.A.?

 

Hermit,

APA, email me and I will give you some names of people to complain too.

The SOL in Alaska is three years.

At first it was a pain in the rear but within a month I got full deletions. I had a really good time making them chase their tails by the end I almost had a full box of documents from them, they finally got tired and gave in.

 

The CA doesn't have to provide validation of the account, the ticket is a fine and doesn't meet the definition of the FDCPA for consumer debt. They still must list it as disputed to comply with the FCRA but I don't know if that would be considered a serious violation or not.

There are alot of people on this board with alot more knowledge and experiance that may be able to answer the dispute question.

As far as the city not being helpful remember, they are bureacrats; they will get paid whether or not they help you. If they tell you there is nothing you can do and you go away it makes their job that much easier.
You can't take no for an answer, if you talk to someone and they won't help go over their head. Eventually they will take you serious and start responding. When they do, keep up the pressure, create as much work for them as possible and just keep at it. When they answer one question ask another and start all over again. They will get tired of you and realize they aren't getting anything in return and they will delete.

If you want to see a great example of persistance paying off go to www. creditaccuracy.com. The Equifax email thread is the best example I have ever seen for being persistant.

 

I forgot about the CA, in my case I left the CA out of the loop. collectors are not only extemely ignorant, they love to argue and you will get nowhere with them. You might be able to sucker them about the validation issue and if they are like 99% of the CA's they won't know the FDCPA enough to realize they don't have to provide you anything.

As far as my knowledge (or lack of ) everthing I have learned has been from this board and doing research on findlaw.com. and other legal sites There is so much info on this board and in the heads of the people who post here it's incredible. I really am not an expert in any way, this one particular issue is just something I know from personal experiance.