“Interest On Unpaid Fines??”

Hi All,

So I was ticketed for driving without insurance along with a small speeding ticket back in 2010. I ended up missing my court date and was convicted in my absence.

I am now in a fairly strong position and am able to pay off my fines.

Now here's the problem:

Last week I get a call from a third party collector reminding me about the outstanding fine. I originally owed $6800 for the no insurance+speeding tickets. The collector gave me a figure of $7300...how can the charge me late payments/interest on a fine? It's absurd...this isn't a loan, after all. He also threatened that this will make it's way on my credit report? I call a bluff here, how can traffic tickets be put on one's credit report?

Anyway, can someone confirm whether I have to pay this tacked on interest or just the principal that was handed down to me by the JP?

I am going to the court house next week to pay down half of it...

unpaid tickets are sold to collection agencies for pennies on the dollar; ultimately there is a real possibility that unpaid tickets will go unpaid

collection agencies have lucrative access to your personal information/activity; if you started to use your credit card to make some big purchases, you'll start getting more frequent calls

i believe the courts can't help you with the new fine, because it's out of their control; you will most likely have to negotiate with the collection agency

yes, the collector can hit your credit rating to the point you won't even qualify for a $100 credit card; the unpaid ticket is the equivalent of a two year unpaid credit card bill or loan

you could also visit the court house, and see what your options are as to how you can go about paying the fine