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Red Light Cameras P. II

SoupNazzi

Shared on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 11:49
To Pay, or Not to Pay...

That is the quandary I face.

After much feedback from yesterday's blog, I dived into researching what my options were regarding this sinister "Traffic Violation".

Option #1 - Pay the fine.  Yeah.  Not if I can help it.

Option #2 - Fight the violation.  *sigh*  Apathy comes into affect here.  Do I really want to waste my time, and go to a hearing regarding this?  Not especially.  Although, the Libertarian in me thinks I should.

Option #3 - Ignore it.  I like this option.  I read all the fine print that came with the "violation" and it confirmed my suspicions that this was only a violation of a city ordinance, and not an actual criminal violation. 

They threaten that they'll send it to a collection agency and/or the County Registrar and keep me from registering my vehicle, but I wonder how much weight those particular threats hold, especially after reading all the comments from yesterday's blog.

What should I do?



Indiana Jones Trading Cards

Comments

YEM's picture
Submitted by YEM on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 12:09
IGNORE IT!!!!!!!
MTK005's picture
Submitted by MTK005 on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 12:31
Blog commenters always give good advice :p
ken71's picture
Submitted by ken71 on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 12:36
A collection will really screw over your credit. I've seen a lot of credit reports working in my industry and collections have a way to mess up your credit for years. I've seen people with 750+ credit drop below 700 for a few years because they had a collection for 50 dollars. If you aren't planning on doing anything for decades, then go ahead and ignore it. The price you have to pay for ignoring it is completely not worth it. It sucks.
BCKinetic's picture
Submitted by BCKinetic on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 12:58
I agree with Ken. In all my time working loans at a credit union, I would see collections from Cell phone companies on people credit reports. That $175 cancellation fee never paid gave them 'C' credit even though everything else was stellar. I would make sure that by ignoring it nothing hits your credit. I would say schedule a court date. It would probably be months down the line, and even then it would probably get thrown out. If everyone is so "swamped" as others have stated regarding these things, it can only help.
NotStyro's picture
Submitted by NotStyro on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 13:03
Do local research on this. Find out what others in your area or city have done. At the very least you'll have some idea if the fine is worth fighting (and possibly losing in owing more), ignoring (and ruining your stellar credit) or just paying (and licking your wounded pride).
Flapjaxx's picture
Submitted by Flapjaxx on Fri, 03/28/2008 - 09:31
Messed up credit just isn't worth it.. Either is time off to go to a silly court case (most likely IMO). I'd just pay and be done with it... and make sure you flip off those cameras each and every time you see one. [when you're stopped at the red light of course] :)
MikeTheKnife's picture
Submitted by MikeTheKnife on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 13:24
I want the chilled monkey brains card.
darth_chibius's picture
Submitted by darth_chibius on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 13:29
listen to BC and Ken or you'll be sorry once you cant upgrade to a double-wide on account of your credit score
JeepChick's picture
Submitted by JeepChick on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 13:51
IT CANNOT BE PUT ON YOUR CREDIT. at least not until all the court cases are complete. That may take decades.
The_R3d_Scare's picture
Submitted by The_R3d_Scare on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 14:07
There is a good Nolo book on the subject of tickets that has an entire chapter on this sort of thing. Go to teh librariez and readz.
SoupNazzi's picture
Submitted by SoupNazzi on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 14:20
Nolo? That the author's name?
ken71's picture
Submitted by ken71 on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 14:33
IT CAN BE PUT ON YOUR CREDIT. Once it goes to a collection agency then it will be placed on your credit. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. There are RARE cases that collection agencies will remove it from your credit report but it's like once every time a comet comes close to the earth type of rare. And those cases are only because the person doing it messed up. It might take 10 months but 10 years is EXAGGERATING. In any case, fight or pay are your options. Ask yourself, is the time put in to try and fight the ticket worth the money? WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT IGNORE. I CAN CAPS FOR EMPHASIS TOO. win.
Hunturic's picture
Submitted by Hunturic on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 21:18
I agree with Ken. I used to work in mortgages, and saw people with screwed up credit for a $50 screw you fee for some utlity company, medical, retail card, etc. It isn't worth the trouble. Pay and go.
JeepChick's picture
Submitted by JeepChick on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 12:05
Did you get permission to use that? LOL

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