Late library books dinging credit scores

Its old news, but last Tuesday I read a “funny” article in the WSJ. I was reminded of it again while watching the news last night.

Apparently unpaid parking tickets, library fees, and trash-collection charges are making their ways to the collection agency.

Some poor guy in Portland, Oregon had his credit score plunged to “below average” due to a $40 late book fee, which the library turned over to a private collection agency. Needless to say he’s not too happy about it.

So anyway this has been going on at selected cities for some time now, but the trend is starting to spread. So try to watch out for those fees and fines, check if your city or county utilize hardball tactics such as collection agency. Better yet, avoid getting those fees in the first place.

I’m pretty lucky that this isn’t an issue in my county yet. Once, I unknowingly owed $22 in late fees to the library (friend in high school borrowed book with my card only to return the book months later). Imagine my surprise when I found out about the fee years later.

I also have a tendency to forget. So here’s to hoping my city/county leave the collection agency out of the picture.

Sarah Says:
January 12th, 2006 at 5:43 pm

I worked at a library until recently, and it may give you some comfort to know that most libraries have a threshold below which they don’t turn fines over to collections (it’s just not worth it for a few bucks). You’d be shocked to see how many people have fines racked up in the multiple hundreds of dollars.

A tip: keep your contact information current with your library. I don’t know of any library, anywhere, that turns fines over to collections without attempting to contact the patron first.