Minor fines equal major credit concerns

MICHELLE MORAN ASST.MANAGING EDITOR

MLM724@CABRINI EDU

Overdue library fees, unpaid traffic tickets and other minor fees are now showing up more and more on consumer’s credit scores. Cities such as Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and Miami are using private collection agencies to track down consumers who overlook these small debts.

Philadelphia uses collection agencies sometimes to chase down debts that are more than a decade old, which can be a surprise for consumers. This past Jan., the Wall Street Journal reported that Phillip Remstein of King of Prussia, Pa., received a notification in the mail last July from a collections company requesting $53 for a Philadelphia parking ticket issued in 1993. “It was ridiculous,” said Remstein. “I didn’t hear from them for 12 years and suddenly they want to collect?” The Philadelphia Parking Authority had contracted with a collections agency to track about eight million in unpaid tickets that were more than seven years old. After numerous complaints from consumers like Remstein as well as media coverage, the city called offthe collections program in Nov. Even so, the city still uses a private collection agency to go after unpaid fines on current parking violations.

LawrenceSein,a chemistry professor, said, “I am definitely against the idea that small fines could damage a person’s credit score. I am still afraid till this day that there will be a knock at the door from someone looking for all my unreturned library books from when I was a kid.”

In America our credit score can be a vital tool in determining how we can afford items over a period of time. People apply for credit for many reasons, whether it’s to request a student loan, credit card, new car or house, companies all base their decisions and costs on their clients’ credit scores. Collections activity can stay on a person’sreport for up to seven years. Alibrary fine reported to a credit bureau, for example, can knock as much as 100 points offa credit score, making it difficult for someone with previously good credit to not get the best rate on a loan industry experts say.

The new trend of cities using private collection agencies to gather money is increasing more and more because of its resourceful way it increases a city’s revenue without raising their taxes or fees.

Patrick Downs, a business and finance major, said, “The city has to receive the money one way or another. If putting the debt on your credit score is the only method to make that individual pay than they should do it. Personally, I don’t think that these minor fees will impact your credit score greatly. Return your books on time and park in a legal spot it’s not that hard.”

Sherry Becht, an associate in the Holy Spirit Library, said, “At

Cabrini we do not use collection agencies for overdue library fees, instead we keep handle it internally. Our policy is that a book can be taken out for three weeks with an additional “grace week.” After the student fails to return the book there will be a 10 cent fee for everyday the book is late. We are more interested in getting our books back than charging students and their parents.” Becht said that most students aren’tdoing it intentionally, usually they just forget or put it off.” family reunification of legal and illegal immigrant family members. There are also provisions to spend up to 5 billion dollars on infrastructure on the border. The Chairman’s Mark is expected to come up for a vote in March.

If people do wind up with an imperfection on their credit score from an unpaid fine have options in making it better. Consumers may contact the company or business that has reported them before they decide to pay the fine to possibly come to an agreement that after the fine is paid that the incident will be removed from your credit report. Consumers also have the option of preventing the problem by checking their credit score online periodically which is offered for free by various websites.

Many students at Cabrini have taken an interest and have become proactive by participating in and organizing immigration lectures and debates.Mother Cabrini is the patron saint of immigrants.

Loquitur welcomes your comments on this story. Please send your comments to: Loquitur@yahoogroups.com . The editors will review your points each week and make corrections if warranted.

BOYS, page 1 ment of Education. And it was reported by the Times Herald Record, an 11th-grade boy now reads and writes at the level of an eighth-grade girl.

Chris Count, a freshman bio-technology major, said, “Boys will be more inclined to slack off. Girls are just more determined. And boys lose interest more.”

Kessler said another contribution is that there are many boys without mentors. Young boys that are living in the fatherless generation don’t have mentors to look up to. According to Newsweek, 40 percent of boys live without biological fathers.

Sedam’s friend, John Karmazim, also a sophomore at Harry S. Truman High School, who hopes to one day to go college, believes that a father figure has the biggest impact.

Karmazim said, “I think your background is huge.

Kids need a father figure to kick their butts. Otherwise, we don’t care. We need to get our act straight somehow.”

Kessler also believes boys are more kinesthetic learners. However, Kessler said to help the boys with the constant movement, cooperative groups and separate groups could solve the problem. According to the Times Herald Record, four of every five children taking medications like Ritalin for behavioral disorders are boys.

To keep boys like Sedam and Cabrini’smale students from lagging behind, Kessler believes awareness is the first step to helping the boys like the Gates Foundation has done. In the last five years, the Gates Foundation has given away nearly a billion dollars to innovative high school is making boys a big priority according to Newsweek.

Kessler said, “Weneed to be sensitive to these issues. We need to be encouraging and not so critical. We need to emphasize attributes of every child.”