old ticket

[Barry8910]

What is the name of your state? California. Wife had a red light violation ticket in 2000. She apparently forgot about it and/or thought she had paid it. She received notice from a collection agency May 2008. Apparently Superior Court of Los Angeles still carries the ticket on her but refered it to collections. Recent credit report checked and no indication of collection. Question: If we continue to disregard the collection agency then what will happen. Additionally, my wife's Drivers Lic doesn't seem to be affected. We have renewed w/DMV and changed insurance carriers over the years with no indication of the ticket. Is there ANY concern that a warrant could be issued or DL suspended in future? Please help. Thank you.What is the name of your state?

[seniorjudge]

Question: If we continue to disregard the collection agency then what will happen. Additionally, my wife's Drivers Lic doesn't seem to be affected. We have renewed w/DMV and changed insurance carriers over the years with no indication of the ticket. Is there ANY concern that a warrant could be issued or DL suspended in future?

A: If you disregard this, a civil judgment could be entered against your wife and she may also lose her license.

[occharge]

Originally Posted by Barry8910

What is the name of your state? California. Wife had a red light violation ticket in 2000. She apparently forgot about it and/or thought she had paid it. She received notice from a collection agency May 2008. Apparently Superior Court of Los Angeles still carries the ticket on her but refered it to collections. Recent credit report checked and no indication of collection. Question: If we continue to disregard the collection agency then what will happen. Additionally, my wife's Drivers Lic doesn't seem to be affected. We have renewed w/DMV and changed insurance carriers over the years with no indication of the ticket. Is there ANY concern that a warrant could be issued or DL suspended in future? Please help. Thank you.What is the name of your state?

"G C Services" is the collection agency that the citation was referred to... And they are not your typical collection agency. What I mean is that they only do collections for traffic violations for California (and possibly Texas). But that's all they do.

They do not report to the Credit Bureaus.

Whatever you do, DO NOT CONTACT G C Services over the phone to handle/resolve this matter through them.

The fact that your wife's D/L has not been suspended or has had a hold put on it does not mean that it never will.
Eventually, and when the DMV becomes aware of this citation, they will mail the "driver" a notice by mail notifying him/her that a hold has been placed on their D/L by the court. The notice will also instruct the driver that the license will remain on hold ntil the matter is resolved.

The best way to resolve this is NOT to contact GC Services directly. Unless you would like to spend an additional $300 to have this resolved (that is what G C Services will charge you in addition to the fines that are due to court).

Instead, your wife should go to the court that is handling the citation, and ask for the GC Services window (typically, it is next to/in the area where the Traffic Clerk window is located). Once there, she can give them the citation number or the driver license number and tell them you would like to have this citation schedulled for a court appearance.

My guess is that the first available date will be 2 or 3 months from now....

This court appearance is essentially, the arraignment where the charges are read to the defendant, and where he/she is given the opportunity to enter a guilty, not guilty or no contest plea.

So from a procedural point of view, it is as if your wife has just recently received the citaion however, the difference here is that in addition to the original "red light violation" there has been a violation of failing to appear/failure to pay (California Vehicle Code Section 40508.a or 40509 or both) added to it. The fine for this additional charge is approximately $500... Which can bring up your total to anywhere in the hood of $900.

Good luck...

[occharge]

Originally Posted by Barry8910

Additionally, my wife's Drivers Lic doesn't seem to be affected.

Reneweing your insurance or registration should typically show some indication of a license suspension but not all the time & not immediately.

Let me add that driving on a suspended license is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1000 and or. Up to 30 days in jail, whether you knew of the suspension or not. To the DMV, and as long as they mailed you the order of suspension to your last known address then you have been duly notified.

In addition to the fine/possible jail time, the officer has the option to impound the vehicle for 30 days as per CVC 14602.
That can add up to around $1200 in towing & storage fees.

Lastly, if one is convicted of that offense it will add 2 points to your driving record thereby causing your insurance premium to shoot up through the roof.

Point of all this is a "I simply forgot" can turn into a possible avalanch of problems and fines that can be avoided by taking care of it NOW!

[Hey There]

1) You or your wife can obtain a copy of her driving record from the DMV. in person (Make an appointment if you want)
2)Complete the Request for Driver Record Information form
3)Show identification
4)Pay $5.00
If you request your record by mail. Complete the INF 1125 form available on a DMV web site or send a written request, with your name, date of birth, social security number, California driver license number, and your signature, along with a check for $5, and mail to:
DMV
Office of Information Services
Public Operations Unit G199
P. O. BOX 944247
Sacramento, California 94244-2470

******************************************************
The advantage to going to the DMV in person is that a driver can get the report right away.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

tickets, renewals, transfers, etc., are usually purged from the database after 4 years.

Most other traffic offense convictions will remain on record for 3 years from the violation date and count as 1 point.
.
Failure To Appears and Failure to Pay fines will be reported for 5 years from the violation date.
(Source: Googled DMV CA. driving record & clicked on website)
************************
CALIFORNIA CODE PENAL CODE SECTION 1214.1 1214.1. (a) In addition to any other penalty in infraction,misdemeanor, or felony cases, the court may impose a civil assessmentof up to two hundred fifty dollars ($250) against any defendant who fails, after notice and without good cause, to appear in court for any proceeding authorized by law or who fails to pay all or any portion of a fine ordered by the court. (b) The assessment shall not become effective until at least 10 calendar days after the court mails a warning notice to the defendant by first-class mail to the address shown on the notice to appear orto the defendant's last known address. If the defendant appears within the time specified in the notice and shows good cause for the failure to appear or for the failure to pay a fine, the court shall vacate the assessment. (c) If a civil assessment is imposed under this section, no benchwarrant or warrant of arrest shall be issued with respect to the failure to appear at the proceeding for which the assessment is imposed or the failure to pay the fine. An outstanding, unserved bench warrant or warrant of arrest for a failure to appear or for a failure to pay a fine shall be recalled prior to the subsequent imposition of a civil assessment. (d) The assessment imposed under subdivision (a) shall be subject to the due process requirements governing defense and collection of civil money judgments generally.

Has the collection Agency contacted you by phone or letter?

Some lawyers will give a one time consultation for free or a minimal charge ($50.00). This might be an option.

If Superior Court of L.A. turned this over to a Collection Agency
eight years later they should have a record of when it was turned over to the collection agency and the reason for the delay.(Note the word SHOULD).
It is also possible if your wife has a fairly common first and last name that the collection agency is targeting the wrong person .

Good Luck to you,
Keep us posted,
Best Regards,
Hey There

[Barry8910]

Checked with DMV and record is clear. I've heard that you can sometimes deal with collections agency as much as 30-40% off the amount. It has been 8 years. And since we live near Sacramento and travel back to LA for a court date would be tough and expensive, would it make sense to deal with the collection agency?

[occharge]

Originally Posted by Barry8910

Checked with DMV and record is clear. I've heard that you can sometimes deal with collections agency as much as 30-40% off the amount. It has been 8 years. And since we live near Sacramento and travel back to LA for a court date would be tough and expensive, would it make sense to deal with the collection agency?

Like I said before, G C Services is NOT your typical "collection agency" in that they did not buy your collection account for pennies on the dollar which would give them a bit of a leeway in "negotiating" a settlement amount.
They were hired by the court to collect the "full amount" & not a penny less.

In fact, if you call them, they will tell you that contacting the court will not do you any good which is far from the truth.

They will also tell you that the only way that this matter will be resolved is if you "immediately" pay them the full amount.

Give it a shot though... Give them a call... See what they say. Maybe things changed recently...

If you would be so kind as to come back here and post how it all worked out, that would be great.

[Maestro64]

Barry,

I think you got some really good advice, I personally would deal directly with the court, any go between will only complicate the matter. There is no guarantee if you pay them they will close the matter with the court.

One other thing to be cautious about, even though this did not show up on her DMV this might be due to the fact the matter is still open, once you pay and admit guilt at that point the ticket could become reportable to the state.

The other thing, and other more familiar with Calif and LA could comment, this could be an automatic Red Light ticket, and many time these are not point or reportable tickets to the DMV. Something to check into.

[occharge]

Originally Posted by Maestro64

One other thing to be cautious about, even though this did not show up on her DMV this might be due to the fact the matter is still open, once you pay and admit guilt at that point the ticket could become reportable to the state.

Great point! Courts in California only started reporting "Failure To Appear" violations to the DMV within the last 6-7 years. Prior to that, they were issuing arrest warrants instead of license suspensions! Considering this is an 8 year old matter it may have fallen through the cracks.

As far as "points" on her driving record, points in California are assessed as of "the violation date" not the conviction date; and they remain on one's driving record for 3 years from the violation date. So considering the fact that this is a "1" point violation, a Guilty plea/verdict in this case will have no affect on insurance premium on that it will drop off her record as soon as it appears on it.

Although the DMV can retroactively suspend her license if the addition of this point happens to raise her point count (although highly doubtful) to over 4 points in 1 year, 6 point in 2 years or 8 points in 3 years.

As far as her having to travel from Sac town to L A, and since this is only an "infraction", you might want to consider hiring an attorney to appear in court on her behalf. Although that might add a couple of hundred dollars to the cost, chances are, an attorney might be able to either reduce the fine (and coming close to breaking even) or have the case dismissed all together which might even save you a few bucks.

[occharge]

Since I mentioned G C Services earlier on in this thread, I wanted to come back and list what I wold call a "weak link" to their website... Very limited in what it offers.

Basically, it allowes one to do a Drivers license search, a Citation number search or a reference # (usually appearing on the letter you may have received from them).

Once the citation is found, it will show the amount due. Give you an option to pay part or the full amount...

A clear indication that they are not willing to offer any help... Just collect the fine, collect their fee afterwhich the might not even bother update their record of the PAID citation (I found a ticket on their from August of 2002...

This is the direct link: [url]https://courtpay.gcserv.com/(S(3me2wce4srzjv1253cmkzjqq))/Default.aspx[/url]

Or if you prefer, you can go to the Los Angeles County Superior Court Website here: [url]http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/traffic/delinquent.htm[/url] scroll down to "Collection Agencies" and click on the "Click here to go to the GC Services web site." link their... = same result!

[Barry8910]

After pulling my wife's dmv record and finding no suspensions/holds etc., it doesn't even list the "old ticket" of concern. It shows a ticket dated before the "old ticket" and one after but not the one in question. Does this change any of your previous advice? Thanks.

[Curt581]

Why don't you just post the answer you'd most like to hear?

That way, we could cut and paste it back to you, saving time for all of us.

[Barry8910]

CURT581 why don't you stop being an idiot. If you don't have anything constructive to add then stop RESPONDING!!!! Thanks to everyone else, especially OCCHARGE.

[homeslice55]

I have the same dilema but my liscence is actually suspended. i requested a court date online but its in october. How can I get my liscense reinstated without going through GC services??

Originally Posted by occharge

"G C Services" is the collection agency that the citation was referred to... And they are not your typical collection agency. What I mean is that they only do collections for traffic violations for California (and possibly Texas). But that's all they do.

They do not report to the Credit Bureaus.

Whatever you do, DO NOT CONTACT G C Services over the phone to handle/resolve this matter through them.

The fact that your wife's D/L has not been suspended or has had a hold put on it does not mean that it never will.
Eventually, and when the DMV becomes aware of this citation, they will mail the "driver" a notice by mail notifying him/her that a hold has been placed on their D/L by the court. The notice will also instruct the driver that the license will remain on hold ntil the matter is resolved.

The best way to resolve this is NOT to contact GC Services directly. Unless you would like to spend an additional $300 to have this resolved (that is what G C Services will charge you in addition to the fines that are due to court).

Instead, your wife should go to the court that is handling the citation, and ask for the GC Services window (typically, it is next to/in the area where the Traffic Clerk window is located). Once there, she can give them the citation number or the driver license number and tell them you would like to have this citation schedulled for a court appearance.

My guess is that the first available date will be 2 or 3 months from now....

This court appearance is essentially, the arraignment where the charges are read to the defendant, and where he/she is given the opportunity to enter a guilty, not guilty or no contest plea.

So from a procedural point of view, it is as if your wife has just recently received the citaion however, the difference here is that in addition to the original "red light violation" there has been a violation of failing to appear/failure to pay (California Vehicle Code Section 40508.a or 40509 or both) added to it. The fine for this additional charge is approximately $500... Which can bring up your total to anywhere in the hood of $900.

Good luck...

[occharge]

Originally Posted by homeslice55

I have the same dilema but my liscence is actually suspended. i requested a court date online but its in october. How can I get my liscense reinstated without going through GC services??

Some people will tell you to start you own thread. So "start your own thread".

With that being said, here's what I think:

If you failed to appear on a ticket and it went to collection then the online system will still pull up the information on the citation but it "normally" does not give you the ability to schedule a court date. It will say something to the effect of " this citation has been referred to collection. It is ineligible for any online transactions. Contact GC Services at (whatever #).

So I'm not sure how it let you request a court date.

Typically, when you go to court to schedule the court date & assuming this is your 1st FTA for this citation, then you can ay $10 for an abstract and an electronic notice is sent to the DMV (within 24 hrs) removing the hold off of your license.

Make a few calls; 1st to the DMV to see if the license hold has been removed. If not...
Call the court where your appearance is scheduled to verify your court date & to see if your case has been referred back from collection to the Traffic Dept. If not...
Go to the GC services window at that same court, request & pay for the abstract.
AGAIN, thais uis all assuming this is your 1st & only Failure To Appear on this citation, if its not then only the judge can release your license meaning you have to wait until after your arraignment date in October.