The City of San Diego has adopted a method of collecting past due parking citation fees by submitting them as charge-offs to Transunion and Experian. Even after the fees are paid the items remain on a persons credit report as "paid charge-offs" thus lowering the overall score. Although these may be legitimate fines in many cases, they in no way represent any type of credit account or credit agreement violation between an individual and the city. As the City of San Diego has in no way granted any type of credit, loan, line of credit etc. To me, it cannot be considered accurate for them to submit information claiming that such an agreement has been violated. This is not only misleading to lenders, it is also unfair to consumers.
The City of San Diego openly warns in collection letters that they will damage a person's credit if they don't receive money for parking tickets within 30 days. It's my belief that the function of the Credit Bureaus is to provide fair and accurate information that is beneficial to both businesses and consumers and not that of being used as a collection tool for over zealous city treasuries that threaten consumers with a poor credit rating in order to fill their coffers.
By allowing these city treasuries to submit this kind of misleading information, the Credit Bureaus have compromised their professional standards of credit reporting and have aligned themselves with unethical business practices that compromise the efficiency and functionality of their services and the overall purpose for which they were designed. The Credit Bureaus should be aware that in order to maintain consumer and business confidence, they cannot be viewed as participants in the fraudulent collection tactics of City Governments.
I find it difficult to believe that a city treasurers office would resort to this kind of personal damage to peoples financial well being and to tear down what they have worked so hard for over a few hundred dollars. Let me get this straight,
I was born and raised in San Diego
I live and work here and contribute to the economy
I had the misfortune of working downtown where parking is limited
And as a reward for all of my years of hard work and effort I get to have my credit ruined which will have a serious impact on whether or not I can purchase a home here for my family
What is wrong with this picture?
0 comments