Libraries and Local Governments Taking Nicely to Collection Agencies

By Eileen Ambrose, Baltimore Sun

While apartment hunting in Detroit this spring, Laura Tropea pulled her credit report to see how a prospective landlord might view her as a tenant.

The 28-year-old civil rights lawyer expected to see some late credit card payments from her undergraduate days at the University of Michigan. But she was amazed to discover on her credit report that she owed about $168 to the Ann Arbor, Mich., public library for books checked out years ago.

“I haven’t lived in Ann Arbor for five years. … It’s bizarre to me,” said Tropea, who maintains that she returned the books and never received an overdue notice. She wonders whether the library fine had anything to do with a recent rejection of a credit card application.

Other consumers might be in for similar surprises. With tight budgets and limited staffs, libraries and municipalities have been turning to collection agencies to recover fines for overdue books and parking tickets, trash bills and ambulance fees, industry experts said. Once a collection agency is brought in, there’s a greater chance that the unpaid bills will wind up on a credit report.

A collection agency gets people’s attention, even those who find it easy to ignore a gentle reminder from a librarian.

For this complete story, please visit Libraries Taking Nicely to Collection Agencies.