Need Legal Advice

[SpartanMullet]

Good Morning Marines,

I am getting the big weenie from the California government right now, and I need some advice. In March, I got a ticket for using my cell phone in my car. The fine was 160 bucks, due in April. No big deal. Well I moved out of state in early April and I completely lost the ticket and forgot about it. I got a letter a few weeks later from a collection agency saying I owed the LA courts 865 bucks! I called them and they said they had the right to increase the fine since I didn't pay it in time. They were pretty rude and unsympathetic to my situation when I asked for advice and help. Now I got another letter saying they are suspending my license. I called them again yesterday explaining that I don't think the 865 dollar fine is fair, and that right now I only make minimum wage and I can't afford it. They basically told me to either borrow the money, or they are gonna suspend my license and also pursue wage garnishment! Now I know that under normal circumstances, 865 dollars isn't that big of a deal. But right now I am struggling to even buy groceries, and all my money this month is going to rent and deposit of a place to live since I've been with my brother for 2 months now. I don't want this to come off as being a whiney b**ch, but I just need some advice. It just doesn't seem legal to do to me what they are doing. Thanks!!

[tdrt]

Don't deal with the collection agency. Their job is to screw you. Try to contact State of CA directly.

Who is the letter from threatening to suspend your license?

[Rocky C]

Forget about the Collection agency. Go the the State DMV and see how much you really owe. I never heard of California farming out unpaid tickets to a Collection Agency ???

[yanacek]

Agree with the two previous posts. In most states, failure to pay a ticket normally results in the court issuing a bench warrant, so the next time you get stopped, you go to jail until you resolve the issue. Here in NC, bench warrants issued are public record so it's fairly easy for anyone including a collection agency to find out who owes money, contact that person, then extort ever cent they can get for their "services." Contact the DMV or the local court you were supposed to appear at. I think they will be more than happy to resolve this issue with you for a lot less than $900.

[jenlicavoli123]

Get a license in your new state and screw CA.

[Marine1955]

Get a license in your new state and screw CA.

That want take the ticket away he may get stop and get arrested and put in jail. contact Ca. D.M.V. and set up a payment plan they may work with you. good luck and put the phone down until you stop then talk on the phone. safer and legal to.

[yanacek]

That want take the ticket away he may get stop and get arrested and put in jail. contact Ca. D.M.V. and set up a payment plan they may work with you. good luck and put the phone down until you stop then talk on the phone. safer and legal to.

[yanacek]

Get a license in your new state and screw CA.

Bad move.

[temarti]

Very bad move, if you ignore it and you are back on your feet applying for a new job or a promotion and the background is run it will pop up. If there is a Company Vehicle involved or even Corp credit card, you will be disqualified from the position, take the advice of others and work it out directly with Ca. DMV.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/fo/offices/toc_fo.htm

[Lisa 23]

Get a license in your new state and screw CA.

Extremely bad advice.

[Big Jim]

Get a license in your new state and screw CA.

This story I am about to tell you is straight from EXPERIENCE....., So it was May of 1990 and I just got back from Desert Storm and I, like 1000's of other Marines, was immediately on a 30 day leave as soon as we stepped off the plane. There was so much partying going there around J-ville and Lejeune, MY GAWD...!!

To make a long story short, I was out all night at a party but WAS NOT drinking. This was because my Dad was flying down from New York to welcome me home the next morning. So the sun was coming up and it was getting light out...and I was going home and taking a drunk friend back to his barracks on base. When a fat old raccoon was waddling across the road.....with me being sleepy, the dew all over the highway....it surprised me and I slid and tipped my truck onto its passenger side!!

When the state trooper got there he arrested me for OMVI...!! When i blew into his breathalyzer at the station....it registered nothing....!! But they still charged me with it anyway because they thought I was taking drugs!! SO when I went to court...I was fined and dismissed...I paid $750 and it all went away.

In the 2005, FIFTEEN YEAR LATER....!! There was a nation wide block on me and my social security number that went to EVERY single DMV in the United States for me NOT to get a new license until I called down there to Jacksonville, North Carolina and paid them $800 more to make this go away again....!!!!! I ended up getting a lawyer and never had to pay ANY money to them. Frikkin extortionists anyway.....!!

So your idea of getting a new license is null and void once they place a block on you and your social security number, it goes nationwide to EVERY state....!!

[Vandrel]

Got a petty little speeding ticket in 2001 while traveling through Marion NC, sent in a money order to pay the ticket before deploying for OEF. 2 years later I'm driving around home on leave just returned from OIF invasion, I get pulled over and the cop said my license was suspended and I was trying to run from him cause of it, etc etc etc, well long story short, Marion NC never got my money order, or so they claim since I had no way to check and they went to GA and had my license suspended.... oddly enough no one bothered to tell me like I was supposed to find the nearest cop and ask him to check my license for me or something. Well I was on my way out the door for a PCS to Okinawa so I drove my happy ass down to Marion NC and paid them off yet again, this time in person with cash and got a receipt.

One thing I learned was that some state DMV's don't talk to eachother, one state may suspend your **** in the system but they won't tell anyone else, not even the state your license is from. Other times they will do the opposite.

Of course all of this was about 8 to 9 years ago give or take and the entire DMV system was totally different then, now there is a national database and all DMV's are begining to report to this national database, all vehicle records, etc.

[Quinbo]

I could give a long horror story about getting a license in another state. I'll skip that but trust me whatever DMV you go to in any state has access to your previous record and if there is a flag on it you have to resolve it before they will issue you a license. Same goes for insurance companys.

[SpartanMullet]

The funny thing is I already got a new license here in my new state, but I still feel like I am getting screwed big time. Plus I don't want "wage garnishments." I appreciate all your advice and I think I am just going to call the court and hopefully they will actually work with me and exclude the collection agency. At this point, I would rather pay the court a bunch of money or even pay a lawyer a bunch of money to make the collection agency disappear. These people are vultures who just take advantage of people in tough situations. Also since I am working on getting back in the Corps, I guess it wouldn't be wise to have any added things that could potentially require a waiver!

[Rocky C]

The funny thing is I already got a new license here in my new state, but I still feel like I am getting screwed big time. Plus I don't want "wage garnishments." I appreciate all your advice and I think I am just going to call the court and hopefully they will actually work with me and exclude the collection agency. At this point, I would rather pay the court a bunch of money or even pay a lawyer a bunch of money to make the collection agency disappear. These people are vultures who just take advantage of people in tough situations. Also since I am working on getting back in the Corps, I guess it wouldn't be wise to have any added things that could potentially require a waiver!

Great Decision