{"id":2006,"date":"2012-09-13T17:31:19","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T17:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/got-old-california-traffic-ticket-collections-dont-pay\/"},"modified":"2020-10-30T20:48:15","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T20:48:15","slug":"got-old-california-traffic-ticket-collections-dont-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/got-old-california-traffic-ticket-collections-dont-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"Got an old California traffic ticket in collections? Don’t pay it!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"California<\/a>If you have an old California\u00a0traffic ticket<\/a> in collections in the California Court system<\/a>, you probably think it’s a money problem. \u00a0 You want to pay off the ticket, but you just don’t have the cash. \u00a0\u00a0GC Services<\/a>, Alliance One, or any other 3rd party collection agency contracted by the courts tend to demand about $1000 per unpaid California traffic ticket in collections. \u00a0 Maybe you have more than one California traffic ticket in collections and the collection agency is asking for $3000, $4000, or more. \u00a0 \u00a0Every time you get the collection notices in the mail, or the annoying calls on the phone, you just wish you had the money to pay them off and move on with your life. \u00a0 Maybe you even set up a payment plan because you are hoping they will see your good intentions and give back your suspended drivers license<\/a>. \u00a0 All the while you are riding the bus, catching rides from friends, or driving on your suspended license while looking over your shoulder. \u00a0 \u00a0Every day is groundhog day and you are hoping that today is not the day you get pulled over. \u00a0 \u00a0Nobody wants to have their car impounded and nobody wants to go to jail.<\/p>\n

This is exactly how the collection agencies want you to think. \u00a0 Their goal is to get you thinking that a pile of money is the only way out for old California Traffic Tickets in collections. \u00a0 Their motto is “Pay us our exorbitant fines in full, until then you are stuck”. \u00a0They also force you to believe that if you don’t pay them, the problem will get worse. \u00a0 I have had hundreds of clients tell me over the phone that collection agents from GC Services have threatened them with all sorts of problems for non payment. \u00a0 Things like, “it will go on your credit report”. \u00a0 “I’m going to flag your file as non-compliant if you don’t make a payment by the end of the day”, and other spurious collection techniques. \u00a0 \u00a0While it is true that having an unpaid California traffic ticket in collections can trigger a suspension of your license, a warrant for your arrest, and increased fines, these penalties are not issued by the collection agency. \u00a0 The collection agency exists to do one thing and one thing only and that is to COLLECT. \u00a0 The collection agency does not solve your problem, they don’t give legal advice (or at least they shouldn’t), and they definitely aren’t looking out for your best interests. \u00a0 \u00a0These are not the people you want to talk to if you are looking to find the cheapest and best solution to the problem on a California traffic ticket in collections.<\/p>\n

I am here to tell you that 9 times of 10, paying the collection agency is a terrible idea. \u00a0 The collection agency will do everything they can to make you think that paying is your only option, but in reality you usually have the option of appearing in court on your California traffic ticket. \u00a0 \u00a0Appearing in court is always a better option than paying collections. \u00a0You can appear in court on your own behalf, or you can send an attorney to appear for you<\/a>. \u00a0In many cases hiring a lawyer is cost effective because the lawyer can save you so much money on your California traffic ticket in collections that it offsets the price of the retainer. \u00a0 \u00a0 By hiring a California traffic ticket lawyer<\/a>, or fighting the ticket(s) on your own, you can almost always get the fines reduced significantly compared to the amount requested by the collection agency. \u00a0 You can usually get your license back immediately upon appearing in court as well, instead of waiting until paying the case is paid in full like the collection agency told you. \u00a0 To top it all off, by appearing in court you can often have charges reduced or dismissed or obtain a referral to traffic school. \u00a0These things will save you money down the road when it comes time to pay for car insurance to go with your newly reclaimed drivers license.<\/p>\n

If you have questions about your California traffic ticket in collections, or need help with a suspended license, DUI, or other California traffic ticket problem, send me an email at attorneygallagher@gmail.com or give me a call at 800-797-8406. \u00a0 \u00a0If you are a tweep, you can follow me and catch helpful legal tips @ticketfixers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have an old California\u00a0traffic ticket in collections in the California Court system, you probably think it’s a money problem. \u00a0 You want to pay off the ticket, but you just don’t have the cash. \u00a0\u00a0GC Services, Alliance One, or any other 3rd party collection agency contracted by the courts tend to demand about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[33,250,35,36,9,25,27,28,10,29,30,148,38,32],"class_list":["post-2006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california-criminal-law-blog","category-california-traffic-ticket-blog","tag-40509-5-holds","tag-driving-without-a-license","tag-failure-to-appear","tag-gc-services","tag-lawyer","tag-points","tag-suspended-license","tag-tickets","tag-traffic-court","tag-traffic-ticket","tag-traffic-tickets","tag-vc-12500a","tag-vc-40509-5","tag-vehicle-code"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5545,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006\/revisions\/5545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}