Unpaid parking tickets could soon have an impact on Winnipeggers’ credit scores.
This is prompting the city to start sending text messages directly to your phone reminding you of the need to settle debts, noting that more than $12 million in unpaid parking and non-parking fees are outstanding.
The city has started allowing its collections agency, CBV Collection Services, to send text reminders to people with unpaid tickets or fines.
“We’re always trying to look for new tools that is available to us,” said Lioubov Gavrilova-Crozier, manager of finance at Winnipeg Parking Authority.
The text messages will ask the recipient to call 311 to confirm its authenticity.
“Hopefully they won’t ignore it, or if they have concerns, they will call 311,” Gavrilova-Crozier said, noting people have also ignored letters from the city in the past to pay fines.
The city said unpaid fines will be reported to credit bureaus, which can impact a person’s credit score and make it harder to take out loans or apply for credit cards.
Tickets can be paid in person at The Parking Store, Susan A. Thompson Building, or Access Saint-Boniface, or on the city’s website.
Currently, the city tows and impounds vehicles if drivers have three or more unpaid parking tickets and are caught committing another parking offence.
In the summer, the policy will apply to anyone with two or more unpaid tickets. The city can also place a lien on a vehicle, which would allow it to be seized and sold at auction.
“We’re just trying to do anything that’s possible to collect unpaid fines,” Gavrilova-Crozier said.
