Can Unpaid Tolls Affect Your Credit?

Unpaid tolls can impact an individual’s financial standing. While an overlooked toll does not immediately appear on a credit report, continued non-payment can lead to severe financial consequences that affect creditworthiness. Understanding this progression is important for managing personal finances and avoiding negative credit impacts.

Initial Consequences of Unpaid Tolls

When a toll goes unpaid, authorities identify the vehicle through license plate scans or electronic transponder accounts. The initial response from the toll authority is to send a notice of outstanding payment to the registered owner. This first notice includes the original toll amount and an administrative fee.

If the initial notice is ignored, fees and penalties escalate. Subsequent notices include increased fines for late payment, and continued non-payment can lead to further administrative actions. These actions might include placing a hold on the vehicle’s registration renewal. In some jurisdictions, prolonged non-payment can result in the suspension of driving privileges.

How Unpaid Tolls Can Affect Your Credit

Should unpaid tolls continue without resolution, they can lead to negative entries on a consumer’s credit report. One common pathway involves transferring the debt to a third-party collection agency. Toll authorities sell or assign delinquent accounts to these agencies, which attempt to recover the outstanding balance, including accumulated fines and fees.

Collection agencies can report overdue accounts to the major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Once reported, a collection account becomes a derogatory mark on a credit report, indicating a failure to pay a debt as agreed. Such negative entries can significantly lower a credit score and remain on a credit report for up to seven years from the date of the original delinquency.

Another serious pathway to credit impact is through civil judgments. If the debt remains unpaid after collection efforts, toll authorities or collection agencies may pursue legal action to obtain a civil judgment against the individual. A civil judgment is a court order that legally confirms the debt owed. If this judgment is reported to credit bureaus, it appears as a public record on the credit report. A civil judgment can severely damage a credit score and remain on credit reports for many years, often for seven years or even longer depending on the state’s statute of limitations for judgments.

Checking Your Credit and Resolving Issues

Proactively checking for outstanding tolls can prevent them from escalating to credit-damaging levels. Many state toll authorities offer online portals where vehicle owners can check for unpaid tolls by entering their license plate number. Regularly reviewing electronic transponder account statements is also a good practice to ensure all tolls are paid.

To determine if unpaid tolls have already impacted your credit, obtain copies of your credit reports. Consumers are entitled to a free copy of their credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once every 12 months through AnnualCreditReport.com. When reviewing these reports, look for entries under collection accounts or public records, which might indicate an unpaid toll or a related civil judgment.

If an outstanding toll is identified, or if a negative entry appears on a credit report, resolving the debt is the next step. This may involve directly paying the toll authority or negotiating a payment plan or settlement with a collection agency. If an error is found on a credit report, such as an inaccurate collection account or judgment, consumers have the right to dispute the information directly with the credit bureau. The credit bureau is obligated to investigate the claim and remove any inaccurate or unverified information.