How One Overdue Book Can Hurt a Credit Record
It may be wrong to return a library book late — or to never return it. But how severe should the punishment be? Should it include being saddled with a bad credit score?
A Queens man sued Unique Management Services for reporting
his $295 late bill from the Queens Library system to credit bureaus. A library fine is not really a debt, he argued.
“That’s his opinion,” said Kenes Bowling, a spokesman for the company that has operated a successful “materials collection” business for libraries, and it relies on its ability to threaten scofflaws with negative credit reports. When a patron fails to return a book and is then billed for it by a library, Mr. Bowling said, “it is a legitimate debt, and it is credit-reportable.”
It may be wrong to return a library book late — or to never return it. But how severe should the punishment be? Should it include being saddled with a bad credit score?
A Queens man sued Unique Management Services for reporting
his $295 late bill from the Queens Library system to credit bureaus. A library fine is not really a debt, he argued.“That’s his opinion,” said Kenes Bowling, a spokesman for the company that has operated a successful “materials collection” business for libraries, and it relies on its ability to threaten scofflaws with negative credit reports. When a patron fails to return a book and is then billed for it by a library, Mr. Bowling said, “it is a legitimate debt, and it is credit-reportable.”
What do you think? Should your fines from the library hurt your credit score?
