Late fees for parking fines not justfied

Hi

Great post. I agree entirely. There are the conservative views on here (douchebags) saying dont park there or pay the fine… but they miss the entire point of the article.. just to try prove a point told you so… idiots

Class action against banks won where they were doing the same charging a late fee greater than the cost of administering it

I personally am in co versation with a number of solicitors who are exploring the idea of a class action against all state govt or council chraging late fees greater than cost of administration as its now in the hundreds of millions over the last 3 years

I was thinking similar thoughts (about the comparison with the big bad banks) when I was recovering from this year’s annual rates notice – 3% discount for payment in full (certainly better than nothing), but 10.69% p.a. interest on amounts that remain unpaid on the 16th day of the relevant month.

Spruikers for debt-funded government spending – sorry, I mean government investment – are fond of pointing out that interest rates are at record lows so why not spend up, which begs the question of why a rate of something like 3 times what the government pays for its borrowings has to be charged as a penalty (rhetorical question, I know the answer – “because they can”).

I thought in light of my questioning I would see what the govt comes back with. I must say it is interesting considering most of this is automated by computer and would involve very little hands on. Also why are those late paying responsible for those that dont pay at all?

At the end of the day it is a minor matter, I was just raising the comparison to what we are targeting business for and what our own government does.

Official response from ACT Governement:

The $34 administrative fee is designed to cover staff, computer and follow-up costs associated with serving a reminder notice. The fee also covers costs associated with the fine default process for those people who fail to pay parking fines. The actual printing and posting of a reminder notice is only one part of a complex process to ensure that people pay fines.

they should offer a discount if you pay a fine early.

It sounds excessive to me. As a long time Telstra customer, i paid my phone bill late for the first time last November by a day. I was overseas, I tried to plan in advance all the bills, but obviously this one was missed.
Anyway I was kind of p%ssed with Telstra because i paid it sooo late they didn’t even have time to issue me an overdue bill or email (which according to friends is issued including the $15 overdue fee), but they just tacked the late fee on next months bill. Clearly the billing system is pretty automated so they will be paying me back most of that I feel.

Look you should never occur fines or pay bills late, but after 20 odd years of being a Telstra customer with never paying a bill late, I’d expect something for my loyalty. Shame Optus and Vodaphone are no better though.

I’d be all in favour of higher parking fines and smaller overdue bill fees.

justonevoice said :

So I am guessing by some of the comments, that you have never been late in paying anything whether by accident or intentional. Well done but things happen and that I am sure does not represent most of us. As I said I deserved the fine and have no problem with that. I just stuffed up in paying it on time.
Remember we are heavy on private enterprise for these type of charges, so why do we lay down and accept our own government to do the same.

I’ve had parking fines and forgotten to pay them on time. I incurred the same admin fee. I deserved it. I paid it. I moved on and suggest you do the same. Life’s too short to worry about stuff like this.

So I am guessing by some of the comments, that you have never been late in paying anything whether by accident or intentional. Well done but things happen and that I am sure does not represent most of us. As I said I deserved the fine and have no problem with that. I just stuffed up in paying it on time.
Remember we are heavy on private enterprise for these type of charges, so why do we lay down and accept our own government to do the same.

while i understand [and agree with] the comments, the op has a point – why should the gov’t be able to arbitarily impose this added cost while businesses [presumably – i guess we’ll see when the class action is resolved] can not?

and the other point is the extent of the added cost – 33% does seem exhorbitant. perhaps a nominal amount might be more acceptable – especially given that aggravated non-payment would come with the big hit, removal of privilege to drive.

Pay it when you receive the fine, etc, then you won’t ‘forget’.

Pay your fine on time and you won’t have to worry about paying an administrative charge at all, or better yet don’t park illegally and you wont even have to pay a fine.