Updated with video; Officials say speeding tickets can damage credit scores.
ALBANY, GA. -- If you think speeding tickets and credit have nothing in common, you may want to think again.
Cities around the country are now turning over unpaid traffic tickets to collection agencies. This means unpaid tickets could hurt your credit score.
Officials say speeding tickets can also hurt a person's chances of landing a job. Some organizations with employees who drive work vehicles are doing background checks and avoiding people who have tickets over a certain limit.
Another method agencies are using to get people to pay their bills is leveraging property.
“Some municipal court judges in and around the state are advocating issuing what we call fi-phase which means after you get a civil judgment, you can then levy on the private property of the individual,” said Dougherty County Municipal Court Judge Ralph Scoccimaro.
The judge says if people in southwest Georgia don't pay their tickets, they run the risk of facing a suspended license and a warrant.
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