[fc417fc802]

Nobody takes you to court to collect small amounts. They only do that if the amount is sufficiently large and they have good documentation and they believe they will be able to collect a judgement against you (ie either you have assets or you have stable employment so they can garnish wages).

Mostly nothing will happen except daily phone calls for years plus the hit to credit score.

And cops aren't showing up unless aforementioned judgment happened, you ignored it, and the court eventually authorized physical seizure of your property to recover funds.

[ryandrake]

Thanks to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), those phone calls should be able to be stopped with a simple Debt Validation Letter. No need to even get an attorney involved. Demand that the collector provide proof that you owe the money. Debt collectors will frequently just give up at that point if it's a tiny amount of money like a parking ticket.