Will a DUI Affect My Credit Score?

While a DUI conviction isn’t directly reported on your credit report, it can certainly have indirect consequences which could cause your credit score to plummet.

If you have been diligent about maintaining a good to excellent credit score, you may want to consider the following factors before doing anything that could unintentionally impact your FICO score.

Paying for Your DUI

At first glance, a DUI and your credit may seem unrelated, but they can be connected in more ways than one. For instance, the fact that most DUI-related costs can be put on a credit card is one reason why a DUI can cause credit scores to tank.

Essentially, if you don’t have the cash on hand to pay for all of the court and insurance-related costs of a DUI, you can be headed for trouble.

DUI costs may include:

• Between $500 and $4,000 in fines
• Fees in place of community service ($10 per hour)
• Vehicle impoundment fees
• Ignition Interlock Device (IID) fees
• DUI school fees
• Restitution for property damage
• Increased insurance premiums
• Civil judgements against DUI defendant

If you are convicted of DUI, not only do you face court-ordered fines among a host of other mandatory fees, you’ll face skyrocketing insurance premiums – all of these expenses add up and affect your bottom line.

Your auto insurance rates could double or triple, and if your credit takes a hit because you can’t afford to pay all of your bills and DUI-related costs, your auto insurance can increase even more since insurance companies factor in a driver’s credit rating when setting rates.

How a DUI Can Impact Credit

If you’re convicted of DUI and you can afford to cover all of the costs, fortunately a conviction shouldn’t affect your credit score. For those who can’t afford a conviction, their credit score can be affected because:

• Putting thousands of dollars on credit cards to pay all of the DUI-related costs increases a person’s credit utilization ratio – impacting credit scores.
• Unpaid fines are sent to collections, and reported for seven years.
• Judgements affect credit scores.

If you can afford to pay all of the DUI-related costs, a conviction still shows up on a criminal background check. Meaning, a DUI conviction can block you from getting that enticing job you want, or it can result in being passed up for a job promotion when another candidate has a spotless record.

To fight your DUI charges, work with a former prosecutor and proven Miami DUI defense lawyer; call AttorneyJonathan Blecher to schedule a free consultation!