I love it when I receive a question I&39;ve never been asked before. After many years in the credit business, you get used to answering the same questions about credit scores and collection records over and over. This question from Bianca was completely new to me:

I have a question about credit: Is it true that if you get a DUI ticket this would affect your credit? If it does, how and why?

What an interesting question!  A ticket, for Driving Under the Influence or anything else, alone wouldn&39;t be reported to your credit reports. A record related to a DUI would only appear if there was some sort of unpaid fine that was sold to a collection agency or if the fine became a court judgment. Technically, the Fair Credit Reporting Act allows for criminal records to be recorded on credit reports but the credit bureaus don&39;t include it.

The DUI record would appear on a criminal history and would come up during background checks however. And it will certainly impact Bianca&39;s ability to get auto insurance in the future.

Next question? Send your credit and money questions to tidbits@credit.com.