Michigan Library Wipes Out Debt, Late Fees – The Good News

Not a bad way to kick-off the new year, right? New year, no fines!

The Kalamazoo Public Library has announced a big change for 2020 - they will be wiping out all late fees and debt owed to the library.

It's part of a new plan for "inclusion" and to ensure that the library's services are available to everybody in the community.

Yes, there is some fine print - the library will no longer charge for late fees under 30 days, but cases that involve physical damage or that have been referred to collections will remain.

Out of the library's 64,000 accounts, 6,000 have blocks on them with about $68,000 in debt. The library will also stop reporting debts to the credit companies, so as not to adversely affect their users' credit scores.