PayMyFines is in pre-launch. We take no payments today and we do not currently pay fines on anyone's behalf.

A ten minute stop should not cost someone six months.

PayMyFines exists because of a gap in how council penalties work, and because that gap falls hardest on the people least able to absorb it.

From the founder

Why I started PayMyFines.

I have experienced receiving a penalty notice at the most inappropriate time. I had bills to pay and people who depended on me, and I couldn’t provide for them the way I wanted to. The money just wasn’t there.

I searched for assistance and there was nowhere to go. There’s no margin in the system. Pay the full amount within a brief period or the price begins to increase. My ticket increased until the bailiffs arrived and I had only one option, I had to borrow money from my nearest and dearest to cover it.

I still remember how that felt. Requesting money from family because of a parking fine brings a unique sense of shame, and it shouldn’t be necessary, especially if the person’s only mistake was lacking funds at the time. Most affected individuals aren’t negligent. They are under financial strain and caring for someone else.

That’s why I created PayMyFines.

We’re not live yet, we don’t take payments, and we’re not yet authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. We’re building this carefully and in the open.

If you’ve been through something similar, please join the waitlist and tell us what would have helped. A real person will read it.

Thanks for reading.

J. A. Hector

Founder, PayMyFines

The gap we are trying to close

A council penalty charge notice is designed as a single, all or nothing payment. Pay it in full inside fourteen days and it usually halves. Miss that window and you owe the whole amount. Miss the next payment and it doubles again, automatically, without anyone reviewing your circumstances.

For most councils there is no instalment option for an ordinary driver. The system assumes that if you can be fined, you can pay. That assumption is where the damage starts.

If you have £160 spare, a parking ticket is annoying. If you do not, it becomes a decision between the fine and something else that week. Six months later the same ticket can be a court registration, an enforcement agent at the door, and fees several times the size of the original penalty.

The mistake is not usually the parking. It is the cash flow. We think that is a solvable problem, and that solving it early is worth far more than solving it late.

What we believe

Principles we would rather be held to.

Writing these down early makes them harder to quietly drop later.

Speed is the product

Almost all of the value we can create sits inside the early payment window. A service that reaches the council on day nine is worth many times one that reaches it on day thirty.

The total must never move

Fixed amounts, fixed dates, agreed before anyone commits. A product built to fix debt spirals cannot itself compound.

Say no when no is the right answer

If appealing would be better, appeal. If a free debt adviser would be better, go to them. A signup we should not have taken is a failure, not a win.

Regulation is the floor, not the ceiling

Consumer credit in the UK is regulated for good reasons. We would rather move slowly through authorisation than launch something clever and unlicensed.

Where we actually are.

Done

Mapped the escalation path

We went through the statutory route a council penalty takes, from the discount window to enforcement agent fees, and priced what intervening at each stage is worth.
Now

Validating demand, in public

This site is the current step. We are collecting waitlist signups and, more importantly, the notes people leave about their own experience. That is shaping which fines we handle first and what the plan lengths need to be.
Next

Authorisation and the payment engine

Paying a fine and being repaid over time is regulated consumer credit. Getting that right with the Financial Conduct Authority comes before writing a line of the payment system, not after.
Then

A small, closely watched pilot

A limited group, one or two councils, and every plan reviewed by a human. We would rather be slow and correct than fast and sorry.

Shape what we build.

The notes people leave on the waitlist are the most useful thing we have. Add yours.

Join the waitlist Get in touch