Metro 2 Account Type Code 71: Government Fine

Specification

Code	71
Meaning	Government Fine
Field	Account Type (Field 15)
Record	Base Segment
Length / position	2 chars · 84–85
Category	Government Obligations
CRRG reference	CRRG Exhibits 1 & 2 (Account Type Codes)

A penalty, not a purchase and not a loan. The obligation was imposed rather than agreed.
Distinct from code 72, a fee for service, where the government provided something and charged for it. A fine is punitive; a fee is transactional.
Distinct from codes 70 and 75, which recover money the government paid out in error.
Does NOT mean court costs or restitution generally. Only furnish what your agency actually holds as a fine obligation, described accurately.
Reported as Portfolio Type I because fines are typically placed on a payment schedule when they are not paid at once.

1An agency reports an unpaid regulatory penalty that has been placed on an installment repayment plan.
2An agency reports a fine being repaid monthly under an agreed schedule after an initial demand went unpaid.
3An agency reports a fine paid in full and closes the tradeline at a zero balance.
4An agency reports a fine that has gone delinquent under the repayment plan and is now past due.
5An agency reports a fine that was reduced on administrative review, with the remaining balance still owed.
6An agency reports a fine on which no payment plan was ever agreed, delinquent from the date payment was demanded and missed.

Report the imposed amount as the Original Loan Amount and the unpaid portion as the Current Balance.
Do not add accrued penalties or interest to the original amount field. Additions belong in the balance, not in the establishment amount.
Reflect a reduction on review by adjusting the Current Balance, and report the account as satisfied when it is paid.
Do not describe the underlying conduct anywhere in the record. The Account Type is the whole of what the file needs to say about the nature of the obligation.
Do not report a fine that is stayed or vacated as an outstanding obligation.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Account Type Code 71 has to satisfy.

Portfolio Type must be I (Installment).
Portfolio Type I requires Terms Duration and Scheduled Monthly Payment while the obligation is in repayment.
Credit Limit must be blank or zero.
Original Loan Amount is the imposed amount. Interest and late penalties move Current Balance and Amount Past Due, and must not be folded back into the original amount.
Amount Past Due must reconcile with the Payment History Profile: an account showing months of delinquency with a zero Amount Past Due is a contradiction.
Date of First Delinquency is the first missed payment under the payment plan that was never cured, not the date the fine was imposed. An unpaid fine that was never placed on a plan is delinquent from the date payment was demanded and missed.
Terms Frequency must match the plan's actual interval and agree with the Scheduled Monthly Payment.
Date Opened is the date the obligation was established, and it must not be later than the Date of Account Information the record ships with.
ECOA reporting is individual. A fine is personal to the party it was imposed on, so a joint ECOA code or an associated-consumer segment asserting shared liability is a contradiction.