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Bureau of Collections

Lehigh County Courthouse
Room 130
455 West Hamilton Street
Allentown, Pa. 18101-1614
Phone: 610-782-3320
Fax: 610-820-2086
Monday - Friday 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM

Payments can be made either in person at room 130 of the courthouse by mail or online at: http://ujsportal.pacourts.us. The Bureau accepts cash, personal checks, money orders, and credit cards (Visa, Master Card, or Discover Card). A $20.00 fee is charged for a personal check returned by the bank due to insufficient or unavailable funds.

The Bureau of Collections is responsible for the collection of criminal court costs, fines, restitution and prison room and board. The bureau also collects current and delinquent Protection From Abuse (PFA) filing fees and the sheriff service fees associated with the PFA. The cost data is entered into the collection system from several sources: the Clerk of Courts-Criminal and Civil Divisions, the Probation departments, the Sheriffs office, and the Corrections department. County revenue collected by the bureau is only partially reflected in the bureau's budget revenue. The budgets of the Juvenile and Adult Probation departments, the Corrections department, and the Clerk of Courts also contain revenue collected by the bureau.

Other collections such as state fines and fees are sent to the County's Fiscal Office for transmittal to the state revenue department. Local fines and restitution are disbursed directly to the local governments and crime victims respectively. We also mail out monthly statements as payment reminders to our clients. This along with address searches via the internet helps us to track clients who move without notifying us.

Delinquent clients can also be charged with contempt of court for non-payment. The bureau holds hearings twice a month. The outcome of the contempt hearing can be a court ordered payment plan, wage attachment, or incarceration.