Archive for Category 'collection agent', page 2

Question: I received a court order from a supreme court order. It’s a case filed against me by a credit card company. I am very surprised as the amount isn’t even that big. What should I do?

Answer: You have two obvious choices. First, you could do nothing. The credit card company will presumably garnishee your wages until the debt is paid in full. If it’s a small amount, this may not be a problem for you. However, if you have other debts, and if you don’t want your wages to be garnisheed, you should contact a bankruptcy trustee to discuss whether or not a consumer proposal or a personal bankruptcy is the correct solution for your money problems.

Question: I have been repeatedly contacted by a collection agency claiming that someone lives here and owes them money. I have stated to them several times that they have the wrong number, they claim this person’s uncle gave them my number and I have told them they must have made a mistake.
They refuse to let this go and call repeatedly asking for this person. We don’t even share the same name. Is there anything I can do to stop this harassment?

Answer: The short answer is no, there is nothing you can do.  You have told them the person doesn’t live there, but they keep calling, meaning they obviously have a lot of time on their hands that they can waste getting nowhere.

The longer answer is this: when they call again, ask for the full name of the collection agency, and the name of the person who is calling you, and their phone number.  Then call the government agency that regulates collection agencies in your area (in Canada it would be your provincial Ministry of Consumer Affairs, although they go by different names in each province).  You could then report the agency.  An investigation by the government may prompt them to stop calling you, since they can lose their collection agency license for harassment.

Question: My spouse has previous debt from before we were married. I do not show on these debts and i am not responsible for them as they happened prior to our meeting and marrage.
My spouse does not work at the moment, i am the sole contributor to the family. There is a collections agency that has phoned daily for the last couple of days, claiming that she owes on a telephone bill dated back in 2004.
The credit agency told her that she should get into contact with this previous creditor to come to an arrangement. I tried calling this telephone company and they refused to assist me in clearing this up. I did not admit to anything nor did i say we would pay a certain amount…
The collection agency has called again, i am curious if they would have the right to seize what i own in this relationship due to my spouses non existing income, such as my car, bank account and so on…
Is a spouse filing for personal bankruptcy an option, as she does not work at the moment, we are hoping she can find work in a couple of months from now when we have to move.

Answer: The answer is simple: the collection agency cannot seize your assets to pay your spouse’s debt. 

You are only liable for someone else’s debt if you have signed for it; whether or not you are married is not a factor.

As to whether or not your spouse should go bankrupt, that depends on how soon until she expects to be working.  In most cases it is best to wait until you return to work to declare bankruptcy.  There are many other factors to consider, so we suggest you contact a bankruptcy trustee to review your options.

Question: I have an old credit card debt in the amount of $14,000. Early in 2005 I had to stop making the minimum payments because I went on CPP Disability and my income was reduced by 60%. I was getting calls from the collections department of this company daily. I wrote a letter to them asking them not to call anymore and I requested all correspondence in the future to be by mail. I also offered them to settle the debt for 40% of the amount owing. I had about $5000 in equity in my home available to pay this at that time. Shortly after that I received a phone call from them informing me my offer was denied. I also reminded them I requested that all correspondence to be by mail. From that time on I haven’t received another phone call or letter requesting payment of the debt. I looked up the Statute of Limitations act in Ontario.It states that after Jan 01 2004 the Statute of Limitations on debt in Ontario changed from 6 years to two years from the last day the debt was acknowledged. It has been past the two year period now and I still have not heard anything from them. Does this mean now that the debt is cleared, and I don’t owe them any more?

Answer: You are asking a complicated legal question, and if you talked to different lawyers you may get two different answers.  One intepretation is that you are correct.  The other intepretation is that since the debt existed prior to January 2004, the old rules apply.

The real issue is this: regardless of what the Statute of Limitations Act may say, the collectors may still pursue you for the money.  Debts remain listed on your credit report for six years from the date of the last collection activity, so this debt will impact your ability to borrow in the future.

However, if you are receiving a disability pension, you have no wages to garnishee, so it is likely that your creditors will not pursue you vigorously.  For further information, we suggest you consult a credit counsellor or bankruptcy trustee.

Question: my husband has his own business. he is in his second year of operation and this there wasn’t work. prior to this, he had a steady job, great credit rating etc, but its been a long winter.
he has a leased car which is behind in payments, insurance that hasn’t been paid, credit cards that are behind and a mortgage on a rental property in his name that is behind.
he is subsizing the rent there, as the rental amount doesn’t cover the mortgage/ fees.
he is starting to work again after 5 months of zero income but i fear the damage may be done. the phone is ringing at all times of the day/night and yesterday we came home to a bailiff’s card stuck to our door, and registered mail for pick up at the post office. i’m starting to feel sick!
I’ve been able to float our bills for the house myself. i make good money and have a great credit rating.
our house is under my name, as well as mostly everything to do with it.
what are the implications to my credit rating? what can i do? what can he do? do we have options?
what would the bailiff’s card/ regsitered mail be? would the bank take the rental property?
Help!!

Answer: First, unless you have joint debts, your husband’s credit rating is different from your credit rating.  If you own the house, and it has always been in your name, his credit problems do not impact on your house.

Having said that, this is a very serious situation.  Bailiffs are calling because they want to reposses something (a car, leased equipment); registered mail usually means a creditor wants to take you to court.

The solution is to immediately contact a financial professional, probably a bankruptcy trustee, to review your husband’s situation to determine what strategies can be used to get back on track.  If his income will pick up he may be able to save the business; if not, it may be necessary to close the business and go back to being an employee.  Either way, he needs to get financial advice immediately before the situation gets worse.

Question: How do you negotiate with a collection agency? I offered 200 over the principal balance and got laughed at by the bill collector when offer to try to pay it off in full after years of throwing away the bill then the last 6 months of regular 20 dollar payments but the interest is 514 and they wont budge? i made what i thought was reasonable and i still dont unserstand why they would rather have 2000 in 20 dollar payments forever than a reasonable lump sum that clears it up? so how does one negotiate with collection agents?

Answer: The best way to negotiate with collection agents is to do exactly what you did.  Make them a reasonable offer.  If they don’t accept it, they have a choice: They can either get nothing, or they can start court action and attempt to garnishee your wages.  In most cases they would rather get at least something.  You must be firm when dealing with collection agents.

Be aware, however, that if they do commence garnishment proceedings and you are undable to pay, you may then have no choice but to file a consumer proposal or personal bankruptcy to stop the garnishment, so be aware of the risks before you make any offers to collection agents.

Question: I recently was at my bank and through a credit check they told me I had a collections record. When I ran and Equfax report and did some research I was informed it was for an old telephone account I had in a previous province. When I re-opened an account with the same company in the new province 5 months later the system did not alert them that I had monies outstanding. I was completely unaware of the past due account as the company sent letters to the address I told them I was moving from when I closed the account. I am now trying to get copies of the old billing statements and the letters that were sent to me that I never received. I have contacted the collections agency and they said they do not have that info and I have contacted the telephone company and they said legally they do not have to provide me with the information. How can I get this information or is it unattainable? I want to know what I was being charged for and proof that effort was made to contact me. Also now that this is on my credit report, will it stay for six years since I made the payment (last week) or for six years since the account was in default (2003)? The company held on to this for three years – does my credit report have to hold onto something that happened 3 years ago plus six years on my report for a total of nine years?? Help! Thank you!!!

Answer: Once something appears on your credit report, it typically stays for six years from the date of last activity, not from when it first appeared.

To have this removed from your credit report, you will probably either need to have a lawyer threaten legal action against the telephone company or the collection agency for not providing you with proof that you owed the money.  Your other alternative would be to contact the Ministry of Consumer Affairs in your province to see if they have a procedure that you can follow to get this corrected.

Since you have now paid the item, and since it was a relatively small dollar amount, it will probably not have a significant impact on your credit report in the future.

Question: I have Credit card debts. I have no job and no money.
I can raise some money from friends/family to cover a partial settlement.

Hi, almost 5 years ago, I became ill and havent been able to work since then. Prior to that I had excellent credit history.
I started falling back on my payments and then it came to taking from one credit card to pay off another.
Two and half years ago, I just couldnt pay anything on two credit cards, same company. They sent it to collections. I first felt intimidated by the collections calls and harrassment, but I finally said to them, do what you have to or want to, I got no $ to pay you and the last payment I made to them was almost 2 years ago. Eventually they got fed up of all the calls and letters and from one collection to another, the file was passed on to and now I dont recieve anything from them. Their combined total was about 14000. One was 11000 and the other card was aobut 3000. Incidentally one of the collection agencies did try to offer me a settlement of 60%. But I declined cause i didnt have the money.
The remainning cards, I owe a total of $44500.
I have a car that I use its value is about $4000.
Now, I’ve been browsing the net and have read about debt settlement.
Im able to raise some money for it..but not alot…at the most about 15000. Do you think with this amount a Debt settlement is possible..a one time buy out?
It still shows on record for 7 years as an R7/R9.
Bankruptcy?
Please help. I cant sleep anymore.

Answer: There are a number of options.

First, you could simply continue what you have been doing, which is telling the collectors that you can’t pay.  Since you are not working, they can’t garnishee your wages.  You could change your phone number to avoid the phone calls, open a new bank account at a new bank, and let them pursue you.

Alternatively, you could offer a cash settlement to each of them.  If you owe a credit card $10,000, you could borrow from family and offer to pay them $5,000, or whatever amount you can afford.  They may accept that deal, since they can’t get money any other way from you.  If you do make a settlement, be sure you get it in writing.

Personal bankruptcy is also an option.  Family could loan you the money to pay for it (it would cost around $1,500 depending on which trustee in Canada you use) and then your debts are eliminated.

Since you are having trouble sleeping, we suggest you contact a bankruptcy trustee to arrange a free consulation to take action on this now, before the stress gets even worse.

Question: I have recently graduated from University and I am unemployed. I have collectors calling me almost on a daily basis, threatening to seize my bank account without giving me any written notice. The refuse to allow me to make payments on my debt and tell me that I have to pay the amount in full or else! What can I do?

Answer: You are unemployed, which means you have no wages, so they cannot garnishee your wages.  I suggest you open a new bank account at a new bank, since if they don’t know where your bank account is, it will be very hard to seize it.

Then, when they phone, simply tell the collection agents that you are not working, and then hang up the phone.

Once you start working you become vulnerable to having your wages garnisheed.  At that point you can attempt to make payments to them, or perhaps consider a debt management plan, a consumer proposal or personal bankruptcy.

Question: How much can a collection agency force you to pay each month…..on a fixed income of 600.00 a month (temporary) they are making me pay 200.00 a month, and call every month asking me to up my payments….I have a child to feed with that money but they don’t care….

Answer: A collection agency cannot force you to pay anything.  If you don’t pay them, they could take you to court, sue you, and attempt to garnishee your wages.  However, if your income is $600 per month, it is unlikely they will take you to court.

Obviously the calls are causing you a great deal of stress, so we strongly recommend that you contact a credit counsellor or a bankruptcy trustee to review your situation and advise you on your specific options.