CSL in arrears

Welcome to the site.
Firstly, you have to take care of yourself, and get healthy. That is priority. If you don't have your health, you don't have anything.
When you were healthy, you were making your payments, but this now has changed. It is out of your control.
You are not able to make the payments due to illness. I would write them a letter, and register it so you know that they received it. Explain your situation.
When you are healthy and able to go back to work, whenever that will be, you will be again able to resume the payments. Until then, that is the best that you can do.

You are not going to starve yourself, or go without medical treatment or whatever, in order to pay your student loan.

Things in life happen. People find themselves unemployed, or have to take time off for illness. It is nothing that can be controlled, it happens to everyone.
You are doing your best, they can't ask for anything more.

Take care

Interesting  I was a student in 1998 in ontario with a private school. I went through all the interest relief stuff. at the end of  Jan of 2005 my interest relief period ran out. I was told I could apply for debt reduction heres the thing i was told : since tecnically on the Last day of the month I was stillin interest relief  I was  told that I could not apply for debreduction untill Interest relief ran out. I was asked permisson to change the date of Jan of the debt reduction to feb since i had no problems at the time i agreed(learning experince never to trust these people again) application into feb as to make it possible for debt reduction. I also explained that I was in undue finacial hardship and unable to work due to  a disibilty. and that I was getting $212.00 a month from ontario works which has now become $218.00. due to a recent rate increase .I am currently in the  process of being tranferred over to ODSP(ontario disibility support programme) My question is are they able to garnish anything from these two goverment programees..

Thanks to all of you for you help this is a great site and wish I would have known half this stuff in 1998 ,Other wise I would never have went back to school.

The problem is since i am unable to afford to keep it in goodstanding (due to undue finacial hardship and a disibilty that prevents me from being gainfully employed)the loan has now gone in to default. like almost every other prob i see here, it isnt that i dont wont to pay off my loan but due to undue financial hardship i cannot afford to pay. Which i have repeately told them. CIBC has offered to make one payment of 32 dollars for one month only to bring the loan up to date which would put it in good standing,but the catch is if I allow them to do this , this means that I automatically aggree to make a monthly payment untill the decision of the debt reduction review which according to CIBC Student center could take 5 months. I cant afford to pay one red cent to these people on $218.00 a month.

But thank you very much for your input it is highly appreciated

Please also refer to my post on equi cibc frustration stories

thanks again :)

To add onto Johnny's rant:

They also don't tell you that in order to GET Interest Relief you have to have all your payments up to date. Which means that if by chance they "lost" something, misimformed you about your status etc and that your interest has accumulated to a point far beyond your control, well, too bad.

In my case, I was one month arrears (after taking a few months off to work) then back in school when they wanted to collect. I could not pay the back interest, thus, I could not get IR. The loans defaulted, and I was told I could ask them to back date it, and apply for IR though RBC. RBC said apply to NSLC, for my loans before aug 2000 and my additional loans after aug 2000. I did. NSLC tells me the application applies to ALL loans. They approve my Canada student loan, but  say that My NS Provincial loan requires the interest payment before i can get IR. (Back to catch 22). Alliant (?)Alliance one calls to tell me they demand a payment, in full or a significant portion and payments of upwards of 350 dollars a month. They tell me that, The NSLC should not be giving out advice, my loans before 2000 are a bank loan and are NOT influenced by my NSLC IR application. I am told I should go bankrupt (My consumer debt is less than 1000.00, so no point in BKR)or talk to a debt advisor. (I make 1200.00 a month, whihc barely covers my cost of living, and plus, I am 7 months pregnant too, My teacher boyfriend doesn't make enough to cover everything ...sigh) Then NSLC phones to tell me they don't have some documentation and the application has expired and will have to be renewed. They tell me that Yes, My application covers all loans, before and after 2000.

I am confused.

I am exhausted.

I have NOTHING to give them. Interest relief is supposed to be there to help people (Like me) in situations where they are unable to pay at present. But, as you can see, it doesn't actually work that way.

I no longer have any answers for this. I am baffled that an obvious solution has not arisen. It is just so ridiculous that I want to sit in the corner and smile and basket weave with glazed and dialated eyes.

Sigh.

THe end.

i am in the process of sending yet another description to yet another media as I write this.

 I hope they at least present the stories. Not certain that it would do much good, of course. I was really glad to read about Alexa Mc. MP, standing up for us. That's something, I guess.

When I sent this site and further information to my mother who works well up in the food chain of HRDC, who told me that, alas, she is just a pawn in the game and has no control. I think its because they spend more time with trips to kanaskis for instance to go on hayrides and have meetings called "TEAm building" exercises. If only they wouldn't take the tax off my pay cheque and just put THAT toward my student loan instead of the paper trail, I would be so happy. I would actually start being a proud Canadian again.

TTFN

hello silence2long

I think it is possible for social assistance to be garnished or at least withheld for CSL.  At least in the case of EI - I am recieving EI and the EI people thought I was receiving other money so they stopped my EI when I contacted them and convinced that I hadn't received any money and they admitted it was their mistake they said they would issue me a cheque but I never got that cheque - it went to help pay off my CSL.  In fact that episode triggered a number of events including my "account" being transferred from Hull to Belleville Ont, and I am now receiving monthly statements from Social Development Canada that I never got before.

Just when you think they can't get any nastier ...