I can run I but can’t hide

Hello all, this is my story:

I attended University for one year (1999/2000) and accumulated about $7,000 of student loan debt.  I also racked up another $3,000 or so with Canadian Tire credit (cash advance), Zellers credit (groceries, misc.) and phone bills that year.

Then I returned home and didn’t find work for a while and when I did the money wasn’t that great (still isn’t) but my main goal at that time was to move away from home (some parents WANT to be empty nesters!) which I accomplished.

CT, Zellers and the phone company went after me immediately with their collection agencies.  I paid Canadian Tire off ($1800) and then Nordon called me about the Ontario portion of my student loan, about $2000 and started talking about wage garnishee and such so I got scared and borrowed from my grandfather to pay them in full.

I should mention that since my credit is so bad I am not able to get an auto loan or any loan for that matter (even payday) so thankfully my grandfather was willing to lend me the money for a vehicle and to pay off Nordon.  That’s all well and good; I’ve been making payments with him for the past four years from about $8000 down to under $2000.  It will probably take one more year to fully pay him off.  I will not be asking him for any more money as he is 83 years old and if he passed away before I paid him off the executors would be demanding I pay up immediately.

The Canada portion of my Scotia loan for $5000 has been a thorn in my side since day one.  It was with a collection agency (I can’t remember their name) and they tried their usual tactics and I told them I couldn’t get a loan (there would be no cosigner) and that my family and friends don’t have $5000 to lend out and I would arrange a small payment schedule until my situation changed.  This was never good enough for Ms. Snow.  Communication eventually ceased.  Nothing was ever paid on this loan.

That brings us to today.  I have CBCL (took over the loan?) calling me at work (I work outside a lot so I get phone messages) and they finally got me in the office yesterday morning.  He was rude and ignorant and told me he was going to garnishee my wages so to put him through to payroll.  I work at a very small firm so the payroll/accounting/receptionist knows my situation personally.  She was on the phone with him for a minute or two and told her he would be sending this ‘package’ for her to fill out and send back (presumably about me).  She should expect this package by courier in about four to six weeks.   Weird.

I want to make it clear that I want to pay.  I know this debt will be waiting for me for some time.  I acknowledge taking and spending the money but now is not the right time.  Heck, tomorrow’s pay day and I have only $13 in my account today!!  Now that’s paycheque to paycheque.

Should I continue to resist until they’ve had the account for six months?  My goal is to put this off until I have my grandfather paid off or pretty close.

Is it likely they will go ahead and sue me for $5000?

Limited,

Understand your situation well.  Paycheque to paycheque has been my life story.  I feel for all of us in this situation.

hunter said, If you are not able to send them anything at this time, tell them that. I told TCR (collection agency) that and kept telling them that with every financial questionaire.  Finally, they went back to the HRDC and I imagine gave them a reason for a referral for justice.  I want to pay my debt....that was made very clear to them as well...but no money was ever sent to them.  So here I am today in the middle of the whole legal game.   What a treat!!!

I hope that my other loan with NCO, at present, has as much luck as hunter has had in the threats not materializing.  Pass some of your lucky stars this way hunter.

Hunter,  are you making any kind of payment on the $38,000.  Or have made payments to it? 

Boy, there is some good dialogue in this forum!

Thanks to everyone for replying.

I suppose the best thing for me to do is to pay them $20 per month.  That way, they won't be able to sue.  This statement is true, isn't it?

Also, I believe there is a six month period when the agency takes over the account where they can't send it back for real legal action?  When does that term begin?  When they finally contact me in person?

How about setting the agency (CBCL) up as a bill payment on online banking.  That's a safe thing to do, right?

And Ferren, I think the agency had been harassing my parents (whom I don't speak with much) and they gave them my work number.  I would kind of rather that as I do not have a landline phone for them to get me on and I'm sure as heck not giving them my Pay & Talk number.  Besides, I can screen pretty well at the office.

Thanks again for the info... have a good one!

Adam

I see.  I understand they are sending my employer some kind of information package (I think it must be a financial statement) so I will fill that out and return it.

I just wonder about 'substantiating' that I can't pay much.  Is there a table somewhere that shows what a person in certain situations needs to live on?

 It means that the collector is telling you that he or she is not collecting a guaranteed Canada student loan (debt owing to the Crown aka HRDC). The collecotr is telling you it is a bank risk loan owed to the bank ONLY. This also means that HRDC has no say what so ever int he colelciton processes of bank risk. It is not in their jurisdiction.

 This is the message I tried to send everyone on this site a long time ago... when you are filing a complaint, make sure it holds merit, and please ensure that you know who you are lodging the complaint with. Many people submit complaints to HRDC for bank-related student loans. They are simply discarded because there is no government interest in it.

 I would guess that you owqe one of three banks (Royal, Scotia, or CIBC), and that is one of these is who the collector is collecting for.

 Johnny

Johnny wrote:  It means that the collector is telling you that he or she is not collecting a guaranteed Canada student loan (debt owing to the Crown aka HRDC). The collecotr is telling you it is a bank risk loan owed to the bank ONLY. This also means that HRDC has no say what so ever int he colelciton processes of bank risk. It is not in their jurisdiction. ...  I would guess that you owqe one of three banks (Royal, Scotia, or CIBC), and that is one of these is who the collector is collecting for.

I see, and I assume all bets are off wrt to the rules of execution.  So I basically have no choice but to pay what he's asking - 3% of the principle, per month or he CAN seek further action.

And yes, I owe Scotia Bank.

Thanks for the info, btw

Limited,

I am dealing with NCO as well with my bank portion of my student loan.  There are still guidelines that they have to go by re: third party collections.

Have they ever asked you to fill out a financial form??  They haven't with me yet---With me, they have not yet asked for a specific amount every month!  I've just been sending them $100 a month by money order.  I'm hoping this keeps them happy--I'll have to wait and see

Limited,

No, you shouldn't have to pay the 3% of principal every month with a non-guaranteed loan... I don't - I don't even pay enough monthly to cover all the interest on the loan! Just like with my guaranteed loan, I regularly complete a financial statement showing my monthly income and expenses and then I tell them (yep... that's right) what I can afford to pay each month. I then provide the CA with 6 post-dated cheques. When those run out I provide them with 6 more, and so on. While many on this site will advise you not to do this, I have had absolutely no problems - and I've been doing this for over 8 years.

As for speaking to my CA - because of past problems I insisted that all future correspondence be by e-mail and snail mail. This keeps them very honest because they can't break the rules in writing (well... I suppose they could but then there could be trouble!). And I always keep my promises. When I see that I'm approaching the end of my 6 months, I e-mail the agent and inform him that I'm aware that they are in need of more cheques and that they will receive them within the week. When I received a substantial wage increase last year I e-mailed him to tell him that the next batch of cheques would show an monthly increase. They write back thanking me for being on top of things. In my last message from him he even wished me "Happy Holidays"! I doubt things will always go this smoothly, but things are just fine right now and I'd like to think it's because of my approach... at least a little!

Hope all goes well for you, too!

Tangotori