Being taken to court

 Collection agencies are certainly hired by the government to collect money, and this is what they do to get it. The lady at HRDC has heard first hand from you that:

 1) the collector has pressed you to borrow without first establishing if or not it is to your best interest;

 2) the collector had threatedned to call you bank representative ... to likely "expose your financial problem with HRDC" , and for confirmational reaosns;

 3) The collection agency is not honoring it's onus to issue updated statements to you, the client;

 4) the collector had refused to accept your immediate payment offering ...

 Now, if you were to read the third-party PCA directives issued by the HRDC, you will not find any of these identified actions in the "prohibited" collection practices. In fact, all four of them are considered to be direct violations of the directives. To take this a step further, if the collector were to initate number 2, then this would not only be a violation of the directives, it is against the law also. That is a violation of the privacy act(s), Collection agency's act, and quite possibley, the criminal code depending on how it is conducted.

 By this HRDC lady telling you that  "this is what they do to collect money from you", she has pretty much admitted that the HRDC both acknowledges and condones such prohibited activity and unorthodox business behavior.

 Not too long ago, Mr. Big at HRDC went on National television and stated that the HRDC does NOT warrant, condone, nor accept such activity and behavior from it's hired third-party collection agencies. He also stated that if it is happening, he is unaware of it's occurence - together with a stern warning that collection agencies who do act out of line will be dealt with appropriately.

 Well, maybe someone should advise this higher power at HRDC that this behavior and activity has actually occured from within their institution.

 Gee, maybe someone should mention the fact that this prohibited

I'm a newbie here but I have some information for conisderation:

Before paying a collection agency, send a letter for "verification of debt" (you can find sample letters online) and a letter of "request to cease contact" - these letters must be mailed by registered mail and receipt kept for proof, then you will have some legal standing........I am currently dealing with Alliance One on an account that was closed 1/98 and has just been removed from my credit report (7 years old!!) But luckily I am a packrat and keep thorough documents so they usually run scared when I pull out my script.   Also check to see how long a lender can pursue collection in your area, usually between 4 and 7 years (but if you make a payment on it before they verify that you owe it, that time restarts every time you miss a payment)