I’m BA-ACK!! TriCura Strikes Again...

So, dear friends...I believe my story left off in March or April..when I FINALLY got my IR approved (a mere 5 months after I applied for the 6 month "relief" {Relief from what, I might ask...since they ADDED to my stress, rather than RELIEVED it}). Well, as excited as I was about the prospect, I applied for IR again in May. I thought there would be few problems, since I had learned from my mistakes last time, and new exactly what they needed, and how they needed it (The NSLSC). I THOUGHT WRONG...once again, they mysteriously LOST the middle documents of my fax...Luckily after only one re-fax, the matter was cleared up...Whew...

My husband, on the other hand has not been so lucky. He applied for his next round of IR in June. After repeated requests for refaxed documents, as well as some doughheads that couldn't figure out that since there were THREE different paystubs, he must have THREE DIFFERENT jobs...hmmm...doesn't take a genius...you'd think...took them 3 weeks to get that little glitch figured out...he was finally refused his interest relief. Apparently he made $30 too much on one of the three months we reported income for. We were on a little vacation when he found out he had been refused. (I use the term "vacation" loosely, he is now unemployed, and I am a teacher, so we decided to visit some friends during the summer...just so's y'all don't think I'm squandering my moola on vacations...), but luckily I had all of our paystubs with us, "just in case." He had to reapply in a hurry, as it was almost the end of July, and we didn't have the money to make the next payment. He was told to get his documents in by the end of the month in order to avoid having the payment taken from our account. We hurried and scrounged up the fax machine to get it in on time. Whew...crisis averted (I should know better by now, right?). Well, when we returned from our "vacation," the faxes they had received from him on the June application had been returned by snail-mail. Upon examination, we realized that there was a problem...all of the dates on the paystubs had been cut off of the faxes...but wait...they had evaluated his application anyways...How could they accurately calculate his income if they didn't have any dates on his information? Turns out, they just arbitrarily placed pay stubs in months, working them so it looked like he made too much money. HOW CONVENIENT. On top of this, he had now defaulted on his RBC student loans as they will only delay payments one month. That's great for the credit rating, I hear. Oh, well, for what feels like the hundredth time, we decide to move on. Nothing we can do about it now...That was a Monday, August 2. On Thursday, my husband went to get some cash to wash the car. When he came back from the bank, he had a dumbfounded look on his face. Whaddaya know? The NSLSC took his payment out of the bank on the 3rd...A call to the NSLSC...OOOPS...they neglected to inform him that his papers needed to be into their office 5 business days prior to the payment date in order to stop it. Oh, and it takes them 2 days to process any faxes, so in reality, it's 7 business days, I guess. So, now we are $140 in the hole, and it also made things nasty, as we BARELY had enough money for rent BEFORE the payment was taken. So, despite our scrambling to get money back into our account (after being "on my own" for 8 years, I'm a little tired of running to mom and dad for money), our first rent check in our new place (We just moved from BC back to AB so my husband could take a new job in the fall) BOUNCED. This is a ZERO tolerance building, so we are hoping we don't get kicked out becuase of NSLSC's mistake. Super...I have never missed a bill payment, or paid my rent late in my life. This is nasty. Anyways, so, now he is mysteriously back with TriCura. And now, they are giving him the usual run-around. By my calculations, his IR should be approved by the time he would need to apply again. Luckily, he got a good job, so hopefully, soon, we can pay them their damn money, and get on with our lives, though I don't doubt they will screw it up if we can afford to pay more than they want (Which we fully intend on doing). THEY ARE NOT GETTING ONE PENNY MORE IN INTEREST OUT OF ME THAN I CAN HELP.

Anyways, sorry for the rant. My husband says there is nothing we can do, and we just have to deal with them until we can afford to pay. This frustrates me, because I am a self proclaimed "justice crusader," and I keep thinking there MUST be something I can do. This makes me feel like I am doing something, at least.

Pack up, leave and don't come back. Tell your family to tell the parasites that you're dead and to stop calling.

After a few months you'll be on your feet again and you'll wonder why you ever let those vampires worry you. Plus you'll get one hell of a suntan.

That's what I did. Happy. Making a ton of money. Doing what I'm good at. Have the respect of my neighbours and fellow residents...Indonesian and expat. Contributing to society. No longer homeless as a result of the government's persecution policies.

Screw Canada.

Hi Educated......I agree with Java Man. Leave
Canada. if I were strong enough to do so I would!
Tell your brother to get an unlisted phone # if
necessary. What has this country done to deserve
our loyalty? A better managed S/l system and more
options for those of us in financial hardship because
of s/l's might make it more appealing to stay in
Canada. I think there is a difference between
leaving because you simply don't feel like
acknowledging your obligations to your s/l's and
leaving because even after trying to negotiate and be
reasonable your still get sh^t upon. Better weather
in Australia! Pity about Vegemite though!

Wait until you hear this Tricura horror story.  Originally it was set up so that my loan payments would be withdrawn automatically from my bank account.  About a year ago I applied for interest relief because I was having some financial difficulties.  They told me I had to fax them an application and proof of income so I did.  I didn't think I needed to call them to follow up (stupid of me) because at the end of the month they didn't try to take any money out of my account.  So I figured I was on interest relief.  Six months later (this was in March of this year) they call me to tell me that I was seven months in arrears.  They said they never got my info I faxed them.  But why didn't they call me sooner if they weren't getting paid?  They made no attempt to take the money out of my account and they don't call to ask me to send them a cheque?   

Anyway, I told them I could afford to make payments and I wanted to go back to my regular payment schedule.  They said no, I wasn't allowed to do that.  The only way I could resume regular monthly payments was if I paid the entire amount in arrears first.  I couldn't afford that.  They told me my only other option was to reapply for interest relief.  So I did.  I had to pay my outstanding interest to the tune of $185 and send them an application and 3 months proof of income.  This time I faxed the info and sent a copy by mail.  Some time passes and then I get a letter saying that I need to send proof of income for another month.  A few days later I get a revision of terms form in the mail that I need to sign and send back.  So I do all of that and send it back, once again by fax and mail.  A while later I get another revision of terms form to sign.  It's exactly the same as the last one but I sign it anyway and send it in. 

Finally, at the end of August, I get a call from one of there extremely rude representatives (they're all really rude, not to mention stupid) and he tells me my application for IR has expired.  Gee, I wonder why.  Maybe it's because it took them forever to process it.  I tell him I just want to make my monthly payments and that's all I've been wanting to do for the past several months.  Again, they won't let me do that.  If I want to resume payments I have to either pay the full amount in arrears (over $900) or pay the outstanding interest ($415) or apply for IR again.  I told him there's no way I'm going through all that IR crap again and I'll pay the outstanding interest.  He told me I have until September 15 to do so and once they receive the payment they'll send me some paperwork to get my monthly payments started again.  Well, I got to thinking.  First of all, if the total amount in arrears is $900 and the total outstanding interest is $415, that means the interest is almost 50%.  Hmmm, that doesn't sound right.  Plus I already paid the outstanding interest up to March, which was $185.  How could I have accrued over $400 in interest from March to August?  So I decide to call them today (Sept. 10) to verify the amount and I'm told that Tricura no longer has my loan.  They won't tell me why, they just transfer me to someone else.  The person I'm transferred to tells me - huge surprise coming here - that my loan has been sent to collections.  How about that?  After that jackass said I had till the 15th.  The girl I spoke with today gave me a lot of information that the good people of Tricura should have given me a long time ago but didn't.

So, I've made a few more calls and have had a request put in for an investigation recall to get my loan out of collections and (unfortunately) back into the completely uncapable hands of Tricura.  I also got the names and ID codes of everyone there that I've spoken with over the past several months and I will be making a formal complaint to their head office.

Point of the story - the call center representives for Tricura are not only idiotic morons, but they're also liars.  Tricura needs to get their act together.  Does anyone know if calling the Better Business Bureau would accomplish anything?

 

 

Your story is all to common on this board. Find out
the name of Tricura's ombudsperson and send
copies of your grievances to them. Also send a copy
of your complaints to HRDC. Send everything by
reg'd mail and also be sure to get the signature on
delivery option from the post office. Also send a copy
of your complaint to your provincial ministry of
consumer and corporate affairs (again reg'd mail
with signature on delivery). Keep the originals for
yourself. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is something I'd like to know too.  Especially the bank portion. And how did they manage it.  I'm sick to death of paying interest out of my nose to NCO and the Bank of Broken Knees.

I'm going to the kitchen for a tequila.