First off i'm 21 and live in New Brunswick. I first came on canadastudentdebt.ca a few days ago and you've opened my eyes to new options. Here's my problem:

I finished high school inthe spring of 2001 and applied for a community college called "SUCCESS COLLEGE" or "SCAT" i'm sure you've heard of it they have a campus in Nova Scotia I beleive. Anyways I was accepted and all was good. I got a National student loan i beleive from the GOV and a student loan from CIBC. Now heres where it gets tricky. At SCAT i was taking Graphic Design, half way through the year i decided it was definetly not my thing and that the school was a complete scam. The tuition was 14,000 and half was paid for the first half. Now half way through the year I was told by SCAT that they couldnt give me my diploma at the end of the year because I had missed "x" amount of time, fine. However I could still use their facility which was a the classroom filled with PC's. I returned a handful of times after and that was it. Now when it was time to take out the SECOND half of my loan they still took it even though they had already informed me beforehand that I couldn't receive my diploma. I feel I shammed. Coincidentally my feelings toward the school ended up being true, I received a letter 2 years after saying they had went bankrupt and I was entitled my GOV Grant back (which I didnt have to pay back regardless if I had graduated or not I beleive the amount was 3500). I never received the money back because i was an "unsecured creditor."
          But wait thats not all. I was 19 when I first started paying off my student loans. I had originally thought that my student loan was ONE big loan but obviously it was 2, a federal loan and a CIBC loan. I had gotten a job at a call center and worked from paycheque to paycheque for 2 years straight. I had been paying my 50.00 a month CIBC payment respectably, I have missed the odd payment here and there but I am still curently paying on it and it hasnt gone to collections. However the FEDERAL LOAN failed to reach me over the 6 month period. They called me on the 6 month informing that I havent paid and I was going to collections if not paid in full the next day. I panicked because I knew it wasnt possible. Fact is i had no CLUE that i hadnt been paying on my federal student loan, the 6th month was in december and i was in collections the same month. the next month in January they took my income tax which was $1400 and that would hjave paid for the 6 months that I owed plus a few more! Not long after i received a call from TCH International saying that If I didnt pay up they would send out a letter saying I would be sued, I knew it was BS but it still worried me. I feel like ive been shammed by the GOV and the education system of New Brunswick. Im 21, cant get any more financial help to go school and financially burdoned to stay here. If anyone could offer suggestions or help i'd love to hear them.

Thanks,

SNR

I cant believe noone has responded yet. Come on guys, this girls in trouble.

The first thing you need to do is to CLOSE your bank account with whatever bank you have your student loans with (CIBC I think you mentioned). Otherwise you will continue to lose your tax returnes and your GST allowances. Open an account at another bank - people here says to use either TD or a credit union.

Secondly if you CAN pay a small regular amount to the collection agency (CA). then start doing so by money order (Dont use cheques - you dont want to give them any info about your bank account).

 Dont call them to make arrangements - they will refuse and say they cannot take payments - which is crap. They HAVE to take payments. They just wont get a nice fat commission on it thats all.

Does anyone else have any more suggestions?

sigh...i must have missed this one earlier.

contact the feds and give them the rundown.  they failed to contact you to repay your loans.  they failed to notify you that your loan was going to collections.  find out if your grant that you were entitled to have returned has been applied to your outstanding debt.  ask them to send a statement of account and see where exactly you stand.  you know the balance has to be declining as they have taken your income tax etc.

if you are not making fantastic money, ask them about the possibility of getting your loan reinstated and applying for interest relief.  it can't hurt to ask.  see if they will investigate why you were not contacted for that six month period.  request a copy of everything in your file to see what they know and where you stand. 

as far as losing income tax and gst - i have to correct cesca here.  the feds will continue to take this unless you can prove it is causing undue hardship for you and then they will stop siezing the money. i cant remember exactly how you go about this - i think johnny might know.

now...if youstill have an account at cibc CLOSE IT and run to the nearest credit union.  even though you are making your payments faithfully to them, there have been instances where people on this site have had their rent money disappear out of the blue.  or, if you must, keep the account open with ONLY the fifty bucks a month in it, plus a few bucks to cover any fees and stash the resto f your cash in a CU.  the peace of mind this will bring is worth the hassle, believe me.

i am sure there is more to suggest, im just too wiped right now to think of it.

anyone else ??

slash

just wondering how you're doing.  any progress over the last few days ?

SlashNRoses

Contact johhny,

heres why: When you borrow money from a lender there has to be reasonable satisfaction for the value of the loan. tough to prove but follow along.

from what you have posted this is what i understand. You borrowd 14k, of that 7k went to the school right away? then you quit attending. second semester started and they were aware that you were not going to attend? and they took the second half of your loan??? if this is the case then If you can get copies of your attendance or prove that you were not in attendance for the second half of the selected course... they essentially stole money from you and the government/lender. If you can prove this it may hlep with "cleaning up" the second half of the debt

you would still have to repay the first half of the debt , but you may be able to prove you never recieved the second half in a fashion that would allow you to benefit from it. 

I had  a very similar situation with a private college in B.C I know first hand exactly how you feel. keep reading ask lots of questions and contact John Leblanc he resolved my situation.

good luck,

troy