sorry, which posts should I look into? re: wage garnishment

What pisses me off is that I WANT to pay, not everything obviously at once since I can't, but I want to pay it off in time, starting now.

Oh well...Thank you for the advice

Going to be hard finding the person she talked to at payroll, the HR dept is rather large.

Do NOT be ashamed. Even the best of people fall into debt now and again...no one is perfect unless they're Michaelangelo's David. All this bitch is trying to do is intimidate you and make you feel ashamed. DO NOT LET HER.

Remember that you are not the only person with debt, not the only person dealing with collection agents and you won't be the last...and judging by the current state of the economy, you'll have some surprising company in the next few months.

Just don't try to hide anything. At this point you are really just building up a case, because if she told your employer personal financial information about you, chances are she might have said something she shouldn't have to payroll as well. And if this does end up before a judge, you might have to bring in your boss and possibly payroll to verify that the agency violated the Collection Act.

I'd also take a look at a few of Raymond's posts surrounding the involved process surrounding gettting wage garnishment. It takes a lot, including mandatory mediation.

I wish my payroll dept had notified me of them calling! I guess I need to ask them tomorrow. Although I am having difficulty in coming up with a good statement as to not tip off my employer to what's happening. Probably too late though. Not a convo I am looking forward to.

Ya know, I'm really angry on your behalf.

Don't be afraid anymore, don't be intimidated. Even if they do actually take you to court. (btw, they can verify employment information, but only once. Check with your payroll dept to ensure that's all they did. If she spilled the beans to your boss, I wouldn't put it past them to spill the beans to payroll as well)

Tell them to go ahead and take you to court where they can then explain to the judge why a) they disclosed private financial information to your employer in direct violation of the Collection Agency Act of Ontario and b) why they refused your attempt at making the payments.

And then send them a letter via registered mail informing them to only contact you via Canada Post and by no other means.

She said that she is part of the legal dept and as such they do not accept monthly payments, she only wants the payment in full. She said she is starting the court paperwork.
I wanted to talk to Briet and he left me a nasty message saying that court proceedings will be started and that my wages will be garnished.

Newman also said that she has called my payroll dept asking to verify my work info! When I said that this is against the Privacy Act, she said that I should do more research!

These people are insane!

So basically she's claiming that her office does not accept payments? Then what exactly DOES her office do? If a person cannot make payment in full, but wishes to pay off their debt, they will do so via monthly payments of a set amount.

I'd ask her exactly what it is her office does if it does not accept payments on a legitimate debt. As far as I ever knew, a collection agency is supposed to accept whatever means of payment they receive on a debt.

She called me again today. I had actually called her voicemail (in the middle of the night because I didn't want to talk to her) a couple of weeks ago, stating that I had sent in some cheques to her office. Well, she called back the next morning stating that she would send the cheques back because that's not what her office does.
Today I got another call and she said she would carry this on into the new year if necessary and that further proceedings would be made if I failed to contact her about a settlement. Then she gave me the name and number of her colleague if I didn't want to speak with her personally! Not sure what to do right now, but those "court papers" have been in my possession for a couple of months at least now, so I don't think you will have anything to worry about for at least that amount of time. But please don't quote me on that!

I got called by Newman as well...

but here is my question

have a line of credit overdue....Eli Antel's office just sent me a letter stating that they will start proceedings against me if I dont pay up a bulk sum. Thy are also saying that since I did not take out insurance on the loan I am responsible even if I lost a job or just finished schoool, etc.

How likely are the court actions?

Please advise

Vampchick answered your post. I thought most of the post had disappeared. I'm not sure how she knew it was about TCR.

TCR is one of the worst collection agencies in the country. Believe me they get away with murder.

But I think the top spot would now have to have to go to whatever oufit Natale Law Offices works for - as they're no longer with TCR.

I can certainly understand your embarrassment; but in this day and age, with the credit crisis, it's not all that bad. Maybe your boss will take it as a cue they should be paying you more. Well, maybe not.

The information Vampchick posted was certainly correct, but I'm afraid the reality is that collection laws in Ontario under Brian Pitkin are simply not enforced. Not that you shouldn't write a letter of complaint in, but all you will get back from Consumer Protection on 5775/250 Yonge Street is a form letter after they file your complaint under "G". Brian Pitkin's direct office number on 5775 Yonge Street is 416 326-8802.

The only practical redress consumers have is to sue the agency in Small Claims Court for embarassment or unnecessary harassment. A few have done that successfully but who wants to get their name splashed in the media and the web, like Stephen Tobin and Carole Roache [who successfully sued TCR].

Even ex-collection managers, disgusted by TCR's practices, who complained to Consumer Protection (you can imagine how bad things would have to be to cause that) got nowhere. See previous threads.

Ray

Thank you for the reply. Although you do have a valid point and that I can file an official complaint against the collection agency, my reputation has been embarassingly tainted. Unfortunately, as a result of that conversation with my boss, this afternoon I was doing whatever I could to avoid her and will probably do it again tomorrow. It's a horrible feeling! I am a single mother and I am having some financial issues, doing whatever I can to make ends meet. I just never EVER thought it would come to this.