Thank you, Raymond for the help. It seems as though I am well on way, have filed for the notice of motion and affidavit and serve TCC with the papers this morning, hope to be successful, and thanks for the input on how to go about it and not focus on the whole fact that I was shafted by them. Keeping my fingers crossed for now, Court Date of October 28th. Hope something will come of it and if nothing else get the interest reduced and the garnishment reduced as well.

If possible, you need to make a motion (Form 15 A, Form 15B) to set aside the default judgment. There's a $40.00 application fee. The motion must be made as soon as possible when the defendant learns about the default judgment or the court won't grant it. The motion is to set aside a default judgment and for leave to file a defence that you would have presented had you received proper notification that you were being sued.

In effect, you are asking for a new trial. The problem is, as per the Small Claims Court Act, you must have an arguable defence. If you don't have one, then even if the judge concurs that you got shafted by not being notified about the original trial, he still won't grant your motion. They do that because otherwise, people who got sued with no arguable defence could evade justice by not showing up, and then file a defence years later claiming they never heard about the trial. Plaintiffs with a valid claims would never get their money.

Thus it's necessary for you to visit the Small Claims Court where the judgment was rendered and go over the file particulars with the Court clerk. The file could be in the archives if it is several years old and may take a week to dig up. You still should do that because, the court computer will only have limited summary information on the case.

You want to determine if there is an arguable defence available to you. Again, an arguable defence isn't that the collection agency pulled a fast one on you, although they probably did in order to let all the post judgment interest accumulate before striking. They get the high post-judgment interest rate of the agreement, not the low statutory 5% or 6% rate.

The account went delinquent in 2001. The statute of limitations period back then for debts that went into default was 6 years from the default date until when they filed a Statement of Claim (Form7A) in Small Claims Court. But if the default was after Jan. 1, 2004, the period reduces to 2 years. In this case, the default date was in 2001, so they had until sometime in 2007 to file the claim. Given the huge interest accumulation, II guess they probably did, but check the date on the Statement of Claim (Form 7A) nonetheless..

There may be some other defences available depending on what TCC presented to the court at the time. Did they prove that there was a shortfall between the balance outstanding and what they recovered from the repossessed computer? I have no way of knowing.

However, even if you are unable to convince the judge you have a valid defence, because of the onerous terms and nasty trick they played on you, the judge may give you a repayment schedule on easy terms with no interest if you ask. Also, you will have to give a credible reason why you didn't receive the court documents. That can be hard because collection agencies often aren't honest on their affidavits of service.

Because of the nasty garnishment, the next thing to do is ask for a garnishment hearing. (Form 20Q). The hearing can be requested by a debtor. If you disagree with the terms of the garnishment, you can ask for a reduction under the Wages Act.

There are 8 different guides available on the web or in print at the Small Claims Court office. One of them is contained below. You should read them before proceeding. You don't need to spend any money for legal help. I can't say I'm impressed with most paralegals, but maybe you'll get lucky if you want to hire one.

http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/guides/ReplyingClaimJan08EN.pdf

Ray

I am hoping someone out there can give some assist on an issue of garnishment. Back in 1999, I purchased a computer and got a loan from Trans Canada Credit. After some time I was unable to pay for the computer anymore. Trans Canada came and repossessed it and I asked what happens now. Was informed that it would be sold at auction and if there was any other monies owing they would get in touch with me. Never heard from them again until now, 7 years later, when my husband calls his hour in for his work week and is told there is a 30% garnishee through a court order for the amount of $15,000.00 to include the little over $11,000 interest that has incurred through the years. We are fighting this because the clerk at the court office says we should have received court papers of everything including the court date as well as the garnishment. (which we did not receive) Does anyone have any suggestions on where to go for help legally (ie. lawyers that cost little money. statues and laws in regards to this.)