Ahh, memories. I miss Ray and his wacky "creditors have no right to ask you to repay the money they lent you" point-of-view.

That cease and desist letter linked will do the trick for the stat barred debt, and likely the Rogers one as well (no one in their right mind will sue for $400 especially given that you've no job or assets).

If sent by registered mail it is binding.

S.N.A.

You might also find this thread to be an inspiring read..

/threadview/1283/7981/2.html

Pay attention to Raymond's comments; I've always enjoyed the views he's expressed.

Example of Ray's view from: /threadview/1232.html

You've got to realize that deep down all collection agents are inept mental cases. Collections of any kind represents the bottom of the barrel in the world of finance and so it doesn't exactly attract the "sharpest tools in the shed."

I should qualify that statement by saying that because of the disappearing middle class and the polarization of incomes, as is painfully obvious, we are looming toward, if not already in, a personal debt crisis. Thus debt buying and the like has become big business. Big money is lined up to cash in. And that means that it has attracted some top talent to the upper rungs, like the ceo's at iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency and ActiveKapital (formerly PMS). Such people may not have previously considered this field when they were doing their MBA's, but now, because of the money to be made, they seem to have recast their mammon goals.

Having said that, the average collection agent or lackey working for a collections lawyer is little more than an unstable, unprincipled pathological liar, many of who may end up in collections themselves. I was being neither vitriolic nor facetious when I told the collector, Milo Bloom, a previous blogger on the forum, even if he was scraping up dead animals off the highway, he'd be doing something more useful with his life.
(I used that example because collection agencies like knawing on dead carcasses.) I haven't heard from him since but I doubt he acted on my advice.

And so that call you got was typical "collector speak." They're like seagulls fighting over an apple core or banana peel in a fast food parking lot. You were right in hanging up. You never talk to a collection agent, only at them. Until people realize that, they only aggravating themselves unnecessarily.

I believe the acknowledgements the Act is mentioning in reviving a stats barred debt refers to things in writing like signed response letters refuting payment or financial questionaire forms collectors are always sending out. I'm not certain about letters requesting status information on your file. One thing is for sure; whoever you're dealing with at the other end of the line will try to trap you into sending something that will revive or renew it.

I'm not familiar with all the settlement minutiae, so I don't want to speak over my head, but Johnny, or his blogs should be able to help you.

With regard to them hounding your parents, I'm definitely not in over my head. That's an easy one. Get them to be proactive and apply the "optingout" script referred to many time previously.

Ray

S.N.A.,

When is the last time you made a payment on this RBC account - or acknowledged it in writing for that matter? If no written acknowledgement or payment has been made since 2006 then you can pretty much tell the agency collecting on this debt to F*** Off, or else take you to court. I know it sounds rude, but ultimately that firm and/or RBC have no legal recourse available to them. Review The Ontario Limitation Act 2002 to gain a better understanding of your rights. Also, revising that template I posted earlier and then sending it to their office should put an end to the calls. I've always faxed mine down to the C/A's office and typically (~80% of the time) had success - i.e. the calls have stopped; however, registered mail is the recommended approach.

With respect to Rogers, chances are they will continue to hound you, but if they are aware that you have no funds available to put towards this account, then they will [most likely] avoid persuing any legal action.

I sympathize with your situation and also found myself in a similar situation a few years back . In my case, I underwent some serious surgery and that knocked me off my feet for a few years. Obtaining either OW or Disability was a no-go, as the City pulled my credit report and dismissed my claim due to all the available credit I had. Pretty stupid logic I thought - given all the bloody $$ I've paid out in taxes over the years, but what was I to do? As it turns out, it looks like in the end the Gov't got burnt with decisions of the sort. How you may ask? Take a look at how many people have defaulted on loans, credit cards, etc., in this recent downturn, to which the Gov't has had to hand over serious cash to bail these banks out.

With respect to your B.P. rising from these collection calls, I hear you there! For almost two years after my head was opened up I was receiving calls from both C/A's, along with the hospital looking to see if I wanted to have more surgery (always around June or Dec, so I'm now convinced that they simply needed suckers for some resident's final exam). A year and a half ago I was almost off the deep end but luckily found this site and gained some overdue strength back, along with hard core knowledge in the debt-recovery process from posters who frequented the site at the time. Now, most of the collection calls have stopped, and for the companies like Acktiv Capital that refuse to stop, I simply call them back ([typically] 3x for every 1 of their calls) and “shoot the breeze”. Matters not to me anymore, in fact its somewhat become a fun little game. After all, I know damn well they won’t get the police involved; as the police could care less about these Collection Outfits.

So, feel free to ask questions whether it be for strategic advice or other. Most of us here have gone through a jam at one stage or another and are on this site to share our acquired knowledge.

Stay Strong.

O.C.

I have owed on RBC Visa since 2006 and on Rogers since April of this year when they cut my cable. I have received phone calls as well as letters which I don't open because I recognize the address of the companies as I have researched them. What worries me the most Ottawa Chap, is that they may just laugh in my face as one of their employees did over the phone when they receive a letter, no matter how nicely it is couched. I have no assets to sell, my own exhusband owes me over $17,000 in Child Support which I would use to pay off the debts. However as they (FRO and Metro T.O. Police) cannot seem to find him, my Support Order is useless! It is bad enough not to be able to have a Christmas and explain to my daughter why I don't feel in the mood for this season (she is a wonderful kid - 17 y.o. and also can't find after school employment) without the addition of being harrassed 2 to 3 times a day. I just turn off my phone because after trying to talk to them, and ending up in tears and with my b.p. rising higher than the Canadian dollar, I can't handle it all!

If those debts are beyond the SOL, then you can pretty much use this template (+/-) as-is to address the issue of the C/A's contacting you. If those debts are not beyond the SOL, then put your legal skills to work and tailor the letter in a manner that doesn't encourage anyone to seek legal remedies.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/16640811/Cease-and-Desist-template-letter-for-Ontario-residents

Hi, and yes, I will admit to owing on a couple to a couple of debts 1) Rogers for $400 and 2) RBCVisa for $3000 ($2000 plus interest). However, due to the economy and to some degree my industry in particular, no one is hiring. I am a legal assistant with quite a few years of experience and can't find work despite being with agencies, whom I think just led me on. I am now on OW, looking for any work in the T.O. area. The collection agencies keep calling and calling, even though they know I'm on OW, don't have family members to borrow from and a single mother. IMO, they shouldn't have the right to keep calling people like me as this just adds to the stress, which I assume they are counting on. What do they want from me? Do they want me in hospital as well as helping me back to being clincally depressed as well? Does anyone know what I can do???