hey isabelle,
The simple answer is:
Call you local Provincial Government Consumer Protection branch and ask them what your rights are.

There are laws that the Collection Agencies have to abide by.

There are certain things you can do to take control of a conversation with a collection agency.

There is more information in the other posts in this area that should be of help.

Had the most awful experience with a collection agency last week. (NCO). They absolutely wiped the floor with me and left me numb for 2 days. Called me a thief, threatened me, etc. Had a credit card and account with CIBC. Through illness was unable to pay my minimum monthly balance and contacted CIBC to come to an arrangment. They refused. Heard nothing until collection agency phoned. I never denied I owed money, just told them I could not pay the whole amount off at once.

Spent part of the weekend on the internet and have found a wealth of info on how to deal with collection agencies in the U.S. Nothing about Canada until I found this site.

It seems in U.S. collection agencies hate it when you ask them for "validation of debt", as they are required to send you all the papers they have to prove your debt etc. including copies of transactions going way back, and often they do not have this. Is this the same as requesting a "statement of account" in Canada? I live in Ontario and wonder what the law is here. Next time they call I want to be prepared. What if I ask for this and they refuse to send it to me. What are my rights (other than that I know I have to pay off my debt?).

We want to be the source of news, discussion and your thoughts experiences and feelings about the collection agencies in Canada.

If you have had any experiences in the past with a collection agency from any province, we want to hear about it.

I think it's about time that Canadians had a place to learn how to properly deal with collection agencies. Did you know that you can control the conversation with a collection agent? They do have laws they must follow!

Tell us your collection agency story today!