You have entered the twilight zone here - the limitations act makes the debt unenforceable, but they can keep reporting it for 6 years from the date of last payment. Businesses lobbied for the Limitations Act RSO 2002 to reduce liabilities for potential court actions for 2 years. The problem is that they can't get it together to actually sue you in the two years, they lose the ability to do so - I guess that didn't work out so well.

Since in Ontario, banks, utilities, etc are used to having things both ways, amendments to the Limitations Act in 2006 allow extensions in contracts for the limitation period beyond 24 months again - getting rid of the loophole for us "deadbeats" to get out of paying. As advised here, when you pay the debt 2 things happen - you acknowlege your liability and the 6 years for reporting starts again.

There was a class action suit against the Reporting Agencies in Ontario pertaining to reporting on debts which are not legally collectable (ie passed the limitation period) but for some reason this has not made it to judgement yet. It seems at odds with our legal system that negative credit information can be reported about you on a debt which cannot be legally enforced - but thats the current legal position in Ontario and Albert where a 24 month Limitation period exists. Frankly, I believe that if they aren't willing to seek a judgement within 2 years of the last payment there must be something wrong with their case ....

Contrary to the Consumer Protection Act 2002, collectors will lie to you about the process, how things are reported, etc. - the Act in all common law provinces lets the reporting agencies report from the date of last payment - there are no exceptions. Therefore, once it is assigned as a w/o or collection on your credit file your are better off "not" to pay and wait out the 6 years. The only exception is if they agree in writing to remove the listing as an "error" and the reporting agency agrees to do it.

Otherwise you not only pay them the money, admit that you owed them (when often they can't collect), but you prolonged the bad credit for several years. Remember collections agencies are apparently under no obligation to tell the truth or do whats best for you - they collect money on commission and will push the limits of the law every time!

Bell Canada (mobility, Sympatico) do not report on your bureau. I don't know about Express Vu, but the rest of the family I know do not.

But, it doesn't mean the collection agencies won't run bureau checks on you though -- and that will lower your FICO score. I wouldn't worry about that though as it's around the $200 mark. Collection agencies won't waste their money with files that low.

And paying your bill will probably save you in $$ in Advil in the future. iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency are big on automated dialers, which means you'll get countless calls (w/ no contact .. meaning no messages left).

You obviously care about your credit rating... paying your bills is a good thing. Just be lucky the bill is as small as it is, and it wasn't reported by Bell and the agency didn't run a bureau on you.

QDiddly, you're misinterpreting what you're reading. The debt becomes legally unenforceable... meaning they cannot sue you... past the two year mark. It does not, however, drop off your credit bureau for 6 years from the date of last payment... which means you would have seen it on your bureau til 2010... but only if it's been reported to the bureau.

Your first step should have been to check your bureau report. If it was on, you were actually better off not to pay it or to pay it only after receiving written confirmation from the collection agency and the original creditor (if the original creditor had it listed) that it would be removed completely... not simply marked "paid in full".

If it is not on the bureau, you are better off to let the payment go through so it can't show up on the bureau... but keep the receipt.

I was planning on doing that since I made the online payment after 6PM today. i hope it works.

reverse the payment through the bank tomorrow morning. Or you'll never see it again.

I live in Ontario and I got a call from iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency tonight telling me of an outstanding bell mobility account of $200+ from Dec 2004. I did in fact fail to pay my final blance when I left (I was young and silly, and eventually forgot about it). I freaked out because I was sent to collections last year for another bill and it totally screwed up my credit rating dropping it under the 600 Equifax mark. since then i've been working very hard to rebuild my credit as i'm getting into the age where I'm looking for loans/mortgages and such. So, when the guy told me of this account I just offered to pay right away b/c I really didn't want this thing hitting my bureau, and he told me as far as he knew it hadn't been sent to my bureau. So i paid the balance a few hours ago and then started reading this forum. Now i feel like a total idiot, and a chicken for not at least looking into the matter a little deeper (granted, i had left the account unpaid so i knew i was guilty). Now I'm finding out that accounts older than 2004 that have been uncollected for over 2 years are wiped off the board. is there a way i can lay the pressure on the guys to give me my money back?

becuase technically they're not going to pay bell mobility if the account is older than 2 years - they're gonna pocket the cash. isn't that white collar theft??

any info would be greatly appreciated. and yes, i know i'm a dumbass, but it was an honest mistake made out of fear.