Strong Arm Tactics of Debt Collectors

There are many people who are waist-deep in debt and go through emotionally depleting experience with debt collectors. There are some companies who employ collection agencies that apply strong-arm tactics to urge their clients to pay back their dues. According to the Canadian Consumer Handbook, a collection agency is defined as a business that obtains or arranges for payment of money owed to either a person or a company. When you have past due liabilities, the lending business may turn your account over to a collection agency.

We have heard horror stories from collection agencies and consumers. Know your rights specifically on the measures that debt collectors can and cannot do. This is very important so that you don’t experience a harrowing experience such as these scenarios:

1. Being threatened and coerced into doing something
2. Addressed using profane and offensive language
3. Calling or visiting you at your place of employment
4. Calling your employer, family and friends without your consent
5. Contacting you between the hours of 9:00 pm to 7:00 am
6. Giving false information to anyone about your debt
7. Contacting you by phone call without sending first a written notice
8. Making frequent phone calls that amount to harassment
9. Collecting more than what you owe
10. Charging you for the telephone calls

According to the Consumer Protection Act of Ontario, these are the things that debt collectors should do:

1. Send you a written notice about your debt via regular mail (email is not considered regular mail in this perspective) that clearly states the following

• the name of the person or business where you borrowed the money (known as the creditor)
• the amount of money you owe
• the name of the collection agency and a statement from the creditor that they are pursuing your account on their behalf

2. Wait for six (6) days before contacting you via phone or in person
3. After the initial contact, debt collectors are only allowed to contact you three (3) times or less, in a 7-day period. According to the Act, “Contact” means the agents must actually speak with you, email you or leave you a voice mail. If you don’t answer the phone and the agents don’t leave a message, it doesn’t count as a contact. A letter sent by regular mail also does not count as a contact.

Whenever you take out loans, make sure that you have planned out on how to pay back your dues. The best route to go is, of course, paying your debt on time so that you can protect your credit score, save yourself from the unnecessary stress of debt collection agencies and ensure that you can still borrow from banks and lending companies when you experience a financial bind.

At GoDay, we make sure that we acknowledge the rights of our clients. We believe that building a good relationship with our clientele is the best way to go. This is why we offer an array of financial resources to help our clients learn sound financial management. At GoDay, we often say: “If we can help you get through a few financial hurdles, terrific. If we can help you avoid them altogether, even better.”

Disclaimer: At GoDay, we work with some of the industries best debt collection agencies to facilitate repayment should an account be past due or uncollectable by our internal collections team.  The third party agencies we work with are based in Canada, hold a license to collect on past due accounts, and are audited frequently by GoDay.  Should you wish to share your experience with GoDay Collections Staff or our Third Party Partners, please provide feedback here:  https://goday.ca/Feedback.aspx.  We always appreciate hearing from our customers!