This website is a testimony to the problems Canadian Student Loan borrowers experienced from approximately 1996 to 2008 and until their loans were paid off.

The privatization of the Student Loans system by the Chretien and Martin Liberal governments broke the system and defaulted thousands of borrowers who were trying to pay their loans. There were even stories of suicide due to the harassment of borrowers.

Read the report that I prepared back in 2007 here. Canada Student Loans-The Need for Change Fortunately the new Conservative government at the time revamped the program and fixed the system for new borrowers, but borrowers under the previous program were left with ruined credit and continued harassment from debt collectors.

I call on the Canadian Government to apologize to the borrowers affected by this fiasco and make amends.

Unfortunately the Liberal government is again clobbering the Education system with their upcoming changes to International Student Visas. Yes, there's a problem, but instead of a well thought out plan, they have pulled the emergency brake on the train causing a derailment. This has introduced unprecedented instability for both private and public education institutions who serve both international and local students.

Universities can't plan. I've heard of courses being cut because the government has no process in place for universities to send the newly required acceptance letters to the government.

This means that students who have been accepted can not attend courses that start in the summer 2024 semester. With cut sections, current Canadian students will have trouble getting courses, and may have to switch to part-time which changes their enrollment status and might trigger repayment of their loans or ineligibility for funding. I've seen this before. It wreaks havoc on the student loan borrowers.

Again, the Liberal government has messed up the education environment. Will the new system needed in a rush for the acceptance letters be the new Arrivecan scandal?

I call on the government to implement a slower phased in approach and delay the requirement of the acceptance letters until a process is in place to submit these letters.


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    Posted: 29/May/2005 at 6:58am

Hello! I was extremely releived to find your website after being harrassed at work from NCO regarding my student loan.
The first call I got at work was from a woman who wanted my adress but would not tell me what for or from who. After asking many times she finally told me she was with a financial company and that was it! She gave the # after asking many times and that was it.
A few days later I got another call at work this time from an extremely rude woman telling me that I need to pay my royal bank loan in full on that day! I realized that this was my student loan and told her that payments were already being taken for my loan and she said this is not a student loan but a 'LOAN' emphasizing the word loan. The only dealings I ever had with this bank was my student loan and even after telling her this she insisted it was not and that I was being difficult!!
I told her many times that I had to go because I was at work and ahd customers waiting. I also told her that I was already contacted at work by another rep from NCO and that I took the munber and planned on calling. She told me that I did not receive any phone call from there and that this was a new file!!I finally ahd to hang up on her because she would not stop yelling at me or let me go back to work!
I have received several more calls after that one with her telling me that she will garnish my wages.Each phone call I received I had to hang up on her or lose my job! I explained to her that I would call her after receiving the information regarding the payments that were being taken for my student loan already (My income tax and GST have been taken for over 3 years now for my student loan). I am trying to find anyone who has anything remotely similar to my situation to find out what I can do about this and to find out why they are harrassing me if my taxes are being put towards my student loan.

If anyone can give me any information on my situation or any advice on what I should about them phoning me at work and being so rude I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks, Trish:)

Trish
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tobren Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30/May/2005 at 5:26am

HI Trish-

First of all, the debt sounds like the risk portion of your student loan (mine was placed with NCO as well).  If that is the case then the amounts you are paying from your taxes and GST are not being applied to this amount.

Secondly, you should write them a letter (registered mail) basically stating that any and all contacts from their organization to you should be made via mail only.  From what I've read on this site, once that is done they cannot call you anymore.

The address I was able to find for NCO (from their own web site and someone please correct me if it's wrong) is:

NCO Financial Services, 6700 Century Avenue, Ste. 210, Mississauga, ON L5N 6A4. 

Although my phone calls were coming from BC my mail comes from there.

I hope this helps.

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Hi Trish.

 I don't know what Province you're in, but in B.C. there is provincial legislation that prohibits collection agencies from harrassing you, which is what they are doing to you.  As I understand it in B.C. they cannot call your place of work except to merely confirm that you work there, which only takes one call. Nor can they can call your relatives, or make constant, abusive calls to your place of residence. You should inquire as to whether there is similar legislation where you live.  If there is, then you can report that agency as having violated your rights. That might not stop them, but at least it'll make you feel a bit empowered, knowing that you do have some rights.

It got so bad for me, getting calls every day for months, that I eventually had to cancel my telephone, and get a new unlisted number with a different company.  What I have done with my student loan creditors is to inform them in writing that I will no longer deal with any matters on the telephone. There is no law in this country that says that you have to use the telephone to deal with these things.  I tell them to put anything they have to say to me in writing, that way I have a record of it. That also keeps me from saying something I shouldn't say in the heat of the moment.

However, when RBC sent my student loan to a collection agency they must not have included in my file my letters demanding the phone calls to stop, because the credit agency, Federal Credit and Consulting, began to phone my relatives. I've instructed my relatives to simply give my address to any creditor that calls and then hang up.

I simply refuse to take any verbal harrassment and abuse from some bitch/dickhead sitting at a desk somewhere, who knows nothing about my personal situation. And I found out long ago that it does absolutely no good trying to explain your situation to these airheads. Just hang up on them, and get everything in writing. They have to be nicer when it's in black and white.




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SolveStudentDebt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01/June/2005 at 1:15pm

 

 Harassment is against policy no matter where you are.

 They can contact you at your place of work to discuss the debt when all other means to communicate with you have been exhausted. Regardless, collectors are good at covering their tracks and avoiding complaints. Just another part of breaking the rules.

 They can contact your relatives, or anyone they can potentially retrieve information from. They can also call former landlords, employers, local gas stations, corner stores, etc. They just cannot disclose your confidential information to anyone without your expressed written consent.

 Johnny

 www.cfwgroup.ca

   



Edited by Johnny
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WantOut Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12/June/2005 at 2:47pm

Hey Bullwinkle:

I used to think that I could get collectors to stop calling me by writing a letter as well, but to my dismay that didn't work at all.  I sent several letters demanding that the only contact with me be by mail, but the calls continued and continued and continued --- at work AND at home.

After dealing with collectors for several months, and becoming so stressed out that I was a nervous wreck every time the phone rang, the only thing that stopped them was dealing with John Leblanc.  I can now answer my phone without fear, and since the powers of attorney through John went out, haven't heard from the collectors in a couple of months.

And I have to say, I tried EVERYTHING, from complaining to the police to lodging a complaint with the Ministry (I'm in Ontario).  The rules you think they have to follow are apparently pretty flexible in the hands of an experienced collector.  They are very good at not including in their notes their own misbehavior, and guess what?  The collector's notes are what the Ministry goes by in investigating complaints!!!  Quite the system .....

Johnny knows his way around this system and has helped many, many of us regain our sanity.

Just my two cents ....



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In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Quiksilver Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29/July/2005 at 5:18am

The Ministry is a joke more or less. I just called them. Attempted to file a complaint against CollectCorp. Some girl answered the phone. Not sure if I caught her in a bad day or what. She took my info but was being short about it (i.e Address? Phone? Postal Code? etc but think of it more like Ben Stein in Ferris Buler's day off kind of tone)

I tried to ask her what my options were and what collection agencies could do. I told her that CollectCorp refused to accept payments to which she replied "send it anyway, sir!" she raised her voice a little as well WTF

So the Ministry appears to be a lost cause.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SolveStudentDebt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29/July/2005 at 6:02am

The ministry you are talking about recieves calls in mass amounts for the same reason you were calling. It is no excuse for them to be short-tempered  or frustrated with you. After all, they are the police that govern collection agencies. You would think that they would do their policing a little more effectively.

 These ministry reps are inundated whith these same complaints. That is why so many are over-looked and resolved without incident. The ministry is more concerned when a collector breaks rules that are more related to the laws.

When people call the ministry to complain that a particular collector refused to accept payments, they tend to get annoyed due to the high frequency rate of these types of grievances. Still, no excuse. They are the collection agency police. They cannot say it does not happen. so, that should be enough for them to simply pick up a phone and call the agency management - and at least tell the collector to frig off.

Johnny

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www.cfwgroup.ca/forum

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Observer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29/July/2005 at 2:54pm

Hey just a side note the Ministry in Ontario published stats as to the industries with the highest complaint levels.

From the Ont Gov website the words that stir your soul.

"Our Ministry vision is to be a responsive, innovative world leader in customer service and consumer protection by delivering quality products for a fair, safe, dynamic and informed Ontario marketplace."

 

Top 10 ONTARIO Consumer Complaints and Inquiries
Collection agencies 5,143
Home renovations 2,642
Motor vehicle repairs 1,778
New & used vehicle purchases 1,777
Home furnishings 1,389
Personal items 1,348
Credit reporting 1,241
Fitness & health clubs 1,025
Timeshares 829
Cell phones 604

 

Number of Agencies or Collectors with licenses suspended or withdrawn 0 PRICELESSLOL

 

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kwelmm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29/July/2005 at 3:10pm

  That's just too much!!!   Thanks for the good laugh...not surprising though...

Hey..I would volunteer to police some of those CAs...would just love it!!!  LOL  Can't promise I would follow my directives either.......HMMMM...seems fair to me...

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SolveStudentDebt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/August/2005 at 9:06am

5100 complaints.

The total number of licensed third party collectors in the entire country of Canada is less than 6300 - more than half of them in Ontario.

Nearly 2 ministerial complaints for each collector in the province of Ontario.

The results of these complaints would be something to see and read now. This shows that the ministry is cetianly not doing it's job. Go figure. They are the ones that are required to police the collection agencies.

Things that make you go Hmmmmm.

Johnny

www.cfwgroup.ca

www.cfwgroup.ca/forum

Solve Student Debt specializes in solutions for students and graduates in student loan default, and those at risk of defaulting.

solvestudentdebt.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Observer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/August/2005 at 9:54am

The way the complaint system works is very simple. With apologies to my ad friends who did the master card commercial.

You complain (see write the ministry's registrar) about say $25.00 in your time and effort.

They then send you a form, you fill it out and send it with your complaint again. About $300.00 in everyone's (Gov and You) time and effort.

They then send the complaint to the collection agency stating see the attached complaint please respond in 10 business days with a copy of your electronic notes from your collection system. Gov's time and effort about $300.00

Agency responds with "according to records and interview with the collector the debtor was abusive, etc fill in the blanks and our collector then proceeded to terminate the call to avoid further abuse from the debtor" (this has variations that I use to write up for the collection manager when he came to me..they needed a marketing spin)

The letter and electronic notes that are sanitized are then sent to the registrar's office. Who in turn then records it and sends a letter with the sanitized version that states. " This is the response from the collection agency, should you wish to pursue this matter further you must file" ....you get the point your in a Catch -22 nightmare.  Government time about $300.00

Gov and registrar having dealt with the problem on behalf of the collection agencies and shown to be doing something "PRICELESS !"

  

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SolveStudentDebt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/August/2005 at 10:18am

A large percentage of the complaints that are investigated are pretty much resolved without incident. This is what one ministry buddy of mine says.

Johnny

Solve Student Debt specializes in solutions for students and graduates in student loan default, and those at risk of defaulting.

solvestudentdebt.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Observer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/August/2005 at 10:24am

Of course their resolved without incident. Nothing gets beyond a certain point. Trust me I know what I speak of...been there, done that and in some cases still am!!! LOL

Let me get a hold of some the form letters that they send to complaining debtors. Seriously, you'll love it.

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Observer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/August/2005 at 10:31am
Johnny - by the way check this out http://www.credittoday.net/public/department26.cfm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SolveStudentDebt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/August/2005 at 10:32am

I have seen quite a few of them from all provincial ministries. I especially like the ones that the Alberta government uses.

 

Johnny

Solve Student Debt specializes in solutions for students and graduates in student loan default, and those at risk of defaulting.

solvestudentdebt.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SolveStudentDebt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/August/2005 at 10:40am

I will be in later this evening. Call me if you are free to do so.

Today is my birthday and I have a cake to chomp on. I will be free after 8 PM.

Johnny

Solve Student Debt specializes in solutions for students and graduates in student loan default, and those at risk of defaulting.

solvestudentdebt.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Observer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14/August/2005 at 10:53am

Happy Birthday Old Buddy, how old now 29???Wink

Last year my birthday cake looked like a prairie fire!

I am going out and will be back later let's setup for Monday nite say 8:00Pm...let's pursue the items we had discussed.

Once Again Happy Birthday

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Coconutty Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12/September/2005 at 3:49pm

  Hi All,

         This is the first time i have been on this site, however i am greatly surprised at how many other people are being harassed inregards to Student Loans. I personally don't have a loan, but my boyfriend did. He did neglect to pay it due to circumstances beyond his control. However the first call he recieved was at work from NCO and it was there BC location. We started making payment arrangments and they recieved payment within 2 weeks of there first phone call. So everything was fine for the first year, then this year right around the one year mark since the first call, we get another call, but this time from a man at NCO location in Montreal. We responded to his call right away, however he was insisting we try to pay the full amount and that "WE" needed to go and see about getting a personal loan to clear this up. At this point i am thinking "WE", what does this have to do with me. However over the next few days this agencie became nothing but a pain, call after call after call. Finally we initally made a payment arrangement, but then i realized, NO this is not right, we have rights. I looked into a few things and i being in collections myself no the LAWS. So i told my boyfriend to go to CREDIT COUNSELLING for the REGION we live in. He took my advice. Things worked out because not only are they helping to pay all of his debt, but the payment structure is low and won't put a hole in your wallet. The other advantage to doing this is that the collection agencies are no longer allowed to contact you directly, they have to go through your counseller if they have any concerns. No in certain cases, NOT student loans, but other debt they can stop the interest accuring to the outstanding amount. Now what has happened is we didn't hear from NCO over the past while, however just tonight i recieved a message asking us to contact.I am not sure why they are calling us again, so i called back leaving a message stating they have to forward all calls to the Credit Counselling Centre. So they main question still lies, why are they calling? Do they not realize he is in Credit Counselling yet?. Well if they do know my boyfriend has the right to call Credit Counselling and file a harrassement complaint, and he can send the Royal Bank where his Loan was originally borowwed a register complaint letter about the company that is dealing with the file regarding my boyfriends debt. Regardless if this money is owed we as Humans have RIGHTS, don't ever let an agencies scare tactic throw you. As long as you make some sort of payment arrangement no matter the amount, this has to be accepted and can not be pursued in a court of law. If it were to go to court it would be an open and shut case as the judge would state "This person does not denie that they have debt outstanding and they have made payment arrangements, there for what is the reasoning for bringing this to a court room". They have nothing as long as you comply with the law and know your rights.

GOOD LUCK to all of you out there

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SolveStudentDebt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12/September/2005 at 5:33pm

You must be referring to non-profit debt counselling schemes. Here is what you do not know:

1.       Non-profit credit counselling schemes (debt poolers) reap huge profits. They claim to only take a $25.00 admin fee. They also take more than 22% of the total debt that owe - and repay through them. So, if you have $20,000 in debt signed in, they take more than $4400.00 for themselves.

2.       Non-profit credit counseling schemes are recognized as nothing more than a bankruptcy proceeding, and carry the same nasty narratives on one’s credit report.

3.       They falsely advertise themselves to attract a specific consumer audience. They are not non-profit organizations regardless of how they much they would deny. If they were not for profit, then 100% of your money paid in to their organization would be applied to your debt. They call this 22% + commission their “fair share”. So, if you owe $20,000 in debt assigned to them, they take $4400.00 of it for themselves! It has been said that they even issue a receipt to the creditor(s) for 100% and they do not even receive 100% of the money you pay in! This is against the rules described in the Income Tax Act as far as I can see. The bank gets a get out of jail free card and free parking all in the same trip around the board.

Your boyfriend could be paying his debt(s) on his own according to what he can afford with no additional blemishes on his credit history WITHOUT debt-pooling. Also, find protection & safe passage, have intervention and a wide range of education and newly developed skills and ability to cope with financial stresses – all for less than $800.00.   

Johnny

 

Solve Student Debt specializes in solutions for students and graduates in student loan default, and those at risk of defaulting.

solvestudentdebt.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Staretz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21/September/2005 at 12:52am

Belated happy 20th birthday, Johnny

-Staretz, back from a month in the middle of the new mexico desert

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