I
just want to say a great big thanks to John at CFW for all his help
with my student loan problems. He is such a wonderful and caring
guy. He took the time to help calm my fears, explain to me what
was going on, and what he could do to help me. And help me he did.
Here's my story. Maybe someone else reading it can see that
*anyone* can be helped, even if you no longer living in Canada.
I went to community college (and got the student loans in
Ontario) and graduated in December 1995. I filed for deferrals for paying back
the student loans because I was starting up a new business immediately after
graduating and didn't have the money to make the rather large payments they
wanted. When Scotiabank moved their student loans to a
single, centralized location, they lost my paperwork. I spent the next two years
being bounced back and forth between Scotiabank and other agencies, trying to
find out what I was supposed to do. In early 1999, I moved to
the US and got married. In July 1999, I was contacted by credit agencies about
the Canada and Ontario student loans, and my husband and I paid those
off. In April of 2005, I got a phone call from
someone claiming to be calling on behalf of Scotiabank, saying I still owed
money, with some story about the unsecured portion of the student loans. The
amount he claimed I owe was less than $5000, if you include the "fees and
interest".
Of course, I'd never heard anything about an "unsecured portion" of the student loans.
A couple days later, the guy called again April 19 and said, when I
mentioned the Fair Collections Act (because my husband wants him to supply proof
that I do, indeed, owe the money), that it doesn't apply to him because it's a
Canadian debt, despite the fact I'm a legal US resident (got my green card and
everything).
(And just so everyone reading knows, this is a bunch of hooey.
The Patriot Act and banking regulations and agreements signed between
Canada and the US require them to follow the laws of the place where
the person they're trying to collect from resides. So if they
tell you they don't have to follows the laws of the nation where you
reside, they're lying.)
Then, after that phone call where I said we wanted to see proof I
owed the money, I received another another phone call - on a Saturday
morning no less - from a man who shall not be named in this post. He
was very confrontational and verbally abusive, accusing me of lying
about not receiving a letter from them. He implied that he did not have
to provide me with any proof that I owed them the money, said it was a
Canadian debt and did not have to follow the laws of the US when trying
to collect the money. And then, when I told him it was on a lawyer's
advice that all further communcations be in writing, he accused me of
trying to take the easy way out, and then got even more verbally
abusive. He asked me if I acknowledge I owed
the money. I said no. He then asked my if I was denying I got a student loan. I
said no, I'm not denying I got a student loan, I am denying I owed the Bank of
Nova Scotia money because I paid off the creditors who came after me before
about the federal and provincial portions of my loan. I told him I was never
told the loans would be split into three parts when the Bank of Nova Scotia put
my loan into default by losing my paperwork. When he asked me what paperwork, I
took a deep breath to control my temper and said that this was annoying. At was
at that point where he started becoming abusive. I then hung up because he was
yelling at the top of his lungs at me and I didn't want to deal with it if he
was like that. Moments later, there was another phone call from an Ontario phone
number (Toronto area code). We didn't answer the phone, so I have no idea who was
calling but I suspect it was that guy and he wanted to yell at me some more. Also, at no
time have they ever told me what company they were calling from, and my attempts
to find out who they were by doing a reverse look-up online have
failed. Previous to this, we've been getting daily calls from
an "out of area" phone number (according to our caller id), most of which have
either been dead air or a hang up until this morning.
After that abusive phone call, I contacted CFW. Within a matter
of hours, I received an email back from John, saying he'd be willing to
help us.
And he did.
Once I hired him, the phone calls stopped. I received only one
letter from CBCL in July, but that was the extent of them harassing me.
With the documentation John was able to get, he proved my loan was
statues barred, and did it within the six months of our original
agreement. And not only that, he's providing me with a letter to
use should the bank or the collection agency contact me again. If
the bank or their agencies start calling me again, I can call him again
for help.
If the banks and the collection agencies are coming after you for old
loans, even if you're no longer living in Canada, follow my advice and
contact CFW. I can't say enough good things about John. He
was able to take all the worry and stress from the situation away from
me, and use his vast experience to help.
Thank you, John!
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