Great News!!

Received a letter with my monthly CSL (in default- was in collections but after paying over half its back with the govt)..


"Effective June 2009, the CRA will no longer be using the services or private collection agencies (PCAs) to collect defaulted Canada Student Loans (CSL) debts. All defaulted CSLs will be collected by the CRA....."

At least you can complain if you're being abused by the Govt.

I think this is a good thing!

Since my loan was returned to the govt from collections I haven't heard from them once. I make payments they cash them.

Why do you think its going to be worse?

Been a while since I have been posting anything here, but I do agree with paulaffleck and Johnny that things could get nastier. After all, you have the close affiliation of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency working directly side by side without the notorious middle man known as the collection agency.

Anyhow, I got the very same letter myself. Right now, I cannot allow a situation to occur where my bank account could be potentially seized and/or a garnishment be attached to my wages. That is the unfortunate reality - CRA knows your bank account information because you need a SIN # to sign up for a bank account and they know where you work.

Right now, I am in great situation with my credit score going up because I am rebuilding my credit slowly through a couple small lines of credit and a new car bought last year - a Hyundai Accent (nothing luxurious by any means) whose payments come out of my bank account automatically every two weeks. This is the only way I think that I can get my credit re-established enough in the foreseeable future to enable me to possibly take out a low interest loan with lower payments to retire this debt.

The rest of my take home pay does not allow hardly any disposable income - afterall, I live in cowtown (Calgary) where living costs have skyrocketed since moving here from Newfoundland in 2005. I basically went from getting no gainful employment such as dead end minimum wage jobs, EI, or social assistance for the first 6 years after leaving school and then moved to Alberta and traded one set of problems for another: Lots of jobs, but still nothing in my field meaning that I had to settle for work paying significantly less than $20.00 an hour. That salary would be fine in Newfoundland, but out here in Alberta it isn't. I cannot do very physically demanding work, that could pay more, and nor can I take a second job, due to having a sleep disorder that I have had for more than a decade which tires me out almost every single day.

Thus, I have not found a way to win - to get ahead. I move to Alberta for the jobs only to find virtually all of my take-home pay going towards the essentials of life. My wife makes about the same as I do, but she has other obligations too that she had before we met and got married. Her salary cannot help me out at all. We had to get a car that was cheap, affordable, and reliable and we somehow were able to finance it with Zero % and Zero Down. I do not want everything that my wife and I fought for these last 3.5 years since I moved to Alberta to be all for not due to my bank account being seized and/or my wages being garnished.

I want to pay off my pesky student loans, but no matter what I have tried to do, I am powerless to do anything about it. Once my credit becomes becomes better established, and have more collateral and/or better paying work, I want to retire this annoying fungus.

I have one message for those lacky MP's, and Stephen Harper's constituency office which is in Calgary, that the gloves are off if I get a fast one pulled on me without me knowing it. In other words, there better be a chance for me to plead my case in court should this bridge  need crossing. Even if I get taken into court and have fully disclosed any pending action against me, and lose, the gloves are off again also.

I will do everything I can, that is within my legal limits, to make an example of the politicians who have done nothing to fix a broken and corrupt system that is ruining more people's lives than they are helping. Right now, I am not going to be too, too alarmed. But my guard will be watching this carefully.

Not saying that paulaffleck's remarks do not have any truth to them, but for Johnny and Mark here is the million dollar question: What actions can HRSDC & CRA execute and what are the procedures that they have to follow? I think I already know, but I want to hear it from those who have tons of experience with matters like these - no offense intended.

I have been anxiously waiting to see if anyone might have an answer to amberarm23's question too.

Does CSL actually have the right to seize money from your bank account? How does that even work?

I realize the CRA knows where you have bank accounts due to SIN information. But do they have the right to see your banking activity and balances? And do they take other information into consideration first before making the decision to take action against you, such as how much income you are earning?

Does anyone know if this applies to provincial student loans? ie. OSL.