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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breezley74 View Drop Down
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Joined: 03/June/2004
Location: United States
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote breezley74 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Bank of Montreal Nightmare
    Posted: 03/June/2004 at 5:21am

I have been a customer of the Bank of Montreal for 5 years.  In May 1998 I secured a Line of Credit (Brain Money) to attend the Information Technology Institute in Halifax, NC.  After graduation in January 1999 I relocated to Charlotte, NC USA. I should add at this point that I regularly deal with 3 Canadian banks: Bank of Montreal, CIBC, and Royal Bank.  Of those 3 the only bank I have ever had a problem with is Bank of Montreal.  Upon locating to the United States, it became apparent that the timeliness of the statements sent out for payments for my line of credit was going to be a problem.   I have tried 3 different ways to make payments and the payment center is unable to deal with any of these making my life as customer miserable.In the beginning I would wait to receive my statement from BOM and then immediately write a check and mail it the same day.  However, the statement was initially mailed from BOM without consideration that they were sending it to a customer in the United States, taking it twice as long to get to me.  Adding in the turn around time in the mail, the payments were late.  People from the payment center would start calling looking for payments that I sent already.  That was quite annoying.  I tried explaining that to anyone who would listen, the people at the other end of the phone at the number on my statement, my local branch in Corner Brook NF.  I asked if they could send me the statement earlier so to take in consideration I am in the United States.  I was told that was not an option.  So then I started paying my payments on the 15th of the month and not the 30th.  So that I made sure they got there on time.  This was also a problem.  Because any payment made 10 days outside the payment date (doesn’t matter if its more than 10days before it’s due!!) is considered not paid.  So they were calling again!!!! Ok, so at this point I’m asking for the payment center to work with me.  I don’t’ want to not pay on time but I need some help since I am in the US.  It was suggested I send post-dated checks.  I do this with CIBC and have been for 5 years and they have been fantastic about it by the way.  I started doing this. (**Note here that every time I call the payment center # I a get a different answer on wither this is ok or not.  Once I actually got the response you can if you want but we don’t take responsibly if they are not cashed on time.  What kind of business practice is that?!!?!?) Here is where I have encountered the poor service, problems, lack of communication and more passing of the buck that I’ve ever seen.  Every 12 months there is a problem. Someone cashes checks for 2 or 3 of the months instead of just one month. I routinely send 3 checks for 3 months worth of payments.  Each check is post dated, a letter is attached saying that they are to be applied to my account at the applicable dates.  Sometimes there are even sticky notes on the checks pointing to the date.  I’ve actually had them cashed once for the wrong month and had the sticky note still on it!!!!!  Today, on checking my checking account balance I was surprised to discover that oh yes, yet again, they have messed up.  They have cashed May and Junes payment on June 1st. Ok, so I call the Phone # on my statement.  She can’t do anything for me she says, she’s in a hurry to get me off the phone and calling telephone banking.  I can’t call telephone banking because I don’t actually have a BOM bank account.  I have a line of credit and now the line of credit people are telling me they can’t fix their mistake.  I’m not asking for the money back, I’m asking that you move the date of the payment being made till the end of the month so that I don’t have to have you calling looking for another payment June 30th - because you’re not getting one. She’s in a hurry to get me off the phone. She wants me to call Telephone banking.  Well telephone banking requires a bank account with BOM – I don’t have one I have a line of credit.  At this point I call my local branch in NF.  My personal banker no longer works there.. and I describe my situation and they say someone get back to you by the end of the day with something. Though they seem unsure what they can actually do for me.  Is no one responsible for this type of problem?Not only does that cause me great personal distress financially, but added to that is the run around I got when phoning BOM.  If you don’t pay on time you wait five minutes and someone is on the phone demanding to know where the money is, if  they mess up you can’t find anyone who will step up and take responsibility and fix the problem.  Banks are in business because of their customers, like any business they depend on their customers being satisfied to continue business.  In my personal experience, the Bank of Montreal – specifically those individuals working for line of credit are by far the worse customer service and banking professionals I have ever encountered.  I am not attempting not to pay, I am not making late payments because I don’t have to funds to pay, I am making every possible attempt to be a good customer. What I have encountered is a group of people who don’t give a rats behind about that, and who are actually seemingly trying to work against me and make getting their payments harder.  At this point, I’m not sending another post dated check and if its late its late.  I won’t be pleasant to anyone on the phone.  What I would like to see is some accountability in the payment processing department for this error and someone step up to the plate I can fix this for you.  Since WE messed up.

 

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