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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Forum LockedHow to deal with old grant claims..

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    Posted: 24/August/2004 at 12:07pm
Thanks to BillW for this info.....

Limitation on OSAP overpayments

Dear Comrades,

Grant overpayment nightmares eh? Well much like the lot of you they called me out of the blue over 10 years after the fact. The fact is the statues of limitations on OSAP (which falls under the Canada Student Loans Act) is 6 years! Check out the link below or punch up CSLA under google.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/gover nment/C-28/C-28_4/90218b-2E.html
Now should you wish to dispute this, contact the people at the Collection Management Unit, at the link below. I do however suggest that once they have contacted you, try sending a letter from a lawyer or paralegal (they are cheaper and just as efficent). First of all to inform you of your rights, secondly they will take you seriously.

http://www.pace.gov.on.ca/paceweb/owa/intergtd_en.disp_offic e?IN_UNIT_ID=UNT0003895&IN_GTD_SERVICE=GTD
Now the manager's name is Vijay, who is a very angry and unpleasant individual, I suggest try dealing with his manager, who you can find on the link.

I wish you all luck, because like the most of you I went through the injustice, verbal abuse and frustration of trying to cooperate with our government, and what for? An error they made?!




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote amidoneyet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03/December/2004 at 11:59am

I just found out from Canada Revenue Agency that I owe an OSAP loan that's over 10 years old. The lien was put on my income tax filings as of November this year, though I graduated in 1995.  Can they do that if the statute of limitations is 6 years??

I paid off my student loan through collections a few years ago, and thought it was for my entire student loan. (now I'm thinking I overpaid on the federal portion!)

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote eshelton Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03/December/2004 at 1:19pm

Whoa!  Did you acknowledge you owe this money? 

If not, that is a really good question.  Better let Johnny answer that one. 

"A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." - Jean Chretien
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hami Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/February/2005 at 1:52pm

I posted in the other thread above but thought I should mention it here also.  My wife is being taken to small claims court for her so called grant overpayment from 1992, I received the small claims document from a lady at our door today.

  I'm going to contact our MP on this but does anyone have any suggestions on what to do next, I heard we have to file a defence claim now but I don't even know how.  I probably should go see a lawer or para at this point, but I'm just totally blown away by this.  I never thought they would even try, it's been 5-6mths since they last tried calling my wife.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BigFatherA Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18/February/2005 at 7:34pm
Make sure it is a small claims court document (check with your local court clerk) and if it is file your defense claim (the form should be included with a real court claim). 

There is a complete battery of defense strategies you can use if you are going to court, including stat bar!  One person to consult would be Johnny at the CFWG (see site main page). 

Just make sure that is real court document.  It would have the court listed on the claim form, and would have the defense claim form included, with instructions on where to return the form.  Read over the entire document!  Many collection agencies send out "official looking" documents that are semantically null.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lazzula Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01/July/2005 at 8:45am

Hi all,  New to this forum, very enlightening and informative. My concerns are about Grant Over Awards, which to me is an oxymoron, a grant is a "gift" and when you recieve a gift it does not usually come with strings attached. Since when has a gift ever been too big? You're not worthy, give it back.

When I applied for a student loan to cover the cost of tuition, that is all I applied for.  I did not apply for the Canada Study Grant, or the  Loan relief benefit.  My research into these items informed me that "You need not apply for these grants." 

I received a NOTICE stating that my Canada Student Loan had been approved and that I was eligible to receive these other "Grants".  Who made this decision I do not know, the notice was not signed.

The only "Terms" attached to these grants was something like "if you do not complete this year of study, you will be required to  repay the full amount of the benefit." This also was not signed as so I feel is also not a contract.

I completed my year of study in 2002, and in 2004 I was informed by  Metropolitain Credit Adjusters that I owed Alberta Learning the Grant funding back due to an income reassessment, which I myself had filed in 2002, which showed a change in imy income during my "period of study"  Alberta Learning CONTINUED to fund me anyway, even after receiving and acknowledging my "Application for Reassessment" 

How can an organization ask for the return of a gift, with interest?  There was never a "Contract" or "Terms" or "Repayment Schedule" attached to the monetary gift from Alberta Learning.  These grants are not Loans.  I am dutifully paying back since March 2003 the Canada Student Loan I received as per the "Contract, Terms and Repayment Schedule" they sent me. 

I refuse to return a much appreciated gift 3 years after I recieved it.

To the collectors who call me about this "alleged Debt"  I say "What Debt" I have never acknowledged it, never made a payment, and have always said that it is Alberta Learnings mismanagement and incompetence that created their debt, not mine. 

I did not determine myself eligible for these Grants, they did, I did not ask for these Grants, they gave them to me.  I accepted them, yes and I completed my studies in Business Admin.  I have an excellent job, and I am able to maintain my monthly payments for the CSL but I refuse to return the grant a.ka. "gift" they gave me. 

My alleged debt has now moved on to the Nor-don Collection Network Inc.  Are they bigger and scarier than Metropolitan Financial? Should I be worried?  I will never acknowledge this alleged debt, my Credit Score from Equifax is 728 and Transunion is 769, and there is nothing on either that indicates a debt in collection, what gives?

Thanks for this excellent place to pose my questions and vent.

Lazzula

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote eshelton Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01/July/2005 at 8:55am
I'd like to commend you on the way you have questioned this grant.  And you have not taken the word of a collection agency, and have instead come here. 

I think this is a very intersting predicament.  It looks like Metropolitan is a collection agency, and when they couldn't collect because you are obviously well informed, they must have simply passed it back to the governement who them simply gave it to another collection agency, namely Nordon. 

Johnny would probably be best to answer this.  I would think, given my limited legal knowledge, that it would be unfair of them to go after you for a mistake they made in the past. 
"A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." - Jean Chretien
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lazzula Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01/July/2005 at 12:11pm

Thanks for the postive view,  another thing that bothers me about this attempt to have me return these grants, in 2003 I received a T4A slip containing the grant & benefit amounts which I included in my income tax for the 2002 tax year as a taxable income. 

How can they ask an individual  to return these amounts when it has be declared as taxable income for the year?  And if an individual does return it, do they need to refile and amend that taxation year's return? 

This would of course reduce the amount of income tax owing for that year because their Net income would be reduced and the individual would then recieve a larger tax refund.  Wouldn't it? This is very Catch 22!

Lazzula

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