Well, my name is Dave, and I'm a student debtor.
For that matter, I'm not a very conscientious one. Since graduating I have made very few payments on my borrowed moneys. This past year in particular I have made no payments at all. I am not really that proud of this... suffice to say a combination of personal and financial dramas has put me in a position where meeting ends on a monthly basis hasn't been all that feasible.
That said, I do intend to pay this money back.. in the future.
For now? I am unemployed.
I am not only unemployed, I am flat broke. I have no possessions. No car, no house. Very few clothes... a few boxxes of old books, that's it.
I've also been a non-resident in Canada for the last couple of years.
Last October or so I arrived back in Canada to visit some friends and ailing relatives. Sure enough, after a couple of weeks back, the phone calls started coming. Seems my student debts had defaulted and were in collection by Total Credit Recovery, based out of Toronto.
Well, the young lady, (who identified herself as being 'from the government' lit into me... the money was due NOW, HRDC was gonna git me, yadda yadda.
- She refused an offer of a partial 500 dollar payment.
- She emphasized the immorality of my wicked ways.
- She asked me how much I weighed.
- She asked me my astrological sign.
- She refused to send me any information in the mail.
- She gave me one day to come up with the full amount.
Ha.
Phone call number two.
Same lady again ('Brienne').
- Was pushing me to make a statement of non-compliance.
(This really bugs me. Collection agents will put words in your mouth and ask you to affirm or deny it, then assume either answer plugs into a binary scripted result. I had to tell her 'look, please don't tell me what I mean to say, instead let me say something'.)
- Interrupted me repeatedly.
- Refused to put me in touch with her supervisor.
- Continued to emphasize the horrendous immorality of my non-compliance.
- Finally I swore at her and hung up on her. Sigh.
Phone call 3
The next day, AM.
Brienne calls. Her supervisor wants to speak to me.
- Reasonably polite, he asks me about my situation.
- He apologizes that Brienne doesn't understand the situation fully. Would I fill out a questionnaire if they mailed it to me?
- I say sure. I emphasize I am willing to cooperate and pay my account when I have the means to do so.
Following friday, a questionnaire arrives in the mail. It details how I'm expected to pay 450 bucks a month interest on a 13000 dollar loan. I obviously have some questions about this.
Monday morning, Brienne calls... phone call 4.
-She wants to know if her supervisor told me what was happening with my account.
-I respond by asking her why I'm doing her job for her.
-She hangs up.
I call her supervisor and leave a message saying I don't want her to call me ever again, to find another agent to take my case.
A week passes.
The following monday, phone call 5.
It's Brienne.
-Wants to know where the questionnaire is.
-Won't let me get a word in edgewise.
-Says she 'doesn't care anymore' if I pay the debt or not.
I hang up, call back TCR's main office, ask for the supervisor. I tell him explicitly to take Brienne off my case immediately if they expected any cooperation from me.
Within 3 minutes I'm speaking to a much more mild-mannered and pleasant person (whose name doesn't stick with me... something to be said for being a barking dog I guess). He takes my information, gives me his extension. Asks if I can make a payment. I say no. I tell him maybe by mid-February of next year, as I am working on lining up a contract that will allow me to make some financial headway finally. He says he understands and will do his best to keep the file with the agency so HRDC doesn't file a judgement against me in the meantime.
We shake virtual hands and he signs off.
One week later... that'd be today... I get a call from 'Shareena' from TCR.
-She wants an immediate payment.
-She lectures me about the immorality of owing what I owe.
-She cuts me off in mid-sentence to start yammering at me.
-She has no prior knowledge of any previous TCR agent contacting me.
-I swear a blue streak up and down and hang up the phone.
She calls me back immediately to scream and rant that I'll be hearing her voice three times a day, and I won't think she's so funny then... then she hangs up.
Has anyone given any thought to a class-action lawsuit against some of these jerks?