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Help! CSL Resurface After 97 Bankruptcy?

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Topic: Help! CSL Resurface After 97 Bankruptcy?
Posted By: Lisa
Subject: Help! CSL Resurface After 97 Bankruptcy?
Date Posted: 04/January/2005 at 8:47pm

If anyone could offer some advise on this one, I'd really appreciate it.  I have been researching this for over a year now and I'm not getting anywhere with it (sorry, its a bit long).

My husband filed for bankruptcy in 1997, two years after withdrawing from school in the US (he's Canadian).  Since he ceased to be a student greater than two years prior to filing for bankruptcy he was dischargeable under Paragraph 178(1)(g) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.  As a result, his Canada Student Loan was included on his Statement of Affairs of Non-Business Bankrupt (which means these are the debts that go away!).  The bankruptcy was done, signed by the courts and the CSL debt collectors stopped harassing him.  Then almost 7 years later, he received a notice from the HRDC stating that he still owes his Canada Student Loan.  The very one that was included on his statement of affairs..  Except now its $7,000 higher with accumulated interest.  The collection agency started brutally harassing him shortly thereafter and now my husband's been reliving the same nightmare he experienced over 8 years ago.  Its been going on for over a year now and the stress its causing him right now is unbearable.

After dozens upon dozens of phone calls and letters, I have still not received a single reply in writing.  It has taken over a year for me to find out that the CSL Centre has the wrong study end date.  Because he withdrew from school before the end of the semester they gave him funds for (long story) and they claim he did not notify CSL that he did this at that time, they are not going to change the study end date they have on record which makes it look like he wasn't out of school for 2 years before filing for bankruptcy.  We have even sent the paperwork from the University with the details of his study period and when he withdrew to HRDC, CSL and the collection agency along with legal bankruptcy papers!  Its all in black and white that this debt is discharged, how can someone at CSL just simply say "no, its not a dischargeable debt", not put any of that in writing and still have more power over all of the paperwork (which includes a LEGAL DOCUMENT??!!) I've sent to everyone.   I think 7 years is an unreasonable time period to wait and make any claims of any problems with this discharged debt.  Especially considering CSL was notified of the bankruptcy in 1997 and their actions were consistent with all other creditors notified on the Statement of Affairs; they ceased pursuing collection of the debt.

Now they simply refuse to address this matter.

I am disgusted to see that the system has gotten even worse since we completed school and I'm very sorry for all of you experiencing difficulties with CSL.  Since bankruptcy has been taken away from helpless students, they have nowhere to turn and can very easily become victimized.  But look at this situation, even with somewhere to turn, they still had the power to victimize my husband.

Any advise would be appreciated.  Its looks like its probably going to have to be a legal matter though.  I think harassment is an understatement and I'll certainly enquire about making a claim. 




Replies:
Posted By: administrator
Date Posted: 05/January/2005 at 7:55am

Lisa,
The only person I know who can deal with this effectively would be Johnny at CFW group. He has the ability to get through the red tape and get things done. If you go to a lawyer, you'll have to educate the lawyer - at their rate. Been there done that myself.

John charges a fee, but its well worth it.... give him a call at least to get info...

Mark


Posted By: Lisa
Date Posted: 05/January/2005 at 3:58pm

Thanks a bunch!  I checked out his website and I will definitely give him a call.  Needless to say, I think we're in for an ugly fight and I'll post any information that may be helpful to anyone else that may be fighting the government.



Posted By: CARGO1
Date Posted: 05/January/2005 at 4:07pm

if you involve john there will be no fight...

 

 

troy



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              ����The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.


Posted By: momof2
Date Posted: 05/January/2005 at 5:18pm

lisa

the government likes to make things as difficult as possible so many people will simply give up and take them at their word.  it sounds like you recieved your notification that there was still money owing just under the point hwere it would have been considered stats barred. 

i strongly urge you to contact john and see what he can do for you.  yes he charges a fee, however, he has many years of experience in dealing with these matters and the man gets results.  email him some details and see what he says.

as troy said, if john gets involved, there will be no fight ( on your part).  and he will get things done much faster than the average person can as he knows who to talk to.

good luck and keep us posted



-------------
professionals built the titanic but amateurs built the ark...


Posted By: Lisa
Date Posted: 05/January/2005 at 5:50pm

Thanks a bunch everyone.  It just feels better knowing there is someone out there that can help.  The trustee who took care of this matter doesn't even want to help.  Someone from his office told us we would probably have to bring the matter in front of the courts and ask for absolute discharge.

Just curious, has anyone ever succeeded in filing a harrassment claim against the CSL?  Or collection agencies?



Posted By: polyhymnia61
Date Posted: 06/January/2005 at 1:43am

Oh, Lisa! I wish you the best!! I just saw when you joined this forum -- you've lived with this burden since at least AUGUST???? Oh, lordy, girl! Call Johnny yesterday!!!

Then treat yourself (preferably with hubby) to a bubble bath, lots of candles, your favourite music, and some bon bons...be good to yourself! You deserve it after all these months!!!

Poly
(no advice, just a LOT of empathy)



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Home is where you are allowed to prosper.


Posted By: hunter
Date Posted: 06/January/2005 at 11:01am
Lisa

I don't know of anyone filing a harassment charge against collection agents, but I did file a complaint with a collector from Nordon to the consumer protection branch.

I had names, dates, and times, everything was documented.

And the collection agents lied up and down and said that they were not excessively calling me or my workplace, and that they would never threaten a child that her auntie was going to be jailed if she did not tell them my address and phone number.

SO, really what would be the point in complaining anyway.

Nothing is ever done about it.
It is your word against the world.


Posted By: Islander
Date Posted: 06/January/2005 at 1:52pm

File the complaint. The more you throw, the better chance that some will stick.

 



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What? Me, worry?
Alfred E Newman


Posted By: hunter
Date Posted: 10/January/2005 at 9:52am
Yes, by all means file the complaint.
Just don't except much to be done about it.
But at least there will be documentation that you did complain, and maybe after so many complaints from different people, something just might be done.

Good luck


Posted By: sterling
Date Posted: 16/May/2005 at 4:17pm
Ive been reviewing alot of these complaints,and I have been getting calls left, right and center from CBV collection agency on $35,000 in student loans. Talk about overwhelmed, I just told her to bite me. Well, that severely pissed her off and that is when the threats came in. Im a single parent with four children and they had the nerve to ask me to use my childtax to pay this debt. I told her to send me the paper work and I could feed that to my kids. Nasty, she said they would take everything I made and give me five hundred dollars and give my kids each one hundred dollars a month until this debt was paid. Well, that threw me for a loop. Im ready to quite my job and go back on welfare. I have car payments and bills I have to pay or I will be in more debt than I can handle. I need some advice, please


Posted By: Blue.
Date Posted: 17/May/2005 at 1:23am

call John at CFW.

She (the collection agent) can't dictate to you what they can and cannot take of your income. For all intents and purposes, she's a droid doing the dirty work. You can try filling out the financial questionnaire, which should show them that you're poorer than they think you are, and might get them off your back. They pretty much can't refuse anything you offer to send them.



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What you are obsessing about is a debt. It's a loan. It's business. It's money. It contains no moral baggage. You are a decent, kind, loving and moral human being.
--Islander


Posted By: Lisa
Date Posted: 17/May/2005 at 7:00am

Good News everyone.  Our problem is actually GONE.  This site has helped my husband's situation 100%.  I heard back from David Cogliati's office (see more info on this below) and they looked into his situation and fixed the error at the government's end.  They changed the study end date in the government's records to the correct date which has put everything back to where it was supposed to be - the debt is included in the bankruptcy.

Let me explain a little further.  When I first joined this site, they had a posting up asking everyone to submit their CSL horror story because they were all going to be forwarded to the government.  So I did.  Then a while later I received an email from Mr. Cogliati's office saying they didn't have enough info to look into the issue (seemed like a generic letter that went to everyone) so I replied giving all of my husband's personal details they requested.  I didn't think about this again because I just assumed it was a dead end and in the meantime I listened to the suggestions above and contacted Johnny at CFW group.  He was great to talk to, he was VERY knowledgeable and he was going to help me.  I sent him a bunch of info and he was going to return the paperwork to me to sign up for his help but before this happened, a very pleasant person from Mr. Cogliati's office called me and informed me that they took care of this for us (I just starting crying because I couldn't believe it!). 

So this website here has been the best.  There is not a better source out there.  Thanks so very much.

I'd like to pass on a few things I did learn in this process.

Its important that you don't acknowledge the debt while you try to communicate with these guys.  So there is a lot of special wording and things you have to do and NOT do.  For example, filling out the financial questionaire acknowledges the debt.  Luckily I didn't do that but I did write tonnes of letters to everyone because there was a mistake at the government's end and no one was willing to help.  Johnny advised me that I should have put at the top of the letter "Without Prejudice" so nothing I said in the letters could be used against me.  Meaning if I said something that acknowledged the debt, then it couldn't be used against me because I put "Without Prejudice" at the top (which I DID NOT do at all because I had no idea about this, I spoke to him at the end of this whole thing).

Then and most importantly - don't do what I did and do the dance with the CSL and the collection agencies on your own.  All of the letters and discussions with them was a complete waste of my time and I could have wrecked everything if the government had still refused to change the study end date.  I researched my butt off and still did a lot of things wrong.  You seriously have to get a third party involved in the government to help you do the dance with them.  Its not going to go away on its own.  You have to call Johnny at the CFW Group.  One of the girls that was calling from the collection agency even recommended him (and noted that she could get in trouble for doing that).  Why would you make any kind of arrangements with the collection agency, they are going to make you pay the highest amounts possible because its in their best interest to get the most money out of you.  You get Johnny in your corner and you have someone with your best interests in mind up against the government.

Johnny's website is http://www.cfwgroup.ca - www.cfwgroup.ca

Mr. Cogliati is the Director General at the Canada Student Loan Program and his office is the one who actually fixed this problem.   But I didn't write to him directly and would not suggest you do it.  I mentioned above, this website forwarded all of our letters to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, the Honourable Joe Volpe and he had asked Mr. Cogliati's office to reply.  So that was a very effective thing you guys did.

If I knew what I know today and had to do it all over again, I would have made sure I did everything through Johnny.  It would have been gone years ago and there is just way too many ways to make things worse when it comes to the government (trust me, I'm in the business of dealing with the government every day - taxes - thats why I thought I could do this on my own).  Like I said before, if they had refused to make the change and all of my correspondences I did on my own acknowledged the debt (it would have just taken one word) then I would have been screwed.

Hope this info in helpful (sorry its so long). 

Thanks for all of the advise and for creating such a helpful website.

Lisa



Posted By: Murphy1
Date Posted: 20/July/2005 at 10:49am
I was contacted by a collection agency two years ago about my provincial student loan. I went bankrupt in 98 and assumed, since no one contacted me, that the student loan was included.

CBV was very rude and out of line and my employer had to call them to get them to stop harassing me. This was six months after I started paying them.

Now I hardly ever hear from them except when they run out of cheques.

Here's my problem, CBV keeps promising to send me a statement about what I owe and what's been paid but haven't.

I recently acquired my credit report from Equifax and discovered that it still shows the original debt with no payments received. CBV says that's what it'll look like on my credit report until the whole thing is paid off. (My previous experience showed when debt was owed a credit rating was applied when there was a regular payment made) Then they told me that I've only paid $1400, (I've paid $1550) and my debt load has only been reduced by $600. I only owed $2700. Even at prime plus one this seems to not compute.

Furthermore, I owed $295 in a Canada student loan which is also outstanding. (what's bugging me is that I haven't moved since I went bankrupt so why didn't anyone call me before the interst accumulated?) God knows what it is now with interest but as I have no documentation on it I'm having trouble paying it. I phoned the Royal Bank and they said they wouldn't take my money and contact Equifax unless I produce documentation. All I have is the Equifax report. Any ideas on how to fix my credit?


Posted By: SolveStudentDebt
Date Posted: 20/July/2005 at 11:41am

 

 Become informed. Awareness and financial skills development will fix much of your credit problems.

 How does one acquire financial skills? By becoming aware. Ask questions and be specific. It is that simple. If you are able to embrace this knowledge and navigate yourself with it, youa re on your way.

 Johnny

http://www.cfwgroup.ca - www.cfwgroup.ca

http://www.cfwgroup.ca/forum - www.cfwgroup.ca/forum

 



Posted By: countrygirl2094
Date Posted: 12/December/2005 at 8:06am

Lisa,  your story is almost identical to mine, bankruptcy in 99, but I was out of school since 93.......csl was included in my statement of affairs, so was my osl........they stopped bothering me for years........then all of a  sudden they begin to ask for money again.  I called my bankruptcy comp. they say don't worry about it, it was included........but they still continue to send letters.    I finally call hrdc, and they tell me that it was not included, cannot be.    What if I may ask is the reason yours was included after all your battles?  I thought it was the ten year rule.....had to  be ten years out of school before you could include it in your bankruptcy? Did I miss something in your story?   Just curious, because if my csl should have been included, I will be calling Johnny asap.

 

 



Posted By: Lisa
Date Posted: 12/December/2005 at 8:32am

Hi Country Girl:

Chris filed for bankruptcy at the end of 1997 when you had to be out of school for only 2 years.  At the very beginning of 1998 the rule changed and you had to be out of school for 10 years for it to be included on the statement of affairs.  My husband was out of school for over 2 years but CSL's records were incorrect and did not reflect the correct study end date for him and therefore they were showing that he was out of school less than 2 years.

I would call Johnny because he seems to be the only one that can get answers or results when dealing with this level of government. 

Good luck.

Lisa



Posted By: countrygirl2094
Date Posted: 12/December/2005 at 8:54am
Well that explains it, lol, I went bankrupt in 1999.  Thank you for clarifying that for me.  Unfortunately, at this point, there is nothing Johnny can help me with at the moment.  I just thought that I had missed something along the way, where my csl maybe should have been included in my bankruptcy. 



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