What I want to know is, why do you want them to KISS your black ass? Do you want them to wear ridiculous makeup and spit blood and dangle their unnaturally long tongues on your black ass, and then to sell a lot of merchandise?
Away from your asses for a moment, there is a magic cure for stopping the agency from calling you at work.
You need to clearly tell them “I am not allowed to receive personal calls at work, please call me at home only”.
After that, they cannot under any circumstances call you at your work -and they know it.
I’d follow that up with a one line written notification as well. Keep a copy for yourself.
Oh, and for the record, I’m Canadian too, so I know that line will work on Canadian agencies.
Actually, she needs to go further than this. She needs to also state explicitly that she is aware of her rights under the law and that she will pursue those rights if the collecter continues to call her at work. Just saying that taking the call violates company policy might not do it (though it should) – debt collectors prey on ignorance of the law.
In the United States, debt collection is regulated under the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act. The principal agency for enforcement is the FTC. The individual state governments also sometimes provide heightened rights to debtors; for example, Texas has the Texas Debt Collection Act and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Find out the name of whatever act in Canada regulates debt collection so you can say it when the collector calls. That way he’ll know you understand your rights. You can presumably find that out from the Canadian equivelant of the FTC, either by calling or by checking out their web page. Here is a page I found by Googling.
NGNL is right, though. At least under US law, a debt collector cannot call you at work if they have reason to believe your employer forbids that type of communication. I’d wager Canada is the same.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a Canadian lawyer, and know next to nothing about Canadian law. You also aren’t my client, and this does not constitute legal advice. I am only pointing you to resources you can use on your own. If you need legal advice, please consult a licensed Canadian attorney.
So glad to know that there are informed Canadian citizen on SDMB. Thanks for all the advice.
I hope I got it resolved. I called the office and spoke to the supervisor who proceeded to tell me that because that particular agent is new to the country, from India, he doesn’t know how to speak. I was like, "huh???!!! " i don’t give a damn where he’s from. You don’t call a place of business, divulging all kinds of information to whomever picks up the phone, speaking rudely and then proceed to call the number 10times after they hang up on you for refusing to identify yourself. I mean, get a fucking life?
As for my Black ass…there’s tons of it and many of them up here. i always have to tell Black people from the U.S…“yes, there are Black people up here and we ALL don’t live in Nova Scotia” A good number of us live in Southern Ontario…AND we’re mostly immigrants from the West Indies and Africa.
Former Canadian Collection Agent checking in.
[sub]Please don’t hurt me. It was my first job after university and it sucked the life out of me[/sub]
What everybody said here is correct. If they call you at work, you have every right to demand that they not call you there.
However, if you do do that, they have every right to expect that you will talk to them from home or via mail. If you refuse to do that, they’re allowed to assume that you’re trying to avoid the debt and as such, have the right to resume at-work calls.
Depending on the size of the debt, it’s not always that difficult to obtain a judgement against you, and then they won’t bother calling you; they’ll call HR and get the debt garnisheed from your paycheque.
I’d suggest contacting them (from home) and laying out a small payment plan. They’ll try to disregard everything else you owe and make substantial payments, but if you can show that $5/month is what you can afford right now, they’ll generally be happy to take it. At one point, I was getting $2/month from a woman who made $50,000/year, and $50/month from a guy on welfare.
All that being said, $250 to a collection agency isn’t that much. Generally, they don’t “buy the debt” from the creditor; they collect the money for the creditor and take a certain percentage as their fee. If you’re reasonable and willing to work with them, they should be as well.
FWIW - The collector was breaking the law by calling you over and over and not giving his name or company and should be locked in a room with everyone he’s ever dunned.
Best of luck and I’m still sorry I was ever in collections.
MY OWN DISCLAIMER:
You’re in Ontario, I was in BC. Certain laws might be different.
It was over 6 years ago. Laws might have been changed, my memory may be faulty.
I collected on behalf of a government agency, which might have given me more leeway.
Aguecheck: Doesn’t the agency also have the right to refer the debt to court action if they have proof that the debtor is trying to avoid repayment?
Yeah, that’s when they could get a judgment against you and garnishee your cheque. Sorry if I was a bit obtuse.
They’d pretty well have to show that efforts were made to collect the debt in good faith and the the debtor refused to cooperate. That’s not too hard, considering that they keep really good records of every transaction, including when they left messages, where they called, what letters they’ve sent, etc.
Myself, I was collecting unpaid traffic tickets, so after 2 months, I had an automatic judgement and didn’t even have to talk to a judge. Just called HR and sent over the documents.
This is not actually true.
Also not true…in the US.
This is definitely not true, UNLESS you make an AGREEMENT with the collector, and they agree to accept that as a payment.
~J
Again, I only know the US laws.
ROAD TRIP!
Actually I think this is against the Fair Debt Collection Practises Act.
§ 805. Communication in connection with debt collection [15 USC 1692c]
(a) COMMUNICATION WITH THE CONSUMER GENERALLY. Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt –
(1) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o’clock antimeridian and before 9 o’clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer’s location;
(2) if the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with respect to such debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney’s name and address, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to a communication from the debt collector or unless the attorney consents to direct communication with the consumer; or
(3) **the consumer’s place of employment if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer’s employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication. **
I forgot this part -
§ 806. Harassment or abuse [15 USC 1692d]
A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:
(1) The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation, or property of any person.
(2) The use of obscene or profane language or language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the hearer or reader.
(3) The publication of a list of consumers who allegedly refuse to pay debts, except to a consumer reporting agency or to persons meeting the requirements of section 603(f) or 604(3)1 of this Act.
(4) The advertisement for sale of any debt to coerce payment of the debt.
**
(5) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.
(6) Except as provided in section 804, the placement of telephone calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller’s identity. **
Of course, this is just in the US. I’ve no idea what the Canadian laws are on this matter.