Unreasonable Collection Practices
The following are guidelines set down by the Director related to Part 7 - Debt Collection under the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act covering various collection practices.
Misrepresentation
A collector must not say they are calling from the “legal department” unless the agency has a lawyer on staff and the collector is acting under the instructions of the lawyer. A person who is not a lawyer in good standing with a bar association cannot give the impression he is a lawyer. Complaints of this nature will be referred to the Law Society for follow up.Collection agency owners and employees, including skip tracers, should not represent themselves as a representative of any government, government agency, crown corporation, or public body in any attempt to locate or secure payment from a debtor.
Harassment of Debtor
The use of profanity or other verbal abuse to locate a debtor or to collect a debt is strictly prohibited.
A collector should not mail a letter to the debtor's place of employment in an envelope indicating the name of the collection agency and which is not clearly marked “personal & confidential”.
Contact with Friends, Employer, etc.
Spouses, relatives, friends, neighbours and co-workers of a debtor are under no obligation to cooperate with a collector and are protected from unreasonable collection practices. Refusal to cooperate or provide information by any of these persons should be courteously accepted and end the contact with that person.
The use of fax, voicemail or e-mail in a manner that is calculated to embarrass, humiliate or alarm a debtor is considered an unreasonable practice.
Threats and Intimidation
Threats of incarceration or of police involvement for non-payment of a debt are prohibited.
Where there is a judgement, a creditor may advise the debtor of permitted legal remedies, such as seizure or garnishment, but exaggeration of the potential consequences is prohibited.
A threat to immediately garnishee wages of a debtor or seize the debtor's assets where a judgement has not been obtained is prohibited.
Offering to remove a collection notation from a debtor's credit report upon payment of the debt without the prior written permission of both the creditor and reporting agency(s) involved is not permitted.
Legal
Advising debtors they will be responsible for substantial legal costs if they are sued where the debt is less than $25,000.00 and the debtor would actually only be responsible for filing and service fees, is an unreasonable collection practice.
Financial claims arising from residential tenancies should be evidenced by an Arbitrator's Order when the debtor's whereabouts are known and service of documents is possible.
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