Portfolio Management Canada Inc. (Portfolio Management Canada)

Of course you would think that I must be a collector.
However, you dont know anything about me, so I wouldnt jump to conclusions if I were you. The fact of the matter is that I know a number of people in the profession, and they get a bum rap. Just because YOU may have dealt with a jerk, doesnt mean they are all like that. Its like saying all plumbers show their buttcracks, or all teens are immature, rebellious no good brats. Its just not right to lump everyone into one general category, and shows a lack of breeding to be that prejudiced.

Maybe its your lack of breeding that makes you so blind.Just read all the posts on this topic and there is a hell of a lot more people than just me that has the same opinion of collector scum. You can read posts at other forums like this ,same story.So when it comes to collectors the main opinion of them is the same. Maybe you are collector maybe not i dont really care,your comments sure sound like one though. You cantalk about collectors getting a bum rap,but the bottom line is they deserve it.The nature of their business is that they have to threaten and lie and use anything they can to meet their quotas and get their commision.

"there is a hell of a lot more people than just me that has the same opinion of collector scum. You can read posts at other forums like this ,same story"

these would all be people that have outstanding debts??? oh, yes, the cream of the crop. They dont pay their bills, they try to avoid it, they change their #s, and say they arent home...lol THESE are the people who so readily call others "scum"???
Look, I dont disagree that it sucks when you paid something and dont keep the receipt. Then someone out of nowhere calls you up and says "hey, guess what, no proof? sorry, pay your bill" because really, how many people do you think SAY they paid, when they really didnt? I was in this situation, and the 3 people I dealt with at Portfolio were decent. They understood that I probably had paid the bill, but I didnt keep my receipt. I mean, come on...when you pay off your car/house, you dont throw the deed/ownership papers away, do you? Why should a credit card be any different. Besides the % of people who paid it prior is a lot less than the ones who didnt pay at all. Think about it. There are millions of delinquent accounts in Canada alone, and only what 70 people on here complaining? Do the math.
The fact of the matter is, if people actually paid their bills, instead of trying to avoid them, there wouldnt be a need for collection agencies, now would there???

Yes you are right if all the bills were paid there wouldnt be a need for collectors.But the problem is you seem to assume that most people that have delinquent accounts are doing it to not pay and hide etc.Well its not the case,people dont intend to ruin their credit rating for years and have to live with constant calls and letters.Sure there are some that do it on purpose but i am sure the majority dont plan it. You are lumping all people with outstanding debts as criminals when you accuse people on here for calling collectors names etc and lumping them all together. Which is it ? You cant have it both ways. People shouldnt have to worry about keeping receipts etc for paid bills.These collectors want the people to do their work for them.Sure its a good idea to keep the receipts as it makes things easier when something comes up. But the onus is on the collectors to prove you owe that money and unlesss they can they should take a hike.

although this announcement was made effective july 7th, it was just this week that their website was updated to relect this new direction.

although this was a canadian announcement the parent company seems to still be active in 3rd party debt collection
the link to the comany's page is active as of today and states it will a prime focus or sumthing to that effect

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ok collections101, i have an item that has been in dispute since 2001, I have told both the original creditor and Aktiv Kapital to take me to court as I have full documentation that there is no debt, yet continue to be harrassed by this company you defend so strongly.

what recourse would you reccommend for such untoward behavior?

if a collection agency or the original creditor cannont contact you after you have asked them by registered mail to take the matter to court, why would aktiv capital be exempt from the law?

Alchemy, contact their legal counsel:

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']V.P. Strategy and Corporate Counsel - Suzanne Larouche[/FONT][FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Phone: 866.764.7688[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']If you have told them to stop contacting you and you put it in writing, their counsel wont allow their company to continue contacting you. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Also, I read earlier on this post a question of whether or not they have to follow the debt collection act. As a debt buyer in Canada, they are only governed by the collections act in a few provinces. I will have to do some research on which ones but I believe it is only Alberta and Saskatachewan and Nova Scotia. The other provinces dont force debt buyers to follow the normal collections act. If anyone has any issues with them, call their legal counsel or their other executive.[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Country Manager - Rod Hooktwith[/FONT][FONT='Arial','sans-serif']
Phone: 866.764.7688 [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][FONT='Arial','sans-serif']V.P. Strategy and Corporate Counsel - Suzanne Larouche[/FONT][FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Phone: 866.764.7688[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][FONT='Arial','sans-serif']I also found the name of the collections manager from their website:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][FONT='Arial','sans-serif']A.V.P. Collections – Marshall Spence[/FONT][FONT='Arial','sans-serif']
Phone: 866.764.7688[/FONT][FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]

hmmm, thanks london50

if that is the case.... it may be time for a court challenge, if collection agencies are governed by the act (as we all know they are) in acting as an agent for the original creditor, it should go to reason that the same conduct would be expected of the original creditor( or purchaser of alleged debt.

also in the case of Aktiv Kapital, if thier primary business or sole source of income is from collections and there is no service or product they offer, they should be included under the act.

The debt buyers position is that because they have purchased the debt and now own it, they are in fact the first party creditor and should not be governed by the Act. Similar to Visa, MasterCard, Rogers, etc as all those creditors are not governed by any collection act as the account is theirs. I am not saying this is right, but I am sure this is their position.

My thoughts are that the difference between the creditors named above is that they are all collecting on current debt or debt less than 180 days delinquent, while these debt buyers have purchased the write off debts which are older. As mentioned earlier in this thread, a written off or charged off account is still collectable by a third party collection agency or a debt buyer but maybe the collections act should state that any agency (regardless if they are a third party or first party) that try and collect charged off debts should have to follow the collections act?? If the argument is not presented this way to the collections ministries, then the Visas, Rogers, etc of the world would also have to follow the collections act and the government would never pass that legislation.

Question - how does an individual try and get the ministry to change collection laws?

as i mentioned earlier, another notable difference between the parties you mentioned above and the buyer of alleged debts is that they do provide a tangible service to the consumer. rogers, visa mastercard etc have a direct relationship with the consumer (regardless of how dysfunctional or one sided it may be) whereas the debt buyer has not. just as a third party collection agency has provided no such service or value to the consumer. it is an entirely one sided relationship that the courts tend to frown on as draconian.

just a thought,

and although you say the gov't would not pass that type of legislation, there is nothing unreasonable about it. Consumers should not have to endure threats, harassment intimidation, extortion, and blackmail just because someone is a first party collector. the restrictions on hours they may call, procedures to stop harassment and everything else in the act does not protect people trying to avoid paying their debts but does protect to a smaller extant abuse. It allows a course of action for someone being unjustly chased for a creditors mistake or omission.
the credit reporting agencies are not in place to serve the public, they are there strictly to serve the interests of the people who pay their paychecks.....the banks credit card companies etc.

I agree 100% with what you are saying and that they should be governed by the same act as third party collection agencies. No one deserves to be treated unfairly.

As more and more debts are being sold in the collection cycle by these large creditors, maybe all the provincial governments will soon change the rules to include debt buyers under the collections act as some provinces have already done so. After some research and reading the different acts, it is only Alberta and Saskatchewan that make Aktiv and the other debt buyers follow the same collection acts as third party agencies.

Who are some of the other debt buying companies in Canada and do they try and collect with the same harassing and threatening style as Aktiv?

ARO and CBCL are two that also buy debts and have the same dialers and use the same tactics as Aktiv.

Alchemy,

If it has been in dispute since 2001, and you have documentation, why wouldn't you just send it in to the company? If your docs will win for you in court, then it would be enough for them to close the account and stop calling.
Of course, it also makes a difference what province you are in.

collections101

I have a letter from MBNA acknowledging account paid in full and closed that I have sent to Aktiv, they agreed they would not call again once they had received the letter (a conversation which I recorded and now consider breach of verbal contract), they did stop calling for about 1.5 months but resumed in sept. they have been advised to take me to court, and any calls to my number will be billed according to MY rate

I just sent them an invoice this week

update

Calls have stopped, will be sending them a past due statement this week.

my wife had a debt owing due to a TD Canada Trust Mastercard. We checked with Transunion & Equifax and the date of last payment they claimed was Oct 2002. Our records show that the date is older than that. We are in BC and even though it is now past the 6 year limitation they keep calling. Isn't this illegal? How do we get them to stop?

I Live in Ontario
and have debt that I enquired in 1996,
Originally the debt was sent off to Corporate Recovery services 12-15-99
For the amount of 1124.16

Now this year in Oct. 2008
Aktiv-Kapitol contacted my work, I called back the number on the msg. left and realized what it was,
They now want me to pay 1859.00 (interest incurred over the years)

I think if ppl can afford to pay the debt they incurred they should pay it.
But, I was very young unemployed at the time and have since been very careful with my credit
It was tough rebuilding my credit, and am at the age now where I am seriously thinking about a mortgage in the near future. Is it possible to work out a deal with the collection agency to pay it but that they do not report it to the credit bureau? What are my options at this point?
I have already told Aktiv Kapitol to communicate with me by letter mail and that I am unaware of any debt owing, Ater telling them to contact me by mail only they called back my work again,andn said they didn’t have an address to mail me at However.. After the first call from them I requested a copy of my credit report and noticed that on the transunion file there was 2 inquires from a collection agency under another name . (portfolio management). They have since sent me a letter. what do I do now?

I too have been getting numerous calls from this shady debt collection agency! I was in a debt management program for four years and have successfully paid all outstanding debts I owed to all banks and credit card companies. However, PMCI have repeatedly claimed that I owe $5,000 on a Canada Trust Mastercard. I have never had a CT Mastercard, only a CitiBank Mastercard. I've aksed several time for them to provide proof of this alleged debt, but nothing has come forth from them. I told several individuals that represent PMCI that I have paid all outstanding debts owed and that I have never had the card they claimed I owed money on. I even wrote a letter and sent a copy of my discharge paper from my debt management program. PMCI continued calling and demanding that I repay this alleged outstanding debt. I then wrote them a second letter to inform them again of the facts, and also filled a complaint with the Ontario government, which I also informed PMCI of in the second letter. The calls stopped for about a month. Then I started getting calls from a new debt company -- Aktiv Kapital Canada -- which turned out to be the parent company of PMCI -- they had turned the alleged debt over to the parent in the hope that they might still collect on it even though the letters I sent, the copy of my discharge, and the complaint filled clearly indicated that there was no debt owed! I have since found out through a lawyer friend of mine that PMCI and it's parent company buy "bad" debts, many of which are not valid or are clerical errors on paper only, for pennies on the dollar, and then begin harrassing people in the hope that they will just pay up in order to get the calls to stop! Many of these bad debts date back more than 5 years. I would advise anyone who has been getting calls from PMCI to investigate the alleged debt owing, get as much information as possible from them or the institution they claim first held the debt, consult with a lawyer if possible, and file a complaint with the Ontario Goverment if they persist in harrassing you into paying the debt if it is clearly not valid.

well I get calls after 5 pm I tell them off to call me from 8 am till 4 45 pm and i blocked a few numbers also wrote letter to ministry of consumer protection branches saying there herassing me I had one lady tell me to fax my ODSP stuff in then they will close file I was told no not to by mom and they still herassed me I got real pi..ed with them told them to F off and so on they finelly stopped calling me

Hi, I'm new in here, but I have been seeing questions about SOL/Stat.Barred. Depending upon where you live, it's 6 or 7 years from the last date of activity on the account or the last payment made.

After the statute runs out, the creditor/CA can no longer sue you to collect. HOWEVER, they can legally continue to call you and send letters demanding payment.

What you do after that is up to you.

I am married to an ex-CA employee (CBCL) and I'm working on fixing up my credit.. my spouse has been an amazing source of information...anything I learn I will pass along.

To add: Aktiv Kapital buys oldstatute barred debts, hoping they can trick or bully you into paying. Theycannot sue you, just annoy the hell out of you.

Don't negotiate, don't admit anything and, if you can afford it, hire a lawyer and sue them for libel and damages. If you, however, admitted the indebtedness or tried to negotiate a settlement, you reset the start of your statutory limitation period which runs from two to six years, depending on the province of your residence, from your last admission of or willingness to settle the debt, or the last payment you made, whichever comes last. The best defence is a well thought of and measured attack. They hire cheap lawyers to sue you and, if they serve you successfully, you have to file a statement of defence denying any indebtedness, pointing out that the Stat Limit expired if this is the case, and ask that the case be dismissed with coasts. Bash them! They're scumbags.

I was just wondering who this advice is directed at. The thread was created about 3 years ago, and the last post before yours was almost a year ago. Most, if not all, of the members who posted in this thread are no longer on this site.