Qualifying Questions for Collection Agents
PREAMBLE:
This document is designed to provide you with some minimum level of education and enable you to effectively deal with a telephone call that you may receive from a Collection agency for any reason. Some of the potential calls you may receive as a result of you being unable to pay credit cards, unsecured loans, and a variety of others.
Essentially, it does not matter why you receive a call from a collector, what is important to realize, is that banks and other institutions that extend credit, will almost always turn the collection of the debt over to a Collection agency.
This is done by one of two main processes. One, is that the bank (Credit Card Company) sells the debt to the Collection agency for a percentage of the alleged debt, such a 20% or 30%. The details are not important, simply the understanding of the process is what is important.
The second method is that the debt is assigned to the Collection agency with the understanding that they will receive a certain percentage of what they are able to collect.
The important point to understand is that these people can be dealt with, using their own laws and rules, and that is what this document assists you in accomplishing.
IDENTITY:
1. May I have your name please? (can you spell it)
2. Is this your contact name or your birth name?
3. Who do you work for? (obtain complete information of the company he/she works for)
4. Are you licensed?
5. Have you meet all requirements of the licence? (They MUST inform the ministry within 5 days when they change employer, Collection agencies cannot threaten consumers)
6. May I have your licence number?
7. Are you making this call bearing in mined that you and your company are bound by all Rules, Regulations and Acts and if you do not honour them, YOU personally become liable?
8. Who is your Limited liability Insurance with? OR Who insures you in the event you are sued as a Collector, Employee, Agent?
9. May I have your policy number?
10. May I have your insurers address and phone number for verification, please?
11. What this call is about? (Get details of the claim.)
12. Do YOU have the COMPLETE file related to this MATTER in front of you?? (for validation purposes)
13. Can I have;
o Creditor’s name (verify spelling and if it is All Upper case)?
o Debtor’s name (verify spelling and if it is All Upper case)?
o Amount of alleged debt?
14. Are you or your company the creditor?
o If YES: Please mail a certified true and complete copy of the contract, complete with the name and address of the company signing the communication papers, in order that the alleged debtor can correspond with someone in authority and familiar with this claim.
o If NO; Why are YOU calling? (Find out if they are acting for claimant or if they have purchased the claim/alleged contract)
§ If they purchased: Ask if the Debtor (you) was notified before they purchased the debt? And request certified proof of it.
§ If they are calling on behalf: Ask them to provide a certified copy of the agreement signed by the principal party of the alleged Creditor!
§ Are you aware if there is any dispute between alleged Creditor and Alleged Debtor?
· If NO; Are you acting on ASSUMPTIONS AND PRESUMPTIONS?
· If YES: Are you authorized to settle the dispute? (ask for verification)
15. Are you BOUND BY the code of ethics for Ontario’s collection agencies set-out by The Collection Agencies Act?
16. Put Agent/Agency company on notice:
o Not to call any more
o Only communicate by mail.
o All correspondence MUST be signed by an officer of the company.
o They ARE requested to provide certified complete and true copies of document “VALIDATING” their claim.
o Of your FEE SCHEDULE
o That by them NOT honouring this request and NOT providing proof of their claim, shall constitute their acceptance of an agreement with the terms and conditions of a contract, the terms of which are to pay you in accordance with your FEE SCHEDUALE and the total discharge of the alleged claim, without recourse.
WHAT IS YOUR AUTHORITY?
1. Collection agencies cannot threaten consumers.
2. They must not engage in prohibited practices and methods of collecting money.
3. They’re required to follow a code of ethics outlined under Ontario’s Collection Agencies Act.
4. Know your rights to help you deal with collection agencies in the future.
5. You must be notified in writing at your last known address when a creditor assigns your overdue account to an agency for collection.
6. The collection agency may not recommend or initiate legal action on the collection of a debt without first notifying the debtor.
7. Before a collector demands payment, you must be given the creditor’s name or the name of the people allegedly owed money, the name of the collection agency and the amount owed. This allows you to ensure the account information is correct.
8. The agency cannot continue to demand payment from a person who claims not to owe the money.
9. Collection calls may not be made on a Sunday, statutory holiday or on any day before 7:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.
10. Agencies may not make telephone calls of such a nature or frequency that constitute harassment of you or your family, this includes repeated calls at your workplace.
11. Keep a record of the date, time and frequency of calls if you believe you are being harassed.
12. This information may be necessary if you wish to file a formal complaint to the Ministry.
13. Collection agencies are generally not permitted to contact a debtor’s friends, relatives, neighbors or employer for any information other than your address or telephone number (with limited exceptions). Agencies may not imply or give false information to any person that could damage the debtor or debtor’s family.
PART OF COLLECTION AGENCY/AGENT REGULATION.
Resident requirements re corporations, Collection Agency regulations…
11. 11.(1) No corporation shall carry on business in Ontario as a collection agency if,
(a) the total number of equity shares of the corporation beneficially owned, directly or indirectly, by non-residents or over which non-residents exercise control or direction exceeds 25 per cent of the total number of issued and outstanding equity shares of the corporation;
(b) the total number of equity shares of the corporation beneficially owned, directly or indirectly, by a non-resident or over which the non-resident exercises control or direction together with any other shareholders associated with the non-resident, if any, exceeds 10 per cent of the total number of issued and outstanding equity shares of the corporation; or
(c) the corporation is not incorporated by or under an Act of Ontario, Canada or any province or territory of Canada.
Do your homework, if the company doesn’t meet the above requirements, it has no business contacting you and has already broken the law if they have. Lien them…..with costs….and fees and other Charges…Many companies are not in compliance….
Practices prohibited, by collection agents/agencies
22. No collection agency or collector shall,
(a) collect or attempt to collect for a person for whom it acts any money in addition to the amount owing by the debtor;
(b) send any telegram or make any telephone call, for which the charges are payable by the addressee or the person to whom the call is made, to a debtor for the purpose of demanding payment of a debt;
(c) receive or make an agreement for the additional payment of any money by a debtor of a creditor for whom the collection agency acts, either on its own account or for the creditor and whether as a charge, cost, expense or otherwise, in consideration for any forbearance, favor, indulgence, intercession or other conduct by the collection agency;
(d) deal with a debtor in a name other than that authorized by the registration [I would say at least 70 percent of the collectors I deal with, do not use their registered name, call their bluff, ask for verification of his status before you will even consider discussing anything with him by asking for his public license, showing said name. At the same time, send your fee schedule, if his name is not verified, he can be as liable as you can reasonably expect, a few thousand anyhow. Find out who he really is by calling the Minister in charge, its public info and they have to assist you. ]; or
(e) engage in any prohibited practice or employ any prohibited method in the collection of debts. R.S.O. 1990, c.C.14, s.22. [THEY CAN’T SCREAM YELL AND HARRASS YOU, ITS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE….]
Here is some more evidence to support the name game, reality…for those who have accepted it as tricks being played upon on us with, NAME GAMES and SLAVES.
Person's name, From Ontario’s Change of Name Act.
2. 2.(1) For all purposes of Ontario law,
(a) a person whose birth is registered in Ontario is entitled to be recognized by the name appearing on the person's birth certificate or change of name certificate, unless clause (c) applies;
(b) a person whose birth is not registered in Ontario is entitled to be recognized by,
(i) the name appearing on the person's change of name certificate, if the person's name has been changed under this Act or a predecessor of it, or
(ii) in all other cases, the name recognized in law in the last place with which the person had a real and substantial connection before residing in Ontario, unless clause (c) applies; and
(c) a person who adopted a name on marriage before the 1st day of April, 1987 is entitled to be recognized by that name unless the person subsequently changed that name under this Act or a predecessor of it.
Note how it says, IS ENTITLE; this does not say shall or may, it is your option, but not a recognized requirement. More proof, that name is not us. In fact, those names clash with our proper noun names. We visited the Ontario Government Book store recently and bought the curriculum book for grades 1 to 8, and there again, is evidence that we are taught, and I quote from the Government approved school curriculum, for Ontario students, under the heading of Grammar; “ identify nouns as words that name people, places and things”. Notice how it says, people and not persons.
The point is, our names are as we were all taught in school, the proper noun way. If we were taught in school what a proper noun name is, why would anyone accept any other version in any other manner as presenting us, the living. If all we know is what we were taught, what else could your answer be if asked, Is this your name? JOHN DOE.
It’s not hard to get acceptance of this by any party, particularly after you introduce the facts.
