Can a Collections Agency Affect a Credit Rating?

[KeepCalmCarryOn]

My wife just got a random collection agency letter for some parking ticket with Vinci Parking (?) that she's never used, in a random part of the city she never goes... What's more, she was at work that day in another part of the city.

Anyways I want to just ignore it, but she's worried about the credit rating impact - Can anyone comment on the impact on her credit rating, if anything? I have sent Vinci a contact form to call me so I can square it away but I'd like to just tell them to pound sand...

Any thoughts?

[Fire]

She's having an affair. My condolences.

[Mr.Coffee]

long story short but I had a similar issue but not with a parking authority and regarding a case that I knew I did not owe the money. I contacted a lawyer (work with him actually, so easy to get the advice) and, to paraphrase, this was more or less what his opinion was regarding collections agencies:

"Collection Agencies cannot go into your bank account or garnish wages without your permission or obtaining a court order. They can’t insist on anything, unless a judgment has been obtained against you and a court order so issued. Now, insofar as threatening to effect your credit rating or score, as you know it is an indication of how confident a lender like a bank would be that you will repay your debts on time. Equifax and Trans Union are two of the biggest agencies in Canada that act as a repository for ratings. Yes, a collection agency can “tattle” on you – but here we are talking about a disputed amount under $500 for shoddy work performed by (my edit, don't need that here). Hardly the stuff to effect a mortgage or car loan with your bank.

Here is the Credit Report Tipsheet from the government.

http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/...dit_Report.pdf

Collection Agencies must conduct themselves within the confines of the Collection and Debt Repayment Practices Regulation, which is under the Fair Trading Act (Alberta).

Below is section 12 being a “shopping list” of prohibited practices from the regulations. I draw your attention to 12(j) in particular.



Prohibited Practices

Prohibited practices for collection agencies

12(1) No collection agency or collector may

(a) collect or attempt to collect money for a creditor except on the belief in good faith that the money is due and owing by the person to the creditor;

(b) charge any fee to a person for whom the collection agency or collector acts in addition to those fees provided for in the agreement with that person;

(c) if a collection agency,

(i) carry on the activities of a collection agency in a name other than the name in which it is licensed unless it has received the approval of the Director to do so, or

(ii) when using an automated call system, fail to provide a contact number for the debtor to call when leaving a message;

(d) if a collector, collect or attempt to collect a debt without providing

(i) the collector’s name as shown on the collector’s licence in all contacts and correspondence, and

(ii) the name of the collection agency as shown on the collection agency licence in all contacts and correspondence with the debtor;

(e) make any arrangement with a debtor to accept a sum of money that is less than the amount of the balance due and owing to a creditor as final settlement without the prior express consent of the creditor;

(f) fail to provide any person for whom the collection agency or collector acts with a written report on the status of that person’s account in accordance with this Regulation;

(g) make any personal call or telephone call for the purpose of collecting or attempting to collect a debt on any day except between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. in Alberta;

(h) directly or indirectly threaten or state an intention to proceed with any action for which the collection agency or the collector does not have the prior express consent of the creditor or for which there is no lawful authority;

(i) contact or attempt to contact the debtor, any member of the debtor’s household, any relative of the debtor, the debtor’s employer or any neighbour, friend or acquaintance of the debtor by any means in such a manner as to constitute harassment, including without being limited to

(i) the use of threatening, profane, intimidating or coercive language,

(ii) the use of undue, excessive or unreasonable pressure, or

(iii) the use of telephone or e‑mail to call or send messages excessively;

(j) give any person, directly or indirectly, by implication or otherwise, any false or misleading information, including, but not limited to, references to the police, a law firm, prison, credit history, court proceedings or a lien or garnishment;

(k) continue to collect or attempt to collect money from, or continue to communicate with,

(i) the person, where the person has informed the collection agency or the collector that the person is not the debtor, unless the collection agency or collector first takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that the person is in fact the debtor, or

(ii) the debtor, where the debtor has informed the collection agency or the collector by any verifiable means, including, but not limited to, personal service, certified mail, courier, facsimile, or e‑mail, or by any other method, that the debt is in dispute and that the debtor wishes the creditor to take the matter to court;

(l) contact a debtor’s spouse or adult interdependent partner, relative, neighbour, friend or acquaintance unless the contact is limited to the purpose of obtaining the debtor’s residential address, personal telephone number or employment telephone number;

(m) contact the debtor’s employer for any purpose other than to confirm the debtor’s employment status, business title and the address of the business, in preparation for legal proceedings;

(n) contact the debtor when the debtor has notified the collection agency in writing to communicate only with the debtor’s representative and has provided a current address and telephone number for the representative, and the representative

(i) makes reasonable arrangements to discuss the debt with the collection agency or collector, and

(ii) discusses the debt with the collection agency or collector in accordance with the arrangements;

(o) contact a debtor at the debtor’s place of employment if the debtor

(i) requests the collection agency or collector not to contact the debtor there,

(ii) makes reasonable arrangements to discuss the debt with the collection agency or collector, and

(iii) discusses the debt with the collection agency or collector in accordance with the arrangements;

(p) communicate information about the debt or the existence of the debt with any person except the debtor, a guarantor of the debt, the debtor’s representative or the creditor of the debt unless the debtor has expressly consented to the communication;

(q) indicate to the debtor or any other person contacted for the purpose of collecting the debtor’s debt that the collection agency or the collector is part of a law firm or the legal department of a business, including a legal department of the collection agency itself or of the creditor of the debt;

(r) if a collector, indicate to a debtor that the collector is a legal collector, litigation specialist or the like;

(s) charge any fee to a debtor beyond the debt that is due and owing from the debtor to the creditor, excluding a reasonable fee for a dishonoured cheque, if the fee was disclosed to the debtor in writing prior to the submission of the cheque;

(t) refuse to provide sufficient information on request to the debtor to ensure that the debtor is aware of the identity of the original and current creditor of the debt and the details of the debt;

(u) enter into or arrange wage assignments with a debtor or the employer of a debtor;

(v) exceed 3 unsolicited contacts on behalf of the same creditor with a debtor in any period of 7 consecutive days, not including contacts with a third party to locate a debtor, mistaken contact with a third party, or contacts by traditional mail;

(w) cancel or alter a payment agreement with a debtor if the debtor has complied with the terms of the agreement and the debtor’s financial circumstances have not changed materially, unless the debtor has misrepresented the debtor’s financial circumstances;

(x) pursue a non‑judgment debt where the last payment or written acknowledgement by the debtor is more than 6 years previous;

(y) do anything that is prohibited by this Regulation.

(2) A term of an agreement entered into by a collection agency is void if that term

(a) misrepresents the rights and powers of a person collecting or attempting to collect a debt,

(b) misrepresents the obligations or legal liabilities of a debtor,

(c) is misleading as to its true nature and purpose, or

(d) otherwise contravenes the Act or this Regulation.

(3) Notwithstanding section 110(2) of the Act, a collection agency must not enter into an agreement or contract with or make a request of a representative or employee of the collection agency who is exempt under that section to undertake any action that contravenes this section.

(4) Subsection (1)(m), (v) and (w) come into force on March 1, 2006."

Hope this helps.

[KeepCalmCarryOn]

Originally Posted by fire

she's having an affair. My condolences.

daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

[KeepCalmCarryOn]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

long story short but I had a similar issue but not with a parking authority and regarding a case that I knew I did not owe the money. I contacted a lawyer (work with him actually, so easy to get the advice) and, to paraphrase, this was more or less what his opinion was regarding collections agencies:

Thanks! Very helpful. About what I figured; a useless little parking ticket can't really effect the credit rating in a meaningful manner.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

An unpaid collection will affect your credit rating.

[KeepCalmCarryOn]

So how do I fight this? Tell them to prove it? Provide them her work address on the other end of town...? Seems like they may have miscribed a license plate number.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Start with the collection agency. I don't have any details other than that. Not my area of expertise.

If that fails Go to Transunion or equifax websites learn how to dispute. Not sure if this would qualify though.

If you have a good credit score you could still be able to obtain credit, loans modrrgages etc, despite the unpaid collection but I wouldn't say it is meaningless.

It will definitely cause your credit score, out of 900, to drop though. Again, if your rating is currently fine it may not drop enough to negatively effect you too much.

[AMG_G]

Impark and the like to throw around empty threats. If they followed through with all their legal actions they would be bankrupt in a week. They sell their deadbeats for pennies on the dollar to collection agencies with even less resources. I tossed the one i got from impark with zero consequences when i got my mortgage. As long as its not Calgary Parking you're fine. Oh and dont get caught again with Vinci or you might get towed.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by KeepCalmCarryOn

So how do I fight this? Tell them to prove it? Provide them her work address on the other end of town...? Seems like they may have miscribed a license plate number.

check out that letter more carefully, chances are the "collection agency" is just Vinci trying to scare you into paying. Impark does the same thing. if you think about it, what company is going to hire a collection agency for a debt that small? they would be paying more to the agency than what they'd get in return, not exactly smart business

look at the address of the supposed collection agency. my bet is that it came from a Vinci head office

[Rathji]

Almost certainly is from their collections department.

[scotty2hotty]

Urban myth alert ...but something I've always wanted to try ...

I've heard that when you get a ticket from one of these private lots that you can just send the ticket back with the amount that you should have originally paid for parking. Eg. $5 or whatever.

Once you pay their posted fees for parking, they can't legally charge you any more than that. Whether you paid those fees before or after is irrelevant.

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

**** Again, this is probably dead wrong. Just something I've heard for years and will try at my next 'opportunity'.

[sec304]

Originally Posted by scotty2hotty

Urban myth alert ...but something I've always wanted to try ...

I've heard that when you get a ticket from one of these private lots that you can just send the ticket back with the amount that you should have originally paid for parking. Eg. $5 or whatever.

Once you pay their posted fees for parking, they can't legally charge you any more than that. Whether you paid those fees before or after is irrelevant.

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

**** Again, this is probably dead wrong. Just something I've heard for years and will try at my next 'opportunity'.

It is true for Vinci*, I called them a few years ago when I got a ticket and explained that the machine wouldn't take my credit card (true) so I offered to pay the full day fee (which is what I would have paid anyways), I think it was $17 at the time. They charged my credit card and all was good.

To the OP, what is the amount to pay? If it's cheap, I would pay it rather than ever deal with them towing you in the future (if they really do that). But like scotty said, find out the original amount that should have been paid and pay that, not a cent more.

* now that I think back, this lot may not have been Vinci back then

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

check out that letter more carefully, chances are the "collection agency" is just Vinci trying to scare you into paying. Impark does the same thing. if you think about it, what company is going to hire a collection agency for a debt that small? they would be paying more to the agency than what they'd get in return, not exactly smart business

look at the address of the supposed collection agency. my bet is that it came from a Vinci head office

Not always.

The typical process for scenarios like these is very different as the parking company doesnt 'hire' a collections agency.

What typically happens is that Vinci would sell their Accounts Receivable and the collections company that buys it makes its money by collecting the receivables.

[scotty2hotty]

I've been getting calls from Iqor Canada for months. Pretty sure it's an unpaid ticket from somewhere, but it's impossible to get any info from these guys. They want you to give them your personal info before they proceed. When I say 'no, you tell me the info of who you're looking for and I'll confirm' , they get all worked up.

How hard up do you need to be to work for one of these companies?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by KeepCalmCarryOn

So how do I fight this? Tell them to prove it? Provide them her work address on the other end of town...? Seems like they may have miscribed a license plate number.

They don't have photographic evidence of the license plate or make of vehicle? Pretty amateurish.

[Crazy Flamer]

Keep in mind, not all collection agencies will report your information to the credit bureaus.

[JohnnyHowDoO'duya]

BUMP

I got a call from a company called "Commercial Credit Adjusters Ltd" and they claim I owe Bell Mobility $70.28.

I am current with my Bell account, but these guys say its from an old contract. I asked them for a copy of an invoice, I have had many contracts with Bell and as far as I know I am not overdue on any.

They cant/wont give me an invoice but have sent me 3 letters to collect this money. I looked them up, they are a legit collection company but why should I have to pay sight unseen for something I don't even know I owe?

On one hand, its only $70 bucks, I can pay it and make this go away. However, I hate Bell and I don't want to encourage Bell to continue to screw clients by sending collectors on charges that they probably double billed or screwed up somewhere in their accounting department (lord knows how many problems I have had with Bell TV)

Anyone with experience in this matter?

[onetwo_threefour]

^ Call them and advise them that unless they will provide you with a statement from Bell verifying the amount owing you will call Alberta Government Services and report that they are harassing you and won't provide the bare minimum information to confirm the existence of a debt.


Alternatively you could call Bell and ask them to look into the matter and whether they have a record of sending you tocollections. If they do, ask them for a copy of the outstanding statement.

[sec304]

You should never have to pay anything without proof of the debt owed