Don’t let collection agencies ruin your credit rating

The last phone call anyone wants to get is one from a collection agency.

But if you do, there are strict rules agencies must follow.

They are not allowed to threaten to call the police, garnish your wages or ruin your credit rating.

Jason Price claims it happened to him while fighting over a cell phone bill with a collection agency.

He says CBV collections offered a settlement and he thought if he paid, it wouldn’t go on his credit report.

He says it did anyway.

“Six months later, it’s on my credit. Sure, it’s showing a zero amount but creditors don’t care. If I want to go buy a truck they’re gonna say oh no, something on there. Right? They don’t care.”

Price has filed a complaint with the provincial government.

It turns out however, even if you pay the bill, the fact that it went to a collection agency in the first place will remain on your record.

The president of CBV collection, when contacted by Global consumer advocate Tony Tighe, said he reviewed the allegations and he’s satisfied Price was properly informed.

Here are some rules on what agencies can and cannot do.

A collector may not:
• call too often to be considered harassment.
• make more than 3 contacts in 7 days.
• give any false or misleading information.
• discuss your debt with anyone else without permission.
• continue to contact you if are not the debtor.
• pursue a debt if the last payment is more than 6 years old

For more information on collection agency rules, click here. 

For more tips on how to protect yourself, click here.