Harassment by collections deparment
I fielded a proposal with PC Financial in regards to a debt I had, and was paying off. The proposal was I was to make payments, and they were to stop the harassing phone calls (6+/day, 6 days/week)> The calls continued, now the account was NOT resolved as per manager on the phone with their collections department.
What are my legal options here, as it was criminal harassment, and they were using undue pressure for collecting.
Posted from: Ontario
Just so we don’t confuse any other readers, you made an arrangement with PC Financial – you did not file a proposal (which is a legal procedure administered by trustees in bankruptcy).
We haven’t discuss this issue for awhile, so here goes:
Harassment is not clearly defined under the law – there is a very subjective component to it (that means what you find acceptable someone else mind find harassing, and vice versa).
If a collection agent is calling your home 6, 7, 8 times a day, but you don’t answer then they don’t actually count as calls. It is only the calls you answer that count. The reasoning seems to be the collector has the right to try and collect on the debt, if they don’t actually speak to you how can they do that?
Regardless, if you made a deal to pay and you didn’t pay then the calls would immediately start up again. In fact, in many cases, even when you do make a payment they call shortly thereafter to try and get you to “pay some more”.
If you honestly think you have been harassed you should speak to a lawyer, but I have to warn you that very few people have ever successfully won this argument were debt collectors are concerned.