BC really that hard up for money?
 

Know the province is hard up for money with the Olympics and all but sending my file to a collections agency for a speeding ticket I supposedly didn't pay in 1991 (yes that's 1991).

1991, wow that was awhile ago. Don't they have a time limit or something, why didn't they notify you a long time ago? Plus I thought (not sure if it's true or not, but a friend told me) if you were from out of province, and you don't go back to that province, that the police can't make you pay it. Also after all this time how on earth would they be able to prove it was you? Seems rather odd that after 18 years you would just now get sent to collections. I would think they should of at least notified you first and made you aware of what happened and give you a chance to pay before being sent to collections.

So called ICBC (as suggest by the CA for more info) and one of the tickets (there's 3 in total) was for driving with no licence on the vehicle. Not sure but don't think that's allowed and sure don't remember having a vehicle seized.

You better get that paied. I had an unpaied multi-nova from 2003 that i naver paied and the cops seized my car and suspended my licence for a month over it :neutral:...... man was i ****ed since i do outside sales for a living. I went to court over it and got off (thanks to points) but what a hassel. I was also under the impression that you have to pay any tickets before you re-register your car, not sure if that applys in BC or not. But that seems kinda rediculous.....

Are the BC cops on something? :drinking: :Banane40: Seems like some bogus B.S. to me.

What's got me a little choked as well is what's this doing to my credit rating?

I get no notice prior to being sent to the collection agency plus seems one ticket might be bogus (no licence).

Tell them to send you proof, acctual copies of the tickets.

I've asked and they are being mailed.

normaly what happens is when you get a ticket in BC with a different provence drives licence they assign you a BC licence number and if you ever move to BC you have to pay the tickets befor you can have a licence. thats what happened to me, I got 2 tickets in BC on my AB licence, then moved to NS and got a licence there and then moved to BC. the went to issue my licence and I found out I had to pay 300 in tickets befor I could get it.

I imagin the will only wait so long then want the money that is owed to them. the simple thing would have been to pay your ticket in 91 then you wouldn't be having this problem.. can't realy blame them for wanting the money that you owe them can you?

just think if it was an alberta licence you didn't pay they would have thrown you in jail untill you either paid or did the equivilant time.. that happened to me when I was still living in AB.

Steve

But one would think they would remember getting a ticket for No Licence. Thats a pretty big one, as you then can't drive. A cop isn't going to give you a ticket for no licence, then let you drive the vehicle away, out of province or not.

was it no licence or failure to produce a licence.

Steve

According to ICBC it was for no valid licence on the vehicle.

Are you talking about a valid license plate sticker? Also do you remember getting a ticket or being pulled over in BC in `91?

hmmm.. weird one, was this in your vehicle or one you borrowed? I know cops here used to be pretty forgiving and not tow you if your were all nice and such but just give you a ticket and tell you to get it taken care of, but thoes days are gone LOL.. maby they cut some slack on the towing because it was out of provence.. but who knows..

it realy sucks but some times in our "young dumb and bulit proof" days we make stupid disisions that come back to haunt us later... if only I could be 16 again and know what I know now:mrgreen:

Steve

Well after the non-stop snotty calls from the Collections Agency, I call ICBC to ask again for the details they were going to mail me. Told I have a zero balance, asked what that meant and told they're forgiven the tickets. Now wondering if the Collections Agency got the word.

Any ideas though, if something goes to a Collection Agency if one's credit record is effected.

YES, it does reflect your credit. I have had pretty much same issues with a bank loan. Let it slide, but then paid it off. Bank neglected to tell Collections. Man, what a PITA it was. took me almost 2 years to get it rectified before I could buy my house. I was getting run around city. Equifax is PITA to deal with

make sure ICBC informs the credit agency, better yet get a statment from ICBC showing the zero ballance and that the tickets have been forgiven, send that by fax to the colection company and tell them you want anything to do with this that have been put on your credit rating removed. only the place that adds to your credit rating can remove it so they can do it. If they won't talk to a lawyer and ask how much to draft a letter to them to have this done. I went through this with a dentists office that put a 250 buck bill only my record, which was funny as I am millitary and don't go to dentists that arn't military so there is no charge.. after a run around the office had made a mistake and they did remove the blemish from my credit report.

Steve

Yep, looks like this isn't a done deal.

I called the agency yesterday to ask if we're good and guy goes off that he doesn't care what ICBC told me, I still own him money. Why was I stalling, was I too poor to pay, be a man and pay my debts. Guy was a nut case.

I called back to ICBC and confirmed zero balance and they said they would follow up with the agency today.

Not having dealt with a collections agency before little surprised how hostile from the start. I was told when this started that they where going to put me on a auto-dialer so I would be get calls every morning at 7:00am until paid, threats to my credit record etc. Understand people don't want to pay but start with a happy face on and a whole lot less stress for all involved.

Typical collections agency bullying. We had the same thing happen to us when we were victims of identity theft. I guess from their perspective, EVERYONE says "you have the wrong person" or whatever. They can only be called off by the people who hired them.

It's still unpleasant though. Calls at 2am and borderline abusive in nature ("do you get off on stiffing people?" etc.) Jerks.

Talk to ICBC again and insist that they look into the collection agency calling you and that they be notified of this ASAP. If the calls persist, quite frankly, I think I would call the police and report this as harrassment.

The whole thing sounds fishy to me. I'd almost be calling a lawyer (traffic lawyer or whatever) to ask for advice. Even if the tickets were legit (which I gather they are not, this sounds like a system glitch??), if they are from 1991 there's no way anyone can talk about them and have any validity at this point. Is the issuing officer even still on active duty? 18 years is a long time. If the guy was in his 30's or 40's at the time, for all we know he could be retired. I don't see how anything from that far back can be legitimately processed.

Good luck!!

There seems to be a rash of these types of things going around.

I went to renew my license in April and was told that I had an unpaid $450 speeding ticket from 1996 and was required to pay before I could renew. I was 12 years old at the time, plus it was the summer my leg was in an ankle to thigh brace.

I had to go and get my passport, birth certificate, and a witness to sign forms at the registry for them to fix their rather grevious error. It took them 3 weeks to get it fixed before I could renew my license. They acted like I was the one in the wrong.

I would suggest that you CAREFULLY read section 264 of the Criminal Code of Canada.

I am assuming that it is a BC colection agency so here is a page with some info.

http://www.cba.org/bc/public_media/credit/252.aspx

and a couple links. first all I would record the time of the call and exactly what was said. then I would ask to speak to a supervisor of the colection company and file a complaint then inform him that you will only accept comunication in writing. this will stop any harassing calls. also make a not of when you informed them and the name of the person you informed.

if this doesn't get you anywhere also file a complaint with the BBB

but hopefully it will be resolved soon

Steve

it doesn't matter what they feel they are not allowed to harase, threten and such. The Business Practices & Consumer Protection Act was passed in BC for this exact reason. and every provence has there own set of rules.

Steve

talked to ICBC again this afternoon and they said I had zero balance with them and that meant zero owed to the collection agency. They said they had already informed the CA of this but they would do so again but for awhile just don't answer calls if I don't recognize the number (???).

Asked again for a statement and once I get that, I'll be checking checking my credit record.

But to the start of this, I might concede one ticket, but the others, specially the one without the license, seems wrong.

Would like to point out ICBC to whole time have been very curtious, not like the Agency who obviously never heard of the Business Practices & Consumer Protection Act (thanks for the links btw).

Stevem I didn't say they were justified, I totally agree that the harrassment is wrong. I just said it was typical, and that I sympathized because it happened to me too a few years ago. This is why I suggested calling a lawyer or the police if it continues, one shouldn't have to put up with that especially when it's clearly referring to something illegitimate in the first place.

yup I agree.. and the problem is too many people think they can just walk all over you and don't know they have rights. I had a go around with a Dentist's office, and one a few years back with a fitness company that went out of buisness befor I could finnish paying for my membership. aparently they were choked that I felt if they went out of buisness 1 month after they signed me up then I didn't have to make any more payments other than the first. (that was an interesting one):mrgreen:


Steve

Wow man .. I guess it takes all kinds !! That's unreal.

OMG, I'd flip out. My last semblance of calm and decency would fly out the window. Bad things would happen :lol:

A contract is a contract, funny how when the consumer breaks the contract we are billed out of the ying yang. On the same note if the provider breaks the contract the consumer is usually the one that still pays out of the ying yang... Great world we live in.

yes, but the premis was that I made 6 installments for 12 months free access to there facility. so if I paid the first instalment and they go out of business then they are not upholding there end of the contract so it is deamed null and void so why should I continue to pay for a service I am not getting. the lawyers agreed with me anyways :mrgreen: at any rate once I told the colection company I had consulted a lawyer and was looking at leagal action against the company they droped the debit and kicked it back to the company. since the company was now defunct they couldn't come after me.

what I realy like are the cell phone contracts.. if you want to stop it early your pay out is the remainder of the contract.. not like a mortage where it is a couple months interest payments.

Steve

the bankruptcy sure must of been hunting for money for the creditors on that one

Tell me about it, when I lived in Sasktoon I had a Roger's cell phone as my only phone. They contacted me about adding a second phone to my account for a nominal fee (it was a good deal, actually), and were to send me a pair of free phones. Well, 2 months went by, no phones... but the extra charge was added to my bill. Eventually I refused to pay the extra charges, and had a run-in with some lackey at one of the Roger's offices... needless to say, I cancelled my service sooner than later, and refused to pay the excess charges.

I have yet to hear from collections about that one, but suspect that bill to be still floating around somewhere.

another concern I have with the Collection Agency, now there's a bunch of nut jobs with a grudge that there's no commission with all my personal info.

Ouch, I hadn't thought of that, mark... stop it, you're scaring me :lol:

I wouldn't be concerned, there are lots of files that get dropped.. and for the 2 bucks commision they would have got off ya it isn't worth anything to them.

Steve

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I think everyone wants a bit more money these days. My Brother-in-law just had a collection agency call him on behalf of his old Columbia House account. They claim he still owes them from 1996! All he did was quote them a few lines from the Canadian statute of limitations and they left him alone. I guess during times of economic growth these companies will let a few bucks slip through the cracks. Now that times aren't so good, they have to scrape the bottom for every red penny.