What goes on in Small Claims Court has nothing to do with credit reporting per se; however, if a judgment is rendered against you, it will be contained on both of your credit reports for the the next 7 years in Ontario.

But no, you can't take a creditor to court to dispute a negative item that they've reported to the bureaus which you happen to disagree with. The most you can do is send in a letter of dispute to each of the 2 credit bureaus ( 3 if you include Northern).

Look, keep it simple; Either pay the damn thing off or forget about it.
Also forget about Small Claims Court as it has no relevance in this minor case for either party.

Ray

Q: Can a debt matter and detriment of credit rating be handles by small claims court?

Reason why I'm asking is if this goes on my credit rating, I'll definitely be upset and consider court.
Cheers

As of today, it's still not on my credit report. I just received the letter a few days ago stating that I pay this.
Today is my last day of talking to fido. Don't really give a damn about the 250. It's a matter of principle and retarded companies trying to screw oer a customer.
Thanks for your help.

Take care

Gee, I don't know; nor do I think anyone else can give you an exact number.

But you certainly don't want an R9 on your TransUnion or Equifax reports. However, if it was going to be on them, it will be there by now. If that's the case, you can always submit a 100 word letter of dispute to the 2 bureaus explaining why you dispute the item. That gets attached to your file for the next 6 years or so. Any future creditors who pull your report can then see the explanation. Alternatively, it looks slightly better if an R9 is paid off as opposed to being outstanding.

On the the plus side, it's not going to ruin your life.

On the negative side, you really should have given some thought as to whether it was worth the risk getting an R9 on your credit reports for the next 6 years for a measly $250, whether you disputed the bill or not.

Ray

You mean TCR, not CRT, don't you? Whatever, they're all mindless thugs.

A collection agency cannot by law add any extra expenses for collection fees. But then TCR was never known for following the law anyway.

I have no idea what you mean by wanting to file in Small Claims Court. They are the ones who can take you to Small Claims Court by filing and serving you with a statement of claim. (Form 7A). It would then be up to you to file a statement of defence (Form 9A) within 20 days. (Don't worry, none of this will happen.)

Limitation period means the period of time that a creditor has to take you to court over a debt. The period starts when the debt goes into default and ends when the creditor files a statement of claim in court over it. If they haven't done so within the limitation period, then they are forever "stats barred" from taking any court action.

For this type of debt, the limitation period in Ontario is 2 years for debts that were defaulted on after Jan.1, 2004. After 2 years they become stats barred. However, you renew the limitation period every time you make a payment on the debt or provide the creditor with a signed written acknowledgment of it.

Ray

ps. reason why i'm still attending to this matter is because of the credit report hook they have.
anyone can tell me how detrimental would this $250 be to my score if I'm at around 725 at the moment?

Well frankly I will 100% not pay this. I basically want to file a small claims right away. I'd rather pay the legal fees than give fido or CRT their money.

Regardless, the thug at CRT told me its 24% per month, plus the collection fees, so 260$, it would be 70$ in a month, and so on, hence I freaked out because that's a bit intense. It could go into 700$ range in no time.

I didn't fully understand you with the 2 year period.

All I did was asked CRT to send me a statement of account and that from now on, I want to be contacted via mail, preferably registered as I will be disputing this $250-260. Frankly I don't want to be calling fido anymore, would rather deal legally with CRT as Fido are a bunch of customer service morons who don't deal beyond their LCD screens.

Anyhow, how sort of actions do I need to take to dispute this balance? I presume small claims is not the way to go? And if yes, would the defendant be CRT or Fido in this case?

Take care and thanks again for your prompt response. I really appreciate it!

Pawel

If you don't want to pay it, don't pay it. No one is going to sue you over a lousy $250. Er, well, almost no one - I forgot about George Krieser. Actually, a collection agency has to obtain the phone company's permission to sue you; something which won't happen for $250. Watch out for your credit reports though.

If the contract was made in Ontario, Saskatchewan or Alberta, the debt will be stats barred 2 years after you made your last payment. Don't let them trick you into providing any written acknowledgment of the account to anyone from now on unless it's for a total and final settlement. Otherwise, you'll renew the limitation period every trime you do.

The interest rate that was in effect at the time of the contract continues on until the debt becomes stats barred whether anyone takes you to court over it or not. If it was 24% per annum before the default, interest will keep on building up at that rate, but there's less than 2 years to go anyhow. Not too sure where you're getting that 1000% thing.

That gang of thugs over at 225 Yorkland Blvd, Toronto are shysters. Rely on absolutely nothing they say. AND NEVER SEND THEM ANY MONEY WITHOUT A SIGNED AGREEMENT IN YOUR HANDS FIRST.

Ray

I'm sure you have heard every possible scenario and gave excellent advice. Maybe this is something new.

Overview:
1. Basically I had a monthly cellphone plan with fido as I move between provinces.
2. All my bills have been paid on time, directly withdrawn from my AMEX
3. Subsequent to my move to another province, where I basically get another SIM card etc..., I cancelled my direct withdrawal (done on-line) and had my phone services cancelled.
4. There was no activity on the account for 4 consecutive months, yet fido kept on charging me about $80/month.
5. Bill amounted to $255, which i know is rediculous, but it went into collections.
6. I spent hours on the phone with fido before TCR took it over, and I basically agreed to paying only for the month where actual cell usage was noted, which I initially thought there was no use, but fido found 1 month, hence I agreed to pay $70, as opposed to $250.

Lady in fido customer service seemed upset with me and told me it's in collections and she can't do anything. So right now, I can't pull out my statements to provide them with proof that I made timely payments before this issue came up, as well as I can't provide them with proof that there was no activity on the cell phone and that this charge is bogus.

My plan is to basically write a letter to CRT, as I told them I do not want to deal with them on phone, and frankly just tell them that I want to dispute this charge. This stupid $250 would likely go to court, which I presume this is what a dispute is.

Note that I tried to resolve this with fido, and they basically tell me that it's in collections.

I asked collections to get my monthly contract agreement and my statements showing there is no activity and that my bills have been paid on time, yet they can't do that due to privacy laws.

So unless someone has some advice that I can use, can anyone outline the process I need to go through to dispute this $260? CRT agent told me they charge 24%/month interest, which I asked him whether it was legal as it amounts to over 1000% per year. He said when it reaches the legal limit, it gets closed and another collection agency buys it. I presume that's their tactic, hence I want to take it to court before interest escelates.

All you help will be greatly appreciated. Note that even though $250 is not a large sum of money, I do not believe I owe it to anyone and will definitely not pay it. I need info as to how to file the dispute (whether it has to be court ordered, and what sort of forms/legal documents I need to provide). Addresses would also be nice, or names of establishments as I'm new to Toronto.

Take care!