Thank you for the reply. My searches haven't helped me find a definition for DOLA either. I would appreciate hearing about your findings.

I was with my wife when she opened the account and we were not informed of any outstanding debts at that time. I'm going to read through the documentation we received when it was opened to see if she agreed to right of offset at that time.

Why did we open an account at TD? To quote Homer “DOH!!”. The visa account was so old we simply forgot about it.

Normally when you open an account at a bank and they notice that you had a previous unpaid debt with them they inform you of this. I even believe they have you sign a document either authorizing the offset or at least to acknowledge that you were informed of the offset.

The definition of what constitutes last activity is rather hard to come by. I started looking for it yesterday and haven't found any definition in legislation. If I find something I'll let you know.

To reset the SOL period the payment must be voluntary but the argument could be made that the offset was voluntary since as I said normally it is a condition of opening an account at the bank.

The obvious question is why did your wife choose TD if she had previous unpaid debts with them.

I could use more advice on this one. Here is a quick recap....

- My wife opened an account with TD in Aug. 2009 for payroll deposits from a new job.
- First pay into that account was taken by TD (right of offset) Aug. 17th 2009 for an old visa account
- Contacted by Collectcorp in November which started this post.
- My wife tried to talk to them and couldn’t handle their attitude.
- We sent them a letter authorizing me to negotiate on her behalf and requesting their Licence, authorization to collect for TD, date of last activity, and balance at last activity.

That brings us to today’s conversation with Collectcorp. I was informed by Collectcorp that the date of last activity was Aug. 17th, 2009! The day TD exercised the "right of offset" and that it was reported to the credit bureau as such. He also advised me that the SOL has been reset as a result.

My understanding was that right of offset was not considered last activity as it was not voluntary. Did I get that wrong or is this guy lying to me. Where can I find a legal definition of Last activity? If “right of offset” is not considered last activity; is the TD breaking the law by reporting it to the credit bureau?

O.C.,

It's a very good question. To be honest I'm not too sure and I sort of remember we discussed it before in this forum. At this point it makes sense to me that if original creditors sold their debts, the debt should no longer belong to them. I'll look into it though, stay tuned.

Btw, where's Raymond? I haven't seen him anymore.

Ranzzzz,

I'm curious on that one, too, and will admit that I've never investigated the topic. Would assume that as long as the original lender holds the debt, they'd do everything in their power to collect on it. I could see the dynamics changing if the debt is later sold to a 3rd party though.

Am I on the right path?

O.C.

Thank You Ranzzzz,

Should we assume that "the right of offset" never goes away then?

As to the moral issue of paying them back I can tell you this. With all the loans, mortgages, over draft fees, banking fees and credit card interest we've paid to TD in the past; they should be embarrassed to come after us for a measly few thousand dollars!

I love having a place to rant!

If your debt is 10 years old I would recommend not to do anything and just simply ignore it. First, it has already been past the Statute of Limitation and no one can sue you for it anymore. Second, I believe your credit report, in an ideal case, would not even show this item since it is way past the 6 years period that a bad debt has to stay on a credit report. It is like this debt has never occured in your life in other people's eyes and you are having a fresh start.

The last day of activity does not reset even if you pay the debt. That term strictly means the last day you paid your debt before it was written off.

Of course if you think morally you need to settle the debt, by all mean proceed it. It is, however, not your best interest to touch it anymore. The creditor gave up their right to pursue it 10 years ago, and I don't think you should be stressed about it at this moment.

Regarding your wife account, TD has the right to exercise "the right of offset", meaning they can just take out money from a bank account they possess to pay the debt. This right does not extend to another financial institution. As a result, the only thing you can do is to close the account and open another one at another bank. Do not let them to take a portion of your hard earned money away. Hope it helps

RichardC - Thanks for the input and links. Much apprecited.

Thanks for the PM

This article will help you understand the money they took out of her account and why they can do that: http://totaldebtfreedom.ca/articles/article_7.htm

You will have to run your own credit report and see if it appears, I don't speculate on how credit reports work because there are so many errors on so many of them. Monty (the webmaster) has a really comprehensive credit repair eBook and I would suggest looking there since he put so much research into it. You can get it here: /canadian-credit-repair-ebook.html

And yes you can settle the debt for less then you owe on your own. Search the forum, there are tons of resources/threads there that answer that too.

RE: your PM, you are asking a “legal question” about forcing them to take the settlement they offered. I am not a paralegal/lawyer so I am not qualified to give legal advice.

I do know however that in every contract there has to be an “offer” and “acceptance” of that offer for it to bind both sides … it sounds like you have a legit offer so all you have to do is accept it now and meet the terms of the offer as outlined. My advice would be speak to a qualified paralegal or lawyer if you are unsure how to execute that or if it will be binding.

After getting a part time job my wife opened an account with TD for her pay deposits. 80% of her first pay (approx. $200.00) was taken by the bank due to an old credit card debt (over 10 years). One we had long forgotten. We can't remember how much the unpaid balance was but the limit was $2000.00. We contacted the bank who couldn’t seem to get any details on the debt. We provided them our current contact info and waited. This was a few of months ago.

Yesterday we got a letter from Collectcorp. It stated that the file had been referred to them and that the outstanding balance was over $6200.00 and due immediately of course. However they would resolve the account for $3100.00+ and they were willing to work with us on an affordable payment plan. My wife called and was treated as badly as you would expect. She wanted to discuss a payment plan on the $3100 as per the letter. In a complete contradiction to their letter they said the $3100 was a onetime payment offer only and the payment plan would only be applied to the $6200. In total frustration my wife said she would call them back and hung up.

My questions...

As this was so old it wasn’t on my wife’s credit report which, at last look, was in good shape. Now that the bank has taken monies from her account (without permission), will it reappear on her credit report (i.e. last activity)?

Although it would cause some hardship as I’ve been out of work for 8 months now, is there a way to force the issue of payments on the smaller amount to settle this?

Thanks in advance for you input.