I get 2-3 call a day from this company..

they are usually computer generated

one is a message from- Mr Picopio.. no information other than to call thier office

The other one- OMG!!!!

I get the person name
File number - all the information needed to call and enquire about what is going on.

So I did call.. I know every single detail on what this person has been sent to collection for.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me if a collection agency can call and harress the person who answers the phone and then proceed to tell them about your credit rating and asking who this person is and so on

That's crazy.

Trying to get a freebie from an advertiser could potentially cost you a great deal in time trying to figure out how and why they're giving out your information.

Minee,
I would be interested to know exactly the kind of document you signed in order to get your freebie.

Did you manage to keep it?

I find that alot of people sign up for things on the internet where they are supposed to agree to the disclaimer when they sign up.
The internet website offers you a benefit if you sign up on their mailing list. I would surprised if anybody really reads the disclaimer before they sign up. These disclaimers, however, are legal documents which can stand up in a court.

It is important to read the fine print, even if it takes a little longer. As they say, there are no free lunches. The price of a free product is taking the time to verify who and what you're signing up for.

Minee I think with those mail in things often times small small letters it might say that sometimes they make your information available to third parties whom they think that they offer products you might like.

If you also signed the form I think this is a way of consent on your part but if you still get alot of that crap I would write the place you ordered from orignally telling them to remove you from any mailing lists they have. Sadly this would probably have to be done also with all the others you receive.

Consent is such a tricky thing with privacy. Some are quite elaborate at coercing people with sublteness that by the time you've consented you made a pack with the devil such as was my stupid mistake on November 13 this year but I am fighting back by using Bill s-21 of The Charter and PIPEDA.

Where can I check to see if these companies are telling other companies about my private information. I'm just starting into this stuff.

I started thinking about companies and my private information when I subscribed for a free product that I found in one of those fliers you get in the mail. All of a sudden I started to getting mail from other companies.

Do companies sell their mailing lists? Can they do that?

Hey Carrie Zulack,

Any company in Canada *CANNOT* just collect your personal information without your written/or otherwise provable permission.

This is explained in Federal Privacy Commission P.I.P.E.D.A.

PIPEDA talks about collecting and disclosing personal private information of Canadians.

The only entities which are able to collect or disclose your personal information are those such as the police or RCMP who are doing an investigation on you.

Other wise companies must get your permission to collect or disclose your information.

Keep in mind that a person may sign a contract that allows the creditor to collect or disclose your information, and disclose your information to a third party.

The best thing to do is to look for language in your contracts that talk about how you authorize a company to collect or disclose your personal information. Also, look for the words "assignment of debt", or "assigning the debt" to a third party.

SEE: assigning the debt to a third party

Seems to me I was reading that China, Russia and the Peoples Democratic Republic of North Korea have similar guarantees in their constitutions.

If that's true how can almost any company in Canada or the US pull your credit report which contains all your personal data?

And what about companies like Infocheck and Pointcheck etc. that legally do private investigator checks on your resume when you apply for a job? Some HR people have told me that many check up on intimate deatils of your life without your permission before you even apply for the job.

What's the use of privacy legislation if it's meaningless? How are you going to prove where they got the information unless they disclose their sources. No way are they going to because they don't legally have to incriminate themselves.

Hey Jean Boileau...

That's great information.

This is the type of information that the internet allows us to "air" and make public. People need to read this information and get more familiar with it.

Prior to the internet books like Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms were hidden away in stuffy Canadian libraries.!!

Good stuff!!

Same here. I have been doing alot of research concerning these matters and dug up some nice info from the actual Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms concerning privacy.

This is a long text but the link is http://www2.parl.gc.ca/content/Senate/Bills/371/public/S-21/S-21_1/S-21_text-e.htm

It is Bill s-21

This is only a bit of this Bill:

WHEREAS privacy is a basic human right of every individual and a fundamental value reflected in international human rights instruments to which Canada is a signatory;

AND WHEREAS privacy is an interest in the public good that underpins the relations of mutual trust and confidence that are fundamental to the Canadian social fabric;

AND WHEREAS privacy is essential to the preservation of democracy and the full and meaningful enjoyment and exercise of many of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
Short
title 1. This Act may be cited as the Privacy Rights Charter.
Purpose 2. The purpose of this Act is to give effect to the principles that

(a) privacy is essential to an individual's dignity, integrity, autonomy, well-being and freedom, and to the full and meaningful exercise of human rights and freedoms;

(b) there is a legal right to privacy;

(c) an infringement of the right to privacy, to be lawful, must be justifiable.

Right to privacy 3. Every individual has a right to privacy, including

(a) physical privacy;

(b) freedom from surveillance;

(c) freedom from monitoring or interception of their private communications; and

(d) freedom from the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information.

It's much longer but thought I'd throw this in :)

Hi Glen,
You made me dig out The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) document. This document can be found at http://www.privcom.gc.ca

To the best of my knowledge the only law that talks about a creditor being able to disclose the debtors information to a collection agency is PIPEDA Paragraph 7 as follows:

PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
7.(3) For the purpose of clause 4.3 of Schedule 1, and despite the note that accompanies that clause, an organization may disclose, without the knowledge or consent of the individual, use personal information only if,
(b) for the purpose of collecting a debt owed by the individual to the organization.

PIPEDA 4.3 talks about the regulations that a company has to abide by with regards to collecting and disclosing information from about and about individuals.

7.3 says that a creditor can disclose a debtors' personal and private information to a collection agency. However, that's as far as it goes. This paragraph DOES NOT make legal grounds for a third party collection agency to contact a debtor.

FURTHER:

Paragraph 7.3 does not give the collection agency any legal rights to disclose a person's private information to a credit bureau such as Equifax or TransUnion, unless it was previously authorized in the original credit agreement with the creditor.

Thus, if there is no contractual agreement between a debtor and creditor, the debtor DOES NOT have to deal with a third party collection agency. There is no law that says the debtor has to.

I am NOT advocating that people don't pay what they agreed to contractually. I believe that people need to pay their bills as agreed, however to the original creditor, if that's what they agreed to.

Glen,
Your logic is entrenched in Canadian's minds. After spending countless hours fighting with creditors, credit bureaus, government agencies, collection agencies, all across Canada I am pretty certain of what I'm talking about.

This is exactly the reason I put up this website. To help Canadians better understand their actual rights with regards to the credit industry.