".....We also have a cel phone with telus under her name completely separate from this old sold off collection debt." Julie juliedustin

I'm not sure what the contractural obligations might be under those circumstances. If the new cell phone number is still under the sister's name, at least the right of offset (to recover payments on the old bill) would likely continue indefinitely.

But as far or Telus starting legal action in BC on a contract which originated in Alberta just because the SOL there is 6 years instead of 2 years, it is most doubtful. Business and consumer contracts are provincially regulated. Giving the aggrieved plaintiff the choice of jurisdictions as to where to file the action is restricted to the to the territory within the province where the contract arose.

The action would have to be heard in an Alberta Court; and to enforce any judgment obtained, a writ would have to be applied for in the judicial district where the plaintiff currently resides. However, no judgment was obtained (or can be) in Alberta because the action is governed by the Alberta Limitations Act, not the BC one.

That doesn't mean they still can't bug you about it until 2011 though even if they can't litigate. (See reference below.)

http://www.servicealberta.ca/1009.cfm

Thanks for the replies

It is correct that we never received a letter from them, so they have broken that part of the law I guess.

We will be getting a transunion credit report soon.

I guess I am confused that if the statute for alberta is expired, that I am basically "stuck" in alberta for fear of being able to take me to court. I would have thought that once the statute had expired I was free to move on, but I guess that isn't the case.

I will likely be writing a letter of dispute soon as well as a letter demanding that all correspondance occur via registered letter instead of these phone calls we are always getting.

Thanks again for the responses.

When was the last time you requested a TransUnion Credit Report
( downloaded from their website including a credit score ) or a Consumer Disclosure Report ( which you can order by mail for free )? Not all creditors and collection agencies report to both credit bureaus. I am not familiar with CBV's reporting practices but it may be that they only report to TransUnion and do not report to Equifax. While you're at it, request a Consumer Disclosure Report from Equifax and compare both reports side by side. I'm sure that you will find information on one report that is missing on the other report.

Under the B.C. Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act, S.B.C.
2004, Chapter 2, Part 7 deals with Debt Collection and more specifically Prohibited Debt Collection Practices. Before a collection agency can contact you, they must first send you a letter stating who the original creditor is, the account number of the debt and the amount of the outstanding debt including interest ( if any ). They then must wait 5 days before they can contact you. From your thread, I assume that the collection agency did not send you this letter. If this is the case, contact the collection agency and request this letter and inform them that there will be no further communication with them until you receive this letter. Also, the Act is silent on how many times a day or week a collection agency can contact you. Section 114 of the Act loosely defines HARASSMENT, however, calling several times a day or week does not fall within the definition of Harassment.

A collection agency may call from Monday to Saturday between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. and on Sunday between the hours of 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. They are not

allowed to call on a Statutory holiday.

There are 2 ways to stop phone calls. Under S. 116 ( 4 ) a collector must not continue to communicate with a debtor

( a ) except in writing, if the debtor
( i ) has notified the collector to communicate in writing only, and

( ii ) has provided a mailing address at which the debtor may be

contacted.

( c ) if the debtor has notified the collector and the creditor that the debt
is in dispute and that the debtor would like the creditor to take the
matter to court.

PLEASE NOTE These notices must be in writing and should be sent
by registered mail.

Under the Alberta Limitations Act, R.S.A., 2000, c.L-12 Sec. 3 ( 1 ) ( a ) the limitation period for bringing an action against a debtor is 2 years. Under the B.C. Limitation Act, R.S.B.C., 1996, Chapter 266 Sec 3 ( 5 )
the limitation period for bringing an action against a debtor is 6 years.

The plaintiff ( creditor ) may commence an action in the territorial

jurisdiction where the cause of action arose -- that is, where the event or wrongdoing giving rise to the action occurred, The plaintiff may commence the action in the territorial jurisdiction where the defendant resides ( lives ) or carries on business. The plaintiff may commence the action at the court's place of sitting that is nearest to the place where the defendant lives or resides. If the creditor is going to commence an action, it won't be in Alberta ( where the cause of action arose ) because of the 2 year limitation, the debt would be statute barred. The creditor would commence the action in British Columbia ( where the defendant resides ) because of the 6 year limitation. If the last payment on this debt was made in 2005, then the limitation period has not expired.

I trust that these notes and background information will be of some assistance to you. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to blog on this site or send me a private message.

Good Luck and have a GREAT DAY

Tell the losers at CBV to look for employment that pays more than $12/hr.

Actually just tell the agency it's a dispute and you don't owe it. Send it to them in writing and they'll have to stop calling OR get proof of the debt then MAYBE try to recover legally (not likely).

Also, check your Trans Union for the credit listing if it isn't on your equifax.

So you went bankrupt but not your wife?

Remember, the law states:pursue a non-judgment debt where the last payment or
written acknowledgement by the debtor is more than 6
years previous;

Which is the statute of limitations of 6 years which means no legal action can be taken.

Before the agency can speak to your wife, they need to send an initial notice to you, before making a call to you.

In Alberta it states:
exceed 3 unsolicited contacts on behalf of the same
creditor with a debtor in any period of 7 consecutive days,
not including contacts with a third party

So clearly they have gone over the allowed call time. Also, remember they can call between the hours of 7 am and 10 pm.

The law also states:
indicate to the debtor or any other person contacted for the
purpose of collecting the debtor’s debt that the collection
agency or the collector is part of a law firm or the legal
department of a business, including a legal department of
the collection agency itself or of the creditor of the debt;

and

give any person, directly or indirectly, by implication or
otherwise, any false or misleading information, including,
but not limited to, references to the police, a law firm,
prison, credit history, court proceedings or a lien or
garnishment;

Of course, the latter part can only be pursued if the agency has consent from the creditor, which in most cases is not the situation.

You can review more of this here
http://www.qp.alberta.ca/574.cfm?page=1999_194.cfm&leg_type=Regs&isbncln=9780779732340

There is a lot more details to cover in this situation, feel free to review some of the information above plus the act and reply back with any questions.

By the way, debt was originally in alberta, we moved to bc just under 2 years ago.

We also have a cel phone with telus under her name completely separate from this old sold off collection debt.

Hi, I went into bankruptcy about 2 years ago and at the time my I was trying to make sure my wife's credit was in better shape than mine.

My wife when she was in college had a cel phone and made the mistake of getting a family plan and giving one hone to her sister, who then racked up a huge bill and got her disconnected, termination fees etc.

She tried her best to make good on the debt, sending payments in to telus for a few months. This was 5 years ago.

Once I went into bankruptcy she brought this up and I called telus all they could do was tell me who the collection agency was and that they can't do anything more for us. After me phoning around trying to track this down and eventually getting nowhere, I eventually gave up and 2 months later i looked at her credit report, and the collection item suddenly disappeared.

It has now been 5 years since the original debt and 2 years since I gave up trying to get ahold of anyone ( keep in mind she never spoke with them previously, if I CONTACTED anyone i would have asked her to identofy herself and allow me to talk )

We have never recieved a letter in the mail, but recently we suddenly started getting phone calls from CBV regarding a $2,000 debt from telus.

I am sure much of this was interest, but I've read online how often a collection agency is allowed to call, and it seems like they might be calling more than they are supposed to.

When she refused to give out her social insurance number on the phone, the gentlemen got angry and was asking her "who" told her not to give out that information on the phone, common sense I say.

Sometimes we get a couple calls in a day, I count 5 over 5 business days including 2 in one day on our call display from the same number.

The voicemail messages first said that they had good news about our claim, now they say that we have 48 hours to avoid litigation.

We still never got a letter, and tried to make good on this once to no avail, and now are getting aggressive calls out of the blue.

They also tell us that they have an active claim on our credit report, but we recieve a credit alert ackage containing our full equifax credit report quarterly, as well as any updates, and there is nothing on our most recent information.

When I ask what agency it's on they say they don't know just that it's "one of the big ones" and I've ruled out equifaz, makes me feel like they are lieing.

I told her not to claim the debt, simly say she doesn't know or remember, so that she doesn't acknowledge it.

Is there anything more I can and should say or do?

Thanks for the help.