Post-judgment interest starts to run on the total judgment amount from the date of the judgment. The “total judgment amount” is the money award plus pre-judgment interest plus costs. This is authorized by Subsection 129(1) of the “Courts of Justice Act”.
If there is a contractual interest rate, you will calculate post-judgment interest using that rate. For example, if the defaulted account was a credit card and on the day of default, the credit card carried an APR ( annual percentage rate ) of 25.99%, then this is the interest rate that will be charged in calculating post-judgment interest. If you read your “Cardholder's Agreement”, this is normally stated in one of the Clauses.
If there is no agreement setting out the rate of interest that applies in the event of a default, then pre-and post-judgment interest rates must be determined in accordance with Sections 127 to 130 of the “Courts of Justice Act” using the rates published pursuant to Ontario Regulation 339/07. Current tables of post-judgment and pre-judgment interest rates can be found at the following website
http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/interestrates.asp
When calculating the interest under the “Courts of Justice Act”, you must read the applicable sections carefully. Subsection 129(1) states that money owing under an order, including costs to be assessed or costs fixed by the court, bears interest at the post-judgment interest rate, calculated from the date of the order. In other words, Subsection 129(1) gives you the “time period” for calculating post-judgment interest.
However, if you want to know the “rate of interest” you must go to the definition of post-judgment interest in Subsection 127(1). The Subsection 127(1) definition states that the interest rate for post-judgment interest under the “Courts of Justice Act” is the bank rate at the end of the first day of the last month of the quarter preceding the quarter in which the date of the order falls.
A quarter is a three-month period. There are four quarters in any year.
First quarter: January, February, March
Second quarter: April, May, June
Third quarter: July August, September
Fourth quarter: October, November, December
If the order for payment of money is made in September, during the third quarter of the year, then the applicable post-judgment interest rate under the “Courts of Justice Act” is the interest rate for the preceding quarter-----that is, the second quarter of that year. If the order for the payment of money is made in February, during the first quarter of the year, then the applicable post-judgment interest rate under the “Courts of Justice Act” is the interest rate for the fourth, or last quarter, of the preceding year.
Under the Ontario “Collection Agencies Act”, Regulation 74, deals with your problem of contact by a collection agency. Pursuant to Subsection 22(3), it says
“No collection agency or collector shall contact or attempt to contact the debtor's spouse, a member of the debtor's family or household, or a relative, neighbour, friend or acquaintance of the debtor”.
Pursuant to Subsection 22(6), it says
“No collection agency or collector shall contact the person more than 3 times in a seven-day period on behalf of the same creditor”
Pursuant to Subparagraph 22(4)(d)(ii), it says
“No collection agency or collector shall contact or attempt to contact the debtor's employer unless the contact is in respect of payments pursuant to an order or judgment made by a court in favour of the collection agency or collector or a creditor who is a client of the collection agency or collector”.
In summary, the collection agency or collector is not permitted to contact anyone about this debt owing other than the debtor unless the debtor gives written authorization to the collection agency or collector to do so. Also, the collection agency or collector cannot contact you more than 3 times in a 7 day period. If this continues to occur, send a registered letter to the Chief Privacy Officer of the respective collection agency making specific reference to the Collection Agencies Act, Regulation 74 and more specifically to the Subsections to which I quoted.
In reference to a court order or a judgment to which I made reference to in Subparagraph, 22(4)(d)(ii), the Act is silent as to the number of times a collection agency or collector can contact you at your place of employment. This subparagraph only applies to a court order or judgment, and not to a matter that has not gone to trial.
In the event that the creditor proceeds to obtain a garnishment order, and when the garnishment order is issued by the clerk of the Small Claims Court, the creditor will serve a copy of the Notice of Garnishment and affidavit for enforcement request on the debtor within 5 days of serving the Notice of Garnishment on the garnishee ( your employer ). This will be done by mail, by courier or by personal service.
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