Thank you for catching my mistake...I was thinking they were from BC when I wrote my reply...thanks again.

@tjbrooks

Under the Alberta Limitations Act, RSA 2000, Chapter L-12, the limitation period for the commencement of a legal proceeding for an unpaid debt is 2 years, not 6 years as indicated in your post. This is stated in section 3(1) of the Act.

The GENERAL limitation periods for all provinces/territories is 6 years except Ontario and Alberta which is 2 years and Quebec which is 3 years. There are some notable exceptions in unusual cases. For example, in Ontario, any student loan granted pursuant to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act and goes into default, there is no limitation period. This is clearly stated under paragraph 16(1)(k) of the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002.

Also, there is much misunderstanding as to the application of various limitation acts. For example, under the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002, once a court order is made by a judge, there is NO TIME LIMIT to enforce the order. Under the previous limitation act, the court order had to be enforced within 10 years but there was a provision within the Act that the court order could be renewed for a further 10 years providing the application to renew was made before the court order expired. In other words, under the previous Act, a court order was valid for 20 years maximum providing a renewal was made before the first 10 years expired. Under the current Act, there is no time limit. This is provided for pursuant to paragraph 16(1)(b).

In contrast, under the B.C. Act, a court order is only valid for 10 years with no option to renew. That means, in B.C., if a court order is not enforced within 10 years, in essence, the court order now becomes null and void.

If one is to commence a legal action in Canada, it is imperative that you become very familiar with the limitation act of the jurisdiction in which the legal action commences.

P.S. Your comments and suggestions to our many reader's problems are excellent. I will watch them carefully and should incorrect information be given, I will be happy to set the record straight.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

If you have not been contacted since 2002 you do not have to pay.
The Statute of limitations ran out in 2008 on this debt. They can not use the courts now to try and collect. This is now simply a moral issue as to wether you want to pay. It is to old to be listed on a credit report at this time. They can and will probably still hound you by phone for a while...just hang up.

I got a call from Metropolitan about owing 500 dollars from a 2002 telephone bill. I filed for bankrupcty back then but I guess it was missed. Anyway, they have now contacted me and told me they were sending it to collections. It's been nine years, do I have to pay this? Will it affect my credit? It isn't showing on my credit record. How would they have been able to get my phone number after all of these years? Would it be because I just recently requested a credit report? What is my best option?