Ha...
I get the same reaction every time I see a post on parking tickets and collection agencies.

OK... there are no contracts in place with traffic tickets... there are no laws saying we have to deal with collection agents...

When I lived in Toronto, I remember that my church was contracted, as a fund raiser, to organize parking tickets for the City of Toronto. (It was even more amusing when church members found other church members parking tickets!!).

I believe there were 250,000+- of them, and they were backlogged years...

I would love it if somebody paid me an hourly salary to fight this stuff...

taxes
credit
debt
bankruptcy
credit repair
investing
making money
saving money
retirement planning

For ease of finding, here's a reprint of the March 15 post about old Toronto parking tickets, iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency and one of the 3 feature stories the Toronto Sun ran on it around St. Patrick's Day, this year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOULAS ABOU-NIMER AGREES WITH RAYMOND JACKSON

Er, who?

Us Irish men have to stick together, especially since Saint Paddy's Day is just around the corner.

This is the third consecutive day that the Toronto Sun has published a feature story about iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency and the City of Toronto parking ticket fiasco

And Abou-Nimer, my Irish compatriot, is a former iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency salesman. He seems to agree with me about iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency . Perhaps because the wings of justice, nemesis and retribution, like a homing pigeon, have returned home to roost on his doorstep and leave their droppings. Well, ok, not quite his doorstep, but that of his sister.

I include the story because it is instructive of what NOT to do if you are a poor sap receiving one of these mini make- work projects for the City. Just read what poor Herb did and then DON"T DO THAT! If the MTO hasn't issued you a plate denial, then just make a paper airplane out of the notice and fly it out the nearest window. Or attach it to a pigeon and send the the bird over to the birdbrains, like Anthony Fabrizi at City Hall.

Let them leave their deposits all over his window sill. Hopefully, he'll have his car parked below.

As for poor Herb, how did he make out in his quest for justice? Well, there was such a crowd in the lineup, he never actually got to see anyone, so he left in frustration. The City, to thank him for his diligence, deposited another ticket on his car by the time he returned to top off his Brutus Thornapple day.

Ray

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When it comes to nearly 20-year-old parking tickets in Toronto, Herb Gallo and dozens of others are finding out the hard way that in the city's eyes you are guilty until you can prove you are innocent.

The 69-year-old has been asking for "proof" since receiving a notice in the mail a week ago from a collection agency called Canadian Bonded Credits Ltd. claiming he owed $42.50 for a parking ticket dated Nov. 15, 1990.

But as of yesterday, even after driving from his Brampton home to a downtown Toronto court office, Gallo had yet to see any evidence that he parked illegally 17 years ago.

"I'm even more frustrated," Gallo said after spending much of the day trying to find out about a ticket he says he knew nothing about before last Thursday.

FIND THE PROOF

Following the tips from a city official in yesterday's Toronto Sun, the senior called the parking info line at 416-397-TAGS. But Gallo claims he was told there was "no record" of his fine.

Gallo said the person he spoke to told him he would find the proof he was looking for at the Court Administration Office at 137 Edward St., just north of University Ave. and Dundas St. W. So he filled his gas tank and drove the 50 km from Brampton.

The retired businessman found a parking spot several blocks away, plunked the $3 in change he had on him in the meter, then made his way to the court office.

A sign on the second-floor told Gallo he was not alone in his quest for answers.

It read: "Waiting times may be longer than usual today. Sorry for the inconvenience."

After nearly two hours, Gallo left utterly deflated. "This is ridiculous," he said. "I was told a supervisor would call me within seven days."

Gallo's story first appeared in the Sun Monday. It sparked a flood of e-mails and phone calls from others saying they were being "hounded" by iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency for old tickets -- one dating back to 1987.

WITHOUT QUESTION

"I'm sure a lot of people pay without asking any questions," Gallo said.

Boulos Abou-Nimer worked for iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency in the mid-90s and claims that's exactly what the firm counts on.

"They throw (stuff) at the wall and see what sticks," said the 39-year-old, whose sister is receiving calls from iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency for 37 outstanding tickets.

Abou-Nimer said a iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency sales rep -- the job he did -- likely approached the city offering to collect old debts.

"It's commission-based," he said. "Typically the company keeps about a third of what it collects and gives the client the other two thirds, so it's free money for the city."

Anthony Fabrizi, head of parking operations, said the city would provide proof of outstanding debts to anyone who asks.

He said there was some confusion initially with Gallo's case but he has since tracked down the 1990 ticket and two letters he claims were mailed out to the senior at the time informing him he had not paid the fine.

Yes, I see on the first link, there is a post about Herb Gallo and his sad parking ticket plight and fight with iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency . Good that you found it; damned if I can could. It's on page 1 of thread #493. It's located near the bottom and dated March 15, 2007.

Ahhhh, the thread brings back fond old memories. I see at the top of the page is a post by my admirer, Wayne Macleod, Vice President of Total Credit Recovery, telling me what a sharp cookie I am. Nonetheless, he was under some martini induced illusion that I (Huh? Shudder!) or anyone else ever called him for help. That would be like a minnow calling a piranna fish to rescue them from a shark.

Ray

charr55,
Here's a link to a previous conversation about parking tickets and collection agencies..

/threadview/493/1718/3.html

AND

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=parking+tickets+site%3Acanadian-money-advisor.ca&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Where as this is one of my favorite pet peeves, I'm bug fixing on another site right now...
I can't get into this in any depth.

We dealt with this a long time ago. There was a front page article in the Toronto Sun last winter regarding the City of Toronto's blitz to collect all the old oustanding parking tickets.

iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency won the tender from the City (Total Credit Recovery screwed up the application) and were deluging the public with calls and letters. Everyone was going down to the JP's office at 137 Edward Street, 2nd floor and swearing before a JP that they had never received a ticket or a trial notice and so were demanding a "reopening" [a new trial].

Do that if you want. If you do go, prepare to spend a while there and be sure to take a pen with you.

As for me, I'd go to the nearest MTO licence office (if I owned a vehicle) and see if those parking fines are outstanding and would have to be paid before I could renew my sticker. They may well not be. But you've got to check at least.

If they're not on the MTO outstanding tolls or fines computer, tell iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency where to go. And if they put you on the daily autodialler, find out the number of a key iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency person (i.e., not a telephone grunt) and give them the "Jackson 10 for 1 Special."

That should do it. It will also save you from driving down to Edward Street and getting yet another parking ticket like poor ol' Herb from Brampton - who I referred to in the previous post on this.

Ray

ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention that there is a very long set of stairs to the second floor at 137 Edward Street, with no elevator that I remember. (It's been awhile, so I hope I'm right.) You may have to call because of your hip to make special barrier free arrangements.

I recently received a phone call from iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency , who told me that the City of Toronto had enlisted them to come after me for parking tickets from April of 1991, for a total of $165.00. Now, I do recall paying off some tickets in January or February of 1994, but as that was over 13 years ago, I no longer have my cancelled cheques or anything proving that these tickets were paid.

When I contacted the POA Courts, the response I received was that unless I could provide proof of payment, the only recourse I had was to apply for a reopening or for an extension to pay the fine in front of a Justice of the Peace. I guess I'll have to do this, but am I wrong in feeling as though they've got me by the short hairs? I know that the guideline for keeping receipts etc is 7 years, so possibly others do keep these things longer. However I just don't have room for all that much and do purge these things after 7 years. Also, I am currently immobile with a bad hip but will be having THR in 2 weeks so I guess I can go in person once I've recovered (in about 2 months time).

I'm just wondering if others are receiving these phone calls, and have paid but no longer have proof due to the time lapse, and how have they dealt with this? Any advice would be appreciated. And yes iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency is calling daily; I have advised them as to what is going on and they are quite polite but the daily calls are really getting annoying.

Thanks!