THX that\’s a great aneswr!

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We all understand the stress of collection calls. However, when you file either bankruptcy or a consumer proposal you expect those phone calls to stop within a reasonable period of time. That is not an unexpected request, and as the Trustee, I expect the creditors to stop calling once they have either received the paperwork, or received verbal confirmation, from our office. However, this is not always the case, and I wanted to share what happened to me.

A consumer proposal client came in to see me in Chatham last week. His creditor, a Big Bank who shall remain nameless, called him several times that morning, even though we had sent Big Bank the required paperwork. The first thing to remember is that these banks are large organizations. They receive hundreds of consumer proposal and bankruptcy papers every day. Taking a day or two to process the paperwork after they received it does not seem unreasonable to me. Usually just a quick phone call from our office would stop the phone calls. Not so with this Bank.

I called the Big Bank while the client was in my office and I spoke with a collector who was, let just say, not very polite to me. After 10 minutes on the phone, she eventually advised that it takes 7 days from our phone call to stop the telephone calls. This is just ridiculous. Basically Big Bank is telling me that even though I confirmed that the person had filed, gave them a court number, they will still call (disregard the fact that at they are violating the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act by continuing to call). After all this time on the phone, I was feeling agitated. If I felt that way with the Bank after just calling them to confirm a consumer proposal was filed, imagine how the people feel who are getting the calls. Eventually I called another department and spoke with a very polite gentlemen who did confirm that indeed their system is back logged, but he will try to put a rush through. I was curious if this was just an isolated incident, and after speaking with our head office, I was told its just luck of the draw. Sometimes you reach a very helpful person when you call Big Bank, other times you are treated the way I was treated. I wish I had a way to get Big Bank to stop calling right away, but unfortunately I don’t.

The next day, another client with the same Big Bank advised she is also getting collection calls. The strange thing about this file is that the bank filed their paperwork with me. I spoke with Big Bank’s customer service department and they advised they will be opening an investigation on this file and someone from Big Bank will be contacting me. She couldn’t figure out why they were calling if they knew about the filing. It’s pretty scary when Big Bank doesn’t even know why they are calling.

Phone calls are stressful. Unfortunately, even though we send notice to all of your creditors within the required time after you have filed it does take time for the phone calls to stop. But know that we do our best to get them to stop. If your account has been sold to a collections agency, it’s important that you let us know and we will send notice to the property company.

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Chatham has had a number of challenges over the last few years. Plants have closed, and jobs have been scarce. The recession has hurt Chatham more than other cities in Canada.

One of the questions I am often asked is this: What happens if I leave Chatham to find a job; can I file bankruptcy somewhere else? Can I file bankruptcy in Canada, even if I lived in Chatham for many years?

The answer is yes, you can file bankruptcy anywhere in Canada. Bankruptcy is federal law, so the rules are similar anywhere in Canada. The only significant difference is what you are allowed to keep when you go bankrupt in Ontario, because those rules are subject to provincial law.

For more information, consult the bankruptcy Canada website.

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