[Salenger]

I am in a fairly serious debt issue about 4k on one credit card, the collection agency that is has been handling my debt for about 2 months has threatended legal action and has state I have property they can take in order for the debt to be clearer.

Myself I have no items of substantial value, our family has one car which is owned (paid for) by my spouse and some other items within the household that I do not own e.g. TV, computer etc... all of which my spouse has paid for since I was laid off during the recession two years ago.

My question is can the collection agency enter my home and take items that belong to my spouse? She is not a cosigner and has absolutely nothing to do with my debt, but the manner in which this agency is talking they are making it seem as though they can just enter our house and take whatever they want to pay the debt off. I have put myself into a bad situation and I really hope this won't affect my spouse or family.

We live in Ontario Canada.

Any advice or info on the above is appreciated.

[tickle]

This must be a collection agency that is really desperate. If they don't have a judgment against you, they can't take anything, can't come into your house, absolutely no way.

Usually confiscated items don't bring much value to their table, so are worthless in bringing down a debt.

I suggest you have no contact with them, do not speak to them on the phone.

They will threaten anything to get your money, but how old is the debt; they have obviously bought the debt for so much on the dollar, trying to collect.

[Salenger]

Thanks, ill take that advice for now. The debt is about 6-8 months old, since I was unable to make payments for my Credit Card. This Agency has been handling it for 2 months max, they did threaten to seek legal action as well, I assume I will be informed of when this court hearing takes place and will need to be present? Also if you happen to know, will the police come to my door and drop off a court summons or anything like that? Im just worried that a 4k debt could end up destroying our life.

[tickle]

The police won't come, you will be informed through the mail. The police have nothing to do with this. 4k is nothing as to what some people owe, Salenger.

Just remember, unless they have a judgment against you, you don't have to talk to them on the phone. They have a lot of scare tactics, I assure you.

They will be taking you to small claims court, not a judge and jury.

[Fr_Chuck]

Please stop talking to them on the phone, They lie, if they were or wanted to do legal action now, they would just do it, not threaten to do it.

Without a judgement, they can't do anything and if this was in the US, it is illegal for them to even threaten to have the police come to your home. I assume it should be wrong in Canada to threaten this also.

If this was me, I would no longer even speak to them on the phone. Ask them to put any of this in writing. And if you just must speak to them on the phone, get a recorder, inform them that anything said is being recorded and I bet they either hang up or change their tunes.

The collector gets a large percentage of what they collect, so they often lie and threaten to try to get you to pay, so they make money.

Personaly I don't answer or hang up and never talk to them on the Phone. In the US, we would even write them and tell them not to contact us by phone any longer.