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Do not pay. Read advice I posted.

Do not pay.

I got two calls and then a supposed legal letter from these people.  At first I assumed it to be a result of identity theft.   However, they could give me no identifying information that would have been valid at the supposed time of the debt.   In point of fact I wasn't even residing in Canada at the time.  They claim a debt owed to Canadian Tire, but Canadian Tire's financial group knew nothing about it when I called them.  Nothing is on any of my credit reports, so as far as I can tell, the fraud doesn't extend beyond MAC Financial.  There's no way to file a fraud report with the credit bureaus, because they have no record of a claim, nor any information regarding the claim that could be demonstrated to be false.  They haven't even provided an account number that could be checked against Canadian Tire's own records.

I have no information other than the name of the company (who used an untraceable number to call me the second time) and a law firm, Rivard, Kehoe LLP, to give to the police either, so there's little I can apparently do except wait and see what, if anything, they attempt next.  I did call Rivard, Kehoe LLP and they confirmed they were retained to send the letter but refused to give any further information regarding the supposed debt.  In their letter they didn't use the legal name of Canadian Tire, and made various  claims that are untrue in terms of legal recourse in cases of unsecured debt, which leads me to believe the law firm is at least aware that the claims are fraudulent.

Mr. Bell was extremely rude and aggressive at first, then became very defensive when I asked questions such as the address at which the debt was incurred, the ID type and number used to obtain the card, the birth date of the person who incurred the debt, etc., and finally hung up on me when I said that he must be calling the wrong person, and with the information he was able to provide there's no way for him to identify me positively with the debt, while I can quite easily demonstrate that it would have been virtually impossible to incur debt 1200 miles from the nearest location of the store in question.

A Glenn, don't worry about anything since your credit bureau is clean. Sometimes they fish for the debtor by sending out a letter or calling a possible number through first and last name trace. This is all about their trace process. Doesn't mean they believe you are 100% the debtor but this is something they are trying to determine through talking to you. If they are still calling you or any famil or your place of employment, just send a cease and desist letter but it has to be through registered mail. The lawyers on their payroll are indeed real lawers, but they are only paid by mac financial to use their name on the letters they send out. The lawyers know nothing about the people the letters are sent to, and mac can send out over a thousand in one month. So don't stress about getting sued, I guarantee that will not happen.

Throw them a number? Jazz do you work for these people or something lol. I will not be calling them back nor will I be "throwing them a number"  terrible advice. Not to mention this is the 2nd time you mentioned calling them and cutting some sort of a deal with them . Will not be doing this. This company can keep trying all they want. After doing extensive research I've found their verbal threats to be childish at best. Will not be paying a cent.

In all but one province, there is no limit to the length of time the company can attempt to collect the debt from you. Even when it comes off the credit report, they can still attempt to collect and they can still pull fresh credit reports on you lowering your score. It would probably be best to enter into a good faith negotiation to pay back the money you owe. Typically these companies will settle for less than the total balance.

If you owe the money, you should pay. No?

No. Debt collectors have a specific set of rules the must abide by, and it appears this particular outfit isn't.

If they are not following the rules, there are steps that can be taken. That doesn't change your liability to the debt. If you borrow money, you should pay it back. If you don't pay back the money you owe, other people are suffering for your malfeasance through higher interest rates in the same way that shoplifting raises prices for paying customers.

But when you come on a board such as this, to a thread such as this and say, "just pay it" you sound like a shill, someone who the debt scamming company pays to shame others.
Perhaps you can take your economical gripes to a more appropriate venue.

I don't think you understand what credit is all about. It's meant to be repaid.

Coming on here and giving people advise not to repay their credit is tantamount to telling people to go into a store and walk out with goods without paying.

Last I checked this was an open forum.

Quote:

I don't think you understand what credit is all about. It's meant to be repaid.

Um ...
Legitimate debts definitely should be repaid.
However, what if the caller is NOT the legitimate lender, or does not have legal authority to collect the debt?
What if the called person has no debt?

A phone call alone is NOT sufficient or legal proof of debt!
Only shills tell people to "pay their debts" when there is no legal proof of the validity of that supposed debt.

The fact of the matter is debt collectors have a proven history of harassing innocent people by calling out dated numbers. I know that this a fact because it happened to me.

That's a little different of course. You can ask them for validation of the debt, proof of their authority, etc.

But there are some folks coming on here telling people not to pay even when the original poster is saying they do owe the money. That's what I don't understand.

Receiving a phone call from a debt collector does NOT prove that the person you are person you are talking to owes a dime. Nor does it prove that anyone else that lives household owes money.

I couldn't agree with you more. I was once the victim of calls from alleged debt collectors asking for people I never heard of. I tried to inform them that they had the wrong number, but it didn't stop them.
Thankfully I now have a phone that blocks unwanted calls.

Hello,

I too received phone calls and 2 letters so far, first phone call claiming that i owe money on a bay card ( i cant even remember when i had a bay card thats how long it was) it had to be 7-10 years ago, the guy said i owe 1000$ i was like sorry i cant remember, told them to call back later and blocked their number, months later they call from a different number now claiming i owe a brick card for 3000$ i said i bought 2 sofas in 2007 and i dont recall owing them anything in fact they never reached out with any outstanding bill and of course this was around 2007-2008, this alex guy on the phone was willing to settle for 1500$ i said i dont have it, goodbye, then comes the first later couple months later stating that i owe 13000$ lol and of course i had 7 days to deposit the money at TD bank or else, i called told whoever forgot his name that statue of limitation has passed and that being said he cant take me to court he hung up on me.
Just received a second letter the other day stating the same amount (13000$) and also 7 days pay period and it also said that my new employment is registered and they will take money from my wages or my bank account.
So still the statue of limitation has passed on this and the number they come up with is just simply comical, for them to sue me they will have to take me to court but again statue of limitation has way passed so they can't do that.
So if u are in ontario and your debt passed 2 years from last payment, just forget these guys and top of all they are very rude all of them.

This is only true in certain provinces, there are still several provinces where a six-year statute of limitations in effect (or Quebec, which is 3 years).

Same goes for the workplace rule, it varies from province-to-province. In Ontario there is no restriction for calling workplaces, for example.

This is not true; if this were the case, no one would ever had an incentive to pay their outstanding bills once they reach collections. Ask the credit bureaus, they will tell you the same.

Once you pay the bill, you can ask them to update your credit bureau to show that it has been settled or paid in full. This will cause your credit rating to improve.

I have been going through the same thing. They are trying to collect $2402 from an old account which I had with HSBC which I paid off in 2011. I even received a letter at my work. They are scammers. They will try anything to get money from people. I reported them to the BBB.