Know Your Rights and Responsibilities Around Debt Collection

The law in BC is not intended to act as a tool to assist debtors to avoid fulfilling their obligations to creditors however; a collection agency must not communicate in a manner or frequency that would constitute harassment.

Collection agencies:

• CAN call at any time if the debtor authorizes it.
• CAN only call on Sundays between 1pm and 5pm local time for debtor;
• CAN only call on other days between 7am and 9pm local time for debtor;
• CANNOT call on statutory holidays;
• CANNOT continue to contact you via phone if you have requested in writing that they only communicate with you in writing and you have provided your address.

If you are in a dispute:

• Record details of all telephone conversations or events  - especially those that you believe are harassing;
• Note the date and time of the call, the name of the company and collector involved, and sufficient detail of the nature of the call;
• If you have provided any information to the collection agency in writing, especially related to requests to be contacted in writing, keep copies of mailing confirmations including registered mail tracking sheets;
• Contact the BPCPA for the name of the complaints manager for the collection agency that you are dealing with;
• If, after discussing the file with a complaints manager, you are still experiencing the same issues, call the BPCPA for further assistance. Please have available the name of collection agency contact that you lodged your complaint with as well as the date you made the call;
• Finally, under the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act and regulations, all consumers have the right to take court action for collection harassment issues.

** Click here to view our Information Bulletin for more tips around debt collection**

**Click here to listen to the audio version of our "Debt Collection in BC" webinar.