We understand that many creditors are asking their collection agents to suspend or cease collection activity temporarily as our society comes to grip with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is likely taking a toll on your business and may be increasing the pressure to continue operations and find other areas for collection to continue.
We can all acknowledge that this is a difficult time for businesses and the public alike. We are hearing from consumers who are facing unprecedented hardship and may be extra vulnerable to collection activity at this time.
To ensure there is a balance between your need to continue operations and a vulnerable consumer population, we are sharing a reminder for your staff of some of the key rules of debt collection practices in BC.
You must not communicate with a debtor either by phone or in-person on a statutory holiday, on a Sunday between 1 pm and 5 pm local time, or any other day between 9 pm to 7 am.
You are only allowed to contact a debtor’s family or household, relative, neighbour, friend, employer or acquaintance to try to get their home address, phone number or email.
You must send a debtor a written notice about their debt before you can start calling. There are two exceptions to this rule:
You can make a reasonable effort to call the debtor before sending them a written notice about the debt only to confirm their correct contact information.
If you have bought the debt from the creditor, then you become the creditor and aren’t required to send the debtor a written notification first (which means that you can begin calling them right away).
On March 25, the BC government announced new measures to protect renters from residential eviction. Immediate measures include:
halting evictions by ensuring a landlord may not issue a new notice to end the tenancy for any reason. However, in exceptional cases where it may be needed to protect health and safety or to prevent undue damage to the property, landlords will be able to apply to the Residential Tenancy Branch for a hearing.
halting the enforcement of existing eviction notices issued by the Residential Tenancy Branch, except in extreme cases where there are safety concerns. The smaller number of court-ordered evictions are up to the courts, which operate independently of government.
In light of these measures, we are taking this opportunity to remind our licensed commercial bailiffs that they are not permitted to perform residential evictions under the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act.
We are consistently monitoring and reassessing the impact of this pandemic and we will let you know of any updates as quickly as we can. Please keep checking this page for new information about how we are trying to support your business during this difficult time.
