by Ajay Oberoi | Bankruptcy, chrismas Debt, Consumer Proposal, Credit Counseling, Debt Management
From the recent studies, it has been identified that most of the people get into debt after the Christmas vacation. That’s mainly because they don’t pay special attention to their finances when enjoying the holiday season. Hence, they have to experience a variety of negative consequences in the month of January. To overcome such consequences, you should have a clear understanding on how to recover from Christmas debt. Here are 4 useful tips that you can follow to overcome your debts.
1. Return all stuff that you didn’t use
During the Christmas season, we do shop and purchase a lot of items. But you only use a handful number of items out of them. After Christmas, you can take a walk around your home and see how many items you have used out of the items that were purchased while you were engaged with Christmas shopping.
The worst thing about Christmas shopping is that we rarely pay attention to the value of the products when purchasing them. As a result, we run into financial difficulties after Christmas. This can be used to get rid of Christmas debt as well. All you have to do is to gather all the unused items and return them. When you do it, you will figure out that there is a possibility for you to save a considerable amount of money.
It doesn’t matter whether you made the original payment with your credit card or with cash. The refund that you get will provide you with excellent financial assistance, especially when you are trying to overcome Christmas debt. The vendors will not hesitate when purchasing these items as well, because they will still be able to sell them and get a decent profit.
2. Combine all your balances
One of the biggest challenges that people face after the Christmas season is to settle their credit card debts. We often use multiple credit cards. Calculating how much credit we have to pay for every single card can bring us a lot of headaches as well. However, you can think about combining all the credit card balances to make your life easy. This can provide excellent assistance to you when settling the debts. When you make such debt payments, you will also get a secure feeling at the end of the month.
You can take a look at the available options and figure out a way on how to combine the balances on your credit cards. Then you will be able to figure out what your true expenses are. You can also shop around for some low-interest balance transfer cards available in the market. They are in a position to provide great help to you when you are following a plan to overcome Christmas debt.
3. Keep an eye on the debt recovery process
When you settle your debt, you should also keep an eye on the debt recovery process. In fact, you are encouraged to create milestones along with your payment plan. Then you will be able to focus only on one milestone at a time. This will help you to make sure that you don’t face any issues or unwanted stress by taking a look at the big picture. You just focus on the milestones and they are in a position to provide excellent assistance to you with recovering your debts.
Depending on the total debt amount, you can give a gold star on the calendar to signify each milestone. Then you can work accordingly to achieve the milestone in a timely manner. It is also better if you can make other people a part of this progress. You can work along with your friends and family members, who face a similar situation to overcome the Christmas debts. Then you will be able to share some of the money-saving ideas and stay motivated. You can also share your experiences with them.
When you are working according to such a plan, you will be able to overcome the pain of paying Christmas debt. Hence, you can enjoy the maximum Christmas joy as well.
4. Get in touch with the creditors
Most of the people who try to overcome their Christmas debts forget this step. But it is one of the most important steps, which you need to follow to end up with positive results in overcoming Christmas debt. You will be able to discuss with your creditors and negotiate on a convenient plan on how to settle your debts. Then you will be able to settle the debts while creating the least impact on your credit history as well. Moreover, you will not get any stress while you follow such a plan to settle all your Christmas debts.
All the credit card companies are looking forward to getting their money at the end of the day. Therefore, you can assure that you will be able to help the company get back their money and you can craft a plan on how to do it. If you can get their involvement, you can come up with a plan, where both parties are happy. Then you will be able to stick to that plan and make sure that you don’t run into any financial difficulties when trying to settle your debts. You should also focus on your debts that are tagged with a higher interest rate. Settling them within a short period of time can provide relief to you with debt recovery. In case of you have the credit or debt issues visit www.gtacredit.com or call 416 650 1100
by Ajay Oberoi | Uncategorized
Yes! This is called “Wage Garnishing” in the legal parlance and is an avenue available to creditors to recover monies that they have lent to their debtors. This legal procedure is made available to collection agencies, Canada Revenue Agency, any Court in Canada, credit card companies, payday loan lenders, and any other creditor who has to lend you monies could recover such due payments through wage garnishment.
But there are very strict legal procedures that they would need to fulfill first before they could go after your paycheck. Even if they do they are entitled to recover only up to 30% of the amount that you would have in your account.
Try and exhaust all avenues
To do so the creditor would need to lend you money which would then make the entity your creditor. Thereafter you should be classified as a defaulter who has not paid the due amounts as per the agreed terms of repayment. The creditor should have tried the normal avenues to recover the due payments. These are by calling you, by writing to you, and only if they have exhausted these avenues available to them could they go after your paycheck.
To get a wage garnishment order the creditor has to sue you in a court, and obtain the wage garnishment order before they could walk into your bank or employer and take what is due to them. Every legal procedure that is laid down pertaining to wage garnishment has to be fulfilled before any court would issue such an order. The court would need to be satisfied that you are liable to pay, and you are in default and that you are able to pay before they would grant the wage garnishment order against you.
The creditor has to satisfy the court that they have an issue with you and that you have been in default and even if you do not attend courts the order could be issued against you for your wage to be garnished and they could recover the due amounts but only up to 30% as said earlier. Once the creditor has obtained the order from the court they could request for a writ to be served on your employer or bank as the case may be to recover the 30% of your wages every month until the debt is repaid. There would not be anything much either you or your employer could do once the court has issued the necessary legal documents.
Alternative to wage garnishment
Wage garnishment would be the last resort if you are devoid of any other physical assets. For instance, if you have physical assets, the creditor whomsoever it would be, could seize those assets rather than waiting for every month when you wage is due or being credited into your account. It is only those who would generally have no tangible assets who would be subjected to wage garnishment. It would mean that you are devoid of any assets and what you have is only your wages which would be what your creditor could come after.
There are laws specifically legislated as to what assets could be seized and what not hence there is ample protection for a debtor like there are avenues available to any creditor too. In some provinces and also under Canadian federal law specifies the type of assets that could be seized in lieu of wage garnishment if the creditor prefers so. Though the laws across Canada could be more or less the same but in the jurisdiction of British Columbia, no household goods or appliances could be seized if its sale value is more than $4,000.
It is also legislated that clothing and other personal assets cannot be seized to recover debt from a creditor. If your vehicle is valued at more than $5,000, then that too cannot be seized. On the contrary, if you have a bank account and the creditor knows where it is they could seize all the monies in your bank account by disclosing the same to the court and taking out a writ against you and the account and taking it to the respective bank. The total amount due could be recovered by the creditor if they are privy to this vital information.
What you could do
There is nothing much you could do about it and any court too would issue a writ without second thoughts as you are in default but holding money in an account without repaying your debts is how they would look at it.
Though a creditor could only recover up to 30% of your wages this scenario changes if you are self-employed in which case your creditor could recover all your earnings up to 100% to recover their debt or part thereof. The creditor would need to have this information before they would go to court and when they do it would be too late. Hence it would be in your best interest to sit with your creditor and work out a payment plan before things get out of hand and it comes down to this.
Many avenues are left open when a debtor falls in default and one of the things you could do is talk to your creditor and reschedule the amounts due to suit your new payment plan. In most cases, the creditors would accommodate such requests as they too would not prefer to sort it out by resorting to legal action. The law in Canada is quite balanced and fair with most issues from both divides taken into consideration but at the end of the day when you are in default, you may have to pay back any which way you can.
Wage garnishing should be the last resort even if you are in arrears and are in default as you have the option of resorting to an amicable settlement to the repayment of dues. It is only when you avoid such an option that the court too would take the onus on it to ensure the creditor is paid back. Any help for financial problems contact gtacredit.com or call 416 650 1100
by Ajay Oberoi | Bankruptcy, Consumer Proposal, Credit Counseling, Credit Repair
Yes! If you owe monies then they are permitted to call you at work or even call your employer to recover the dues.
The laws in each province of Canada could be slightly variable but overall it is generally the same. It is in your better interests to ensure you read up the laws in the province that you are domiciled at the time, before you apply for a credit line and apprise yourself of exactly what you are bound by. Taking out a credit line is not an extraordinary exercise which most adult Canadians would do to live a comfortable life but it is when you default that the issues would take a turn to the worst.
Life is not a bed of roses
Defaulting too could happen to anyone as economic downturns are part and parcel of life and it is when you as a debtor avoid discussing the present predicament that you are in with your creditor that they would take various steps within the law to recover their dues. For instance you could have a very stable job but due to adverse external economic issues you could lose your job. In such a context the first thing you should be doing is to discuss your predicament with your creditor or creditors and work out a plan till such time you get back to work.
On the other hand if you are working but face some unforeseen issues that are beyond your control which could happen to anyone and your wages are stretched to the optimum during a certain period of time you would need to act fast. You would need to discuss your problems with your creditors and work out a new repayment plan. It is your prerogative to do so proactively which would also give the impression to your creditor that you are concerned too and is seeking ways to settle the dues.
Discussions could solve many problems
If you let your problems to go into abeyance and take the extraordinary step of purposely avoiding your creditors then they would need to take action that is legislated to encompass them. The creditor would try all means possible to contact you and discuss a new re-payment plan and if there is no success they would pass it on to their own collection agency. If they do not have one as most creditors do not employ or initiate such a separate division due to cost escalation would outsource such activities to others.
You should not let your debt get into a situation where your creditor exhausts all options open to them. It would also create issues for you and it is in your better interests to keep the dues active and try to work out alternative repayment terms. Keeping your communication lines open and free at all times with your creditors would put them at ease ensuring that they do not take any drastic action. Put all your cards on the table and have open discussions with them as they would not prefer to settle debt issues in courts but in most cases would like to work out something amicably.
After all, the credit line was initiated in the first place on the premise that the repayment would be smooth and without issues. Hence if you have any issues it is your prerogative to initiate discussions to ensure you put your problems before them and work out the best repayment plans. It is invariable that your creditor would relent if you are to discuss with them frankly and openly. You need to understand that your issue is not an isolated one as they would be dealing with issues like yours on a daily basis hence have the experience to sort out matters with you.
Third party recoveries
Private collection agencies are many but they are all governed by Canadian law and would come under the Collection Agency Act (CAA) which would specifically lay down the parameters. They would need to adhere to every law written down in the CAA and any deviation would leave them liable for prosecution or you could sue them. On the contrary the law would provide them enough clout to act and make every effort to recover the dues from you.
Your creditor could even sell your debt to a collection agency which would then pursue your debt and try to recover it in the shortest possible time. Their tactics could be quite vigorous and they could call you at office and speak to your employer about your dues. They would get optimum information from where you work about your wages and then work out a strategy within the permitted laws to recover your dues.
Wage garnishing
If you do not work out an amicable settlement your creditor could obtain all details of your wages and approach a court of law to recover their dues. It is invariable that the court would allow their request. Your creditor could then take out a writ and your employer is bound by law to deduct up to 30% of your wages and repay your dues. This would go on till the total dues are settled.
There is one other issue before your creditor could take out a wage garnish and that is to try and recover the dues from other assets that you may own. If they could find such assets then they are obliged to recover their dues from those assets but if you do not have such recoverable assets they could apply to court for a wage garnishing writ and then recover all monies due to them.
In such a case you may end up paying more as they could recover some part of their costs too. On the contrary if you had discussed with your creditor before such steps are taken you could have paid less and arranged a repayment plan convenient to you. Recourse to law should be the last resort and you should try to avoid such a situation at any cost. Any help for financial problems contact gtacredit.com or call 416 650 1100
by Ajay Oberoi | Uncategorized
The 2016 census showed some glaring statistics and one of the most shocking was that 4.8 million Canadians were living below the poverty line. Canada has a population of 36.95 million and of that 4.8 million is a shocking 13% which does not bode well for a country that many people from around the world are clamoring to migrate to. This has given the country a unique place in history and that is many people do plan to live below the poverty line as then they could obtain and procure various benefits from the provincial as well as the state governments.
Low income a definition
There are three very important criteria that would define whether a person of a family is below the poverty line and classified as “Low Income”. The first one is the Statistics Canada measurement which employs the “Low Income Cutoff” (LICO) which is based primarily on the ability for that person or family to buy their necessities. They also use the “Low Income Measure” which is based on the inequality of a person or family in relation to their income. These two are what Statistics Canada would employ to measure the issue of Low Income.
The Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) employs a different index which is the “Market Basket Measure” which is also similar to the above and is the ability for a household to afford the necessities that they would require to live a healthy and nourished lifestyle.
Though these three indexes are employed there is no response from the Canadian government to measure the poverty level though they would also refer to the “Low Income Cutoff” (LICO) when required but would always deny or not accept that there is a problem with poverty in Canada. The Canadian Council of Social Development (CCSD) would use the LICO for their purposes but with no proactive willingness to accept that there are Canadians below the poverty line. Hence there is no official measurement to see what poverty is in Canada.
The Low Income Cutoff (LICO)
The LICO is the poverty cutoff line where a family would usually spend about 20% of their household’s total income to procure their necessities. This would include food shelter and clothing and would compare directly with what an average family would spend for their necessities in that province. The measurement works thus and that is if an average family would spend 30% of their total household’s income but another household would spend 50% then the latter is considered to be below the poverty line and is considered Low Income for all purposes.
Statistics Canada would go a step further and calculate the Low Income Cutoff (LICO) before a family pays tax and after a family pays tax as LICO-BT and as LICO-AT respectively.
The Low-Income Measure
There are families that earn less than half of what an average household would earn and when they do they are categorized as a Low-Income family. The Low-Income Measure (LIM) was developed by Statistics Canada in 1991 to study income patterns across the country. This measurement would measure inequality in income generation rather than purchasing power which could depend what they would earn as a household.
The Market basket Measure
The Market Basket Measure was introduced in 2003 by the HRDSC which would estimate the cost of a basket of essentials which would include food, clothing, housing and transport. When it was calculated in 2006 it was found that this would be around $ 31,399 for a family of four residing together in one common household.
The reason for these measurements
These measurements especially the LICO is taken as the standard when the provinces want to determine the quantum of tax that would have to be paid by a person or household. If they are closer to the poverty line they would be given some relief when it comes to paying their taxes. In British Columbia where the government directly funds the health care system those who are below or closer to the LICO would be given certain relief to pay less when they attend these clinics. If they are closer to the LICO line they would be deriving benefits when they seek medical attention in government-funded hospitals and clinics. This is a very important aspect as health care could be generally very expensive in Canada.
Whilst immigrants could have a few advantages, they would be disallowed from sponsoring next of kin if they are below the LICO line. This would be an issue that they would need to rectify by increasing their income and getting out of the LICO line. This is understandable as the government would not accept double liability when the sponsor is below the LICO line.
The shocking results
Being closer or below the LICO could provide you some relief but it may not be a very conducive way of living. Take your retirement seriously as it is inevitable and you would only need to plan for it well in advance.
It is generally known that statistics would never lie and those below the poverty line in Canada are able to obtain many benefits but the issue comes round as to why anyone after migrating to such a country would like to live in poverty. They would be better off living in their own country.
If you are planning to live on a lower income then life could be quite tough and could bring an immense strain on you and your family. There may be benefits that you would receive but in the long term, it would not be a very good idea. Saving would be your best choice and for that, you may need to begin early and not wait for the last moment when it is time for you to retire.
You could plan your retirement well in advance and if you look around there are many avenues to secure your twilight years especially in Canada where opportunities are galore. Any help for financial problems contact gtacredit.com or call 416 650 1100
by Ajay Oberoi | Bankruptcy, Consumer Proposal, Credit Counseling, Credit Repair
Wherever you may be in this world, borrowing money or purchasing items on credit and repaying the capital amount and the relevant interest component is a standard procedure. You would get into such a transaction with good faith but somewhere down the line during the course of the said transaction, you could encounter problems with repayment. When that happens your creditor would try to obtain the due monies from you.
Debt collection in Canada
This is the same procedure adopted in any country and not particular to any one of them. It is the same even in Canada and if you borrow you are liable to pay. If there is a repayment delay you could be called upon to pay some additional costs that fall due because you have failed to repay within the stipulated time limit.
Similar to laws everywhere creditors in Canada are also bound by certain legislations, it is true that you would be a defaulter but like the creditor, you too would have certain laws to protect you. Creditors in Canada or their representatives are bound and governed by the Collection Agencies Act. They need to strictly follow the laid down guidelines and ensure that they keep to the set parameters without deviating from the same.
Once you default on your credit line the creditor could use their own office to recover the due amounts or they could delegate the debt to a collection agency to recover the due amounts. The other alternative would be for the creditor to sell the debt to a collection agency.
Make a complaint if they break the law
Whatever your creditor would do they and the rest to whom they have passed on your debt are bound by certain laid down criteria, any deviation would allow you to file a complaint against those who deviate from procedures. There are some very pertinent issues that are laid down in the Collection Agencies Act which no debt collection agency could deviate from.
For instance, they are prevented from falling over at your workplace to collect a debt if they do they would be breaking laws laid down in the Collection Agencies Act. Similarly, collection agents cannot call you on any telephone that you have not provided to them at the time the transaction was initiated.
The Collection Agencies Acts specifies as to when and what times a collection agent could contact you. They are expressly forbidden to contact you on the phone on holidays. They could call you from Monday to Saturday between 7.00 AM and 9.00 PM. They could also call you on Sundays between 1.00 PM and 5.00 PM. If they deviate from these laid down guidelines you could make a complaint against them.
Hence when you are first contacted by a collection agent it is imperative that you note down the details of the debt, when you owed it, to whom, the caller’s name, the company he represents, and his telephone contact. He is obliged to disclose all such details to you. If he does not and continues to bother you, then you are at liberty to file a complaint under the Collection Agencies Act.
It is prudent to remember that you have statutory rights though you are a defaulter and have many avenues and recourse to law if your creditor or any of their appointed representatives break the law. It is imperative that you know all your rights stipulated under the Collection Agencies Act.
This is if you are to deal with a collection agency but it would be in your best interests to ensure that your debt is not transferred to a debt collection agency and when informed by your creditor that they would do so, to contact them and reschedule your debt.
If you are unable to do so then you would need to deal with a collection agency and an agent appointed by them. In any case it would need your total attention as you would not be able to refrain from paying up your debt as your creditor would pursue you till they are paid their dues.
If you are really pushed to a corner and are harassed by a collection agency the best avenue open to you would be to file a complaint. You would need to collate all information that is in your possession and file the complaint well or it could be thrown out without much of a hearing. It is how and what weight your complaint would hold that would matter hence having all the information in your hands is very important.
To do so you could follow the following steps and make a comprehensive complaint against a collection agency if you find that they are deviating from the parameters set to them within the Collection Agency Act.
- Draw up and file a complaint with all details in a set sequence with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- Do the same with the Federal Trade Commission by way of a filed complaint again written clearly and precisely.
- Get in touch with your domiciled State’s Attorney-General.
- You could also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau
If you are being contacted by a collection agency it would be in your best interests to ensure that you keep all records of contact with you as they would come handy at a later date. If you pay up and the debt is settled then you would not have a problem but there are a majority of debts that go sour and when it does having information from the beginning would be in your best interests.
The Collection Agency Act has ample protection for the creditor and the debtor hence it is necessary that both parties conduct themselves with decorum and proper discipline. It is when one side deviates from the norm that things would get out of hand and issues crop up that would end ultimately in legislation. There is protection for you under the Collection Agency Act hence if found wanting to use it for your benefit. Any help for financial problems contact gtacredit.com or call 416 650 1100
