zulucat
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- Dec 7, 2010
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Please forgive my English/grammar, whatever - it sucks!
A long story short - my cousin had an accident (got injured) many years ago at his work place. He was dismissed as a result. They told him that since he was not even registered as an employee at the time - no benefits would be forthcoming. He was a casual worker picked up from the kerb side.
He had an account with Edgars, which fell behind on payments after he was fired, at first they sort of hounded him and then eventually Edgars just abandoned the debt around 2011 - he has never heard from them ever since - no email, no SMS, no calls, no letters, nothing.
Then in November last year, he got an email from a prominent debt collecting agency (I will not name them - don't want my Zulu ass to be sued) and they were collecting the debt and he forwarded the email to me in panic because they were threatening him with court and arrest.
Of course, the debt had ballooned beyond belief! I suspected that the debt had prescribed and they had no right to collect it. I told him to reply and tell them that it was illegal to collect debt that had prescribed.
They responded quite promptly and apologised and actually confirmed that "after a thorough investigation, it came to our attention the debt has indeed prescribed" and that they would close the account. They even sent a letter. Wish I can share the letter - it came 30 minutes after he responded - how much of a thorough investigation can you do in 30 minutes?
I wonder how prevalent is this practice where debt collection agency collect money they should not be collecting by law. And I am sure they do not even pass on the money to the creditor! Maybe it is just a scheme designed by a few people to milk delinquent clients.
Obviously, I do not advocate for people to not pay what they owe if they can afford it/ But people have fallen on hard times and there is a law in place to try and protect people, but some debt collectors take advantage. Some people simply don't know about debt prescription etc.
A long story short - my cousin had an accident (got injured) many years ago at his work place. He was dismissed as a result. They told him that since he was not even registered as an employee at the time - no benefits would be forthcoming. He was a casual worker picked up from the kerb side.He had an account with Edgars, which fell behind on payments after he was fired, at first they sort of hounded him and then eventually Edgars just abandoned the debt around 2011 - he has never heard from them ever since - no email, no SMS, no calls, no letters, nothing.
Then in November last year, he got an email from a prominent debt collecting agency (I will not name them - don't want my Zulu ass to be sued) and they were collecting the debt and he forwarded the email to me in panic because they were threatening him with court and arrest.
Of course, the debt had ballooned beyond belief! I suspected that the debt had prescribed and they had no right to collect it. I told him to reply and tell them that it was illegal to collect debt that had prescribed.
They responded quite promptly and apologised and actually confirmed that "after a thorough investigation, it came to our attention the debt has indeed prescribed" and that they would close the account. They even sent a letter. Wish I can share the letter - it came 30 minutes after he responded - how much of a thorough investigation can you do in 30 minutes?
I wonder how prevalent is this practice where debt collection agency collect money they should not be collecting by law. And I am sure they do not even pass on the money to the creditor! Maybe it is just a scheme designed by a few people to milk delinquent clients.
Obviously, I do not advocate for people to not pay what they owe if they can afford it/ But people have fallen on hard times and there is a law in place to try and protect people, but some debt collectors take advantage. Some people simply don't know about debt prescription etc.
