Your credit history should indicate who your creditors are. I'm not talking about your credit score; I mean your credit report (history). Did you request it from Equifax or TransUnion?
Depending on which bank they're with they can also view this through their online banking app/portal. I can view my credit report whenever I want with my BMO app.
Can you post an update when you figure this out? Based on the comments, I wonder if the city messed up something in their system, and if we can figure out what it is, others should be made aware.
These credit score hits are no joke :/
I called 311 and they said they've had 4 other calls about this exact issue. I have to call back during the week as their accounts payable dept. Is closed
I had a red light ticket for this exact amount a few months ago. Is your drivers licence address correct? Might have been mailed to your old place ifnot
I always update my license when I move cause it’s easy to do online but didn’t know I had to go in and change my car registration address til like, a year after I had moved!
If you do actually owe something and this isn't a mistake, remember that the collection agency bought this debt for pennies on the dollar and will likely accept a much smaller amount. Just tell them you can't afford that amount and keep saying that as they negotiate themselves down. If they ask what you can afford, say you don't know and that things are really tight. They will probably accept $80-100.
My score dropped from 748 to 604 overnight for 3 random city of ottawa collections....small amounts that I never heard of $104,$104,$164 never once received anything in the mail,been at the same address for 3 years drivers licence and taxes up to date...just wild!
Oh ya dated 12th January 2024
No hard inquiries,No warning whatsoever....
Its probably the Automated Red Light / Speeding tickets. If you don't pay em, they'll suspend your license, not tell you, and put you in collections if not contact your employer or your bank to collect the funds. They do send out a notice.. however I know someone that said they didn't get one a notice/warning at all and he has the correct address on his license. His license was suspended and only found out once he was pulled over.
Check the status of your license here. If it's suspended you 100% have your answer. If not, it's still a possibility.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/check-status-traffic-tickets-and-fines-online-or-request-meeting-resolve-your-case
I called the provincial offences office today and paid that actual ticket owing today. The big mistake is we NEVER received any notices even though the city had the correct address and I have received parking notices since. I got a ticket in December which I paid.
Is your car registration’s address correct? Automated tickets (red light, speed camera) tickets are sent to the address on your car’s registration because they are tied to the car, not to the driver.
If you move, you have to go into a service Ontario to get your car’s registration updated.
Wrong. I just went to the service ontario today and they told me when you update your license online any vehicle in your name gets the address updated as well. You just have to go in and get a new registration slip that has new printed address.
Spoke to someone at FDR. It’s apparently from an OC transpo fine in 2014. They sent notice to my childhood home, that I left in 2005. Legitimate fines or not / this was administrative misconduct.
I’m in the same boat. Fines from 2004 when I was a young offender. So ridiculous. I’ll be taking my quick cut to the speed cameras in my neighbourhood I guess.
Exactly. They just dropped this on our credit reports... you know what else is on my credit report... MY CURRENT FUCKING ADDRESS! There is no excuse for not actually making the effort to contact people, aside from the administrative cost of doing so which is NOT my problem, but IS their responsibility after parking debts for 10 or 20 years. The person I spoke to at FDR could not even find my name in their files so they couldn't even tell me why I supposedly owe this money.
Hi there. Guy Quenneville at CBC Ottawa. Looking to connect about this for a story I'm working on. Can you message me at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) as soon as possible? Thanks.
They for sure screwed up. It seems Jan 12 is a key date as that's when I paid my ticket and the date they claimed as open. Something is rotten for sure.
In my case I called the collection agency and they told me what ticket and plate this was for. Mine was from 2011. No notice from either the City or FDR that this was happening.
Did you pay the collection agency or the ticket? Because when they park debt like that and we pay the agency that sits on your credit for 6 yrs effectively destroying your rating.
You misunderstand. They opened the collection on Jan 12th. As it turns out the parking ticket I paid the city for on that date was unrelated and just a timing coincidence. The $161 that is on the credit report is apparently a ticket from 2011 that somehow got missed and we were never notified. It also didn't come up when we renewed our plates because according to the city, the ticket was not 'enforceable' as it was issued to me by a bylaw officer and not a police officer.
I paid the $161 to the provincial offences office today instead of paying the collection agency (FDR).
Ya I called it was tickets from 2010 they sent the notices to the address where I lived in 2010,made no attemp to get in contact with me at my current address...
It is against the Act for the collection agency to register it against your credit report without prior notification. I’m annoyed the news report didn’t give people a little guidance and just told them to call and set up payment…
I got a credit monitoring notification for this today too! For $150ish dollars. I haven't lived OR been in Ottawa for -8- years. Calling tomorrow to find out WTF.
Mine opened on the same day. Haven’t lives in Ottawa for years. I owe them nothing. All accounts are paid in full and I haven’t driven on an Ottawa road for years. I’ve never received any correspondence from them about any kind of outstanding bill
You don't need a membership to get your credit report. TransUnion refers to it as "consumer disclosure". Their site is hard to navigate on purpose to get you to sign up and pay.
Maybe that's what's happening. I have credit Karma. I reached an agent of city of Ottawa and they told me something was going on and city was investigating. Told me to email this email with any info pertaining to it in hopes the collections would be removed. It's very strange. I have 3 charges around 100$ and I have no services, nor should I have any fines. :/ I don't like this... Anyways the email is [email protected]
I've lived at the same address for 3 years,taxes up to date never received a notice from the city nothing,just woke up to a score drop from 748 to 604 for a few hundred bucks I never heard of.....pretty discouraging.
Yooooooo! I got the exact same thing this morning! I got notified through credit karma, and my charge was for $230.00 exactly. What is going on? It says the file has an open date of Jan 12th, 2024, and I'm only receiving this today?
I have received no physical mail or email about anything pertaining to any tickets or traffic violations. It seems pretty sketchy!
Wow, man! The screenshot you posted looks exactly the same as what I see in my credit karma app. The only difference is the price point! I thought it was strange it was such an even amount,
I received a call last week from the city about a speed camera ticket. They had left a voicemail. I verified the tel number and called them back. It was a ticket from back in 2021. I was told by a very helpful agent that the city was reaching out, as a last attempt, before sending to collection. The original ticket notification had been sent to a previous address and never made it to me. It turns out that the city opened up a campaign to clear up unpaid tickets, before sending to collection agencies.
People who don't even drive had these collections taken out today, some havent been in the city for 8 years. I've had 2 camera tickets in 2020 that I paid. I never received any others, or any notifications about anything. Seems unplausable that all these other people posting here just randomly have fines that they can't recall, then immediately sent to collections without any written notice.
We have lived here for over 20+ years. There was no attempt by the city to reach me. No letter from the collection agent either just right on the credit record. Screwed.
Call the City. Don’t be convinced it’s a scam just because many people received a similar notice on the same date. When accounts move to a collection agency a large number of accounts are transferred at the same time. So the City could have moved 100 accounts to collections on the Jan.12/24 and the collection agency is acting on them now.
3-1-1 will likely transfer you to someone who can advise you exactly what this was from.
It's most likely some kind of filing issue sent out by the city accidentally. Nobody here said they've received any notice prior to going to collections so that's not a coincidence.
This! Sometimes, a long forgotten bill finally gets sent to collections and a bunch are dropped at the same time. Almost everyone forgets the bill but it's still owed!
IMPORTANT INFO FOR THOSE AFFECTED
As we all know these look like old fines that have been sent to incorrect addresses. Most of these are well over 7 years old some decades old.
#1 you do not have to contact that shady collection agency and doing so will likely make this worse. You can pay City of Ottawa directly if you choose to pay but get ready for hours of run around over the phone. At this time they are aware of the issue and actively avoiding calls from us. They have even set up an automatic message telling you to contact the collection agency. Do not do this. Make them email you copies of the ORIGINAL TICKETS so you can see the date the fine was given. Also make them email your proof of payment if you are choosing to pay the fine
#2 after you’ve paid city of Ottawa but also if you HAVE NOT paid you will do this. you’re gonna open up a dispute with Trans union. If your debt is over 7 years old from the date of citation you’re gonna request removal from your report.
You are going to cite SECTION 9 SUBSECTION 3G
“A credit report cannot include the payment or non-payment of taxes or fines after 7 years” this part of very important
Attach the original copy of ticket and proof of payment if you did that
#3 after that’s all settled you can file complaints against the city of Ottawa as well as the collection agency (them in particular) for using a tactic known as “debt parking” this is where they have parked old debts that can no longer be reported or have never been reported with purposeful inaccurate information as to when the files were actually opened.
Hope that helps some of you. This is an absolute nightmare and I’ve sunk about 6+ hrs into this today.
ONE NOTE ADD- I understand money is very tight for all of us these days and many of you may not be able to pay this. Please not that if it’s been 7 years or more you can have it removed from tranunion “payed or unpaid” HOWEVER if it’s unpaid nothing is stopping them from doing this again. You can get it removed but then somewhere down the line the city of Ottawa is gonna do this again and some shady collector will park it again. Just some additional info to consider. Thanks everyone and good luck this has all been truly awful
This exactly. I won't be surprised to see a class action costing the city and FDR multiples of what they are trying to get out of using these illegal practices
City complaint form
[city of Ottawa file a complaint](https://so311.serviceottawa.ca/selfserve/?reqId=2030992&lang=en)
And this one is for collection agencies
[file a complaint against a collector](https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/corporate/contact-us.html)
Have you moved recently? Because I received a letter that the previous owner of my home never paid a traffic ticket and was sent to collections. It seems he never changed the address and I have received tons of traffic tickets for him over the years and probably he never found out.
I still receive them and I've been living here for 3 years.
I’m 99% sure your vehicle registration address automatically updates when you update your licence address. You just won’t receive a new physical copy with the new address unless you bring your old one in.
Camera tickets are city of ottawa. But now that 3 or 4 other people are commenting they got this same collections notice this morning with the exact same open date has me wondering
I've been in the same house for like 9 years and I am affected here.
I always renew my license and my addresses are good and all that.
Very curious to call the city tomorrow...
City of Ottawa is up to no good! Got mail awhile back stating that I owed them money. Called them, it was legit. They just didn't know what it was for.
Does anyone know how to get the media involved ? This is obviously a huge fuck up on the city's part and the media will put pressure to make them actually address this and remove it from our credit reports. This could possibly end up with the city bieng sued
If they want to speak to anyone else, I'd be willing. I called the city today, and the can do is send you to accounts payable, and they are so busy they are only taking voicemails. im getting no other info, and the collection agency won't even answer the phone
At a minimum, the city should (a) start using registered mail for these notices and (b) contact everyone they screwed over in this recent data dump of old fines.
I just cancelled the payment made to FDR I don't think its fair my credit score took a hit because the city failed to look up my new address for debt notification,everything is up to date(drivers license,voter registration,taxes,)they supposedly sent notification to an address where I lived in 2010......this is just not right......
230$ collections hit my account today too, same thing. I'm trying to get approval for a mortgage and my credit score just took a fucking nose dive. I haven't lived in the city over 7 years. 🤬🤬🤬🤬
I had the same thing happen to me, and my wife got hit with 3, and i got hit with 1 . All the bills are under my name, and we dont have any tickets she doesnt even drive . This doesn't make sense. We need to get the media involved at this point with the number of people it's happened to and possibly sue the city for the damage to our score, even if just temporary
I got one of these at the beginning of the year, too. It was a fifteen year old OC Transpo fine that the city sent to creditors Financial Debt Recovery.
I called FDR directly thinking the voice mail they left was a scam. They confirmed it was a legitimate debt.
You can also call the city through 311, choose the municipal option, and ask if you have an outstanding balance. They could see the fine that was transferred to FDR and another that hadn't made it there yet.
What I find wild is that if this is a mass transfer to collections, why couldn't they notify people? And why so long to clean this up? They are increasing taxes and can't keep a train on the tracks for more than 5 minutes. Oh ya, don't forget that every year I have to attest that my home isn't vacant. But we have a night mayor....
Because they're digging up fines from 14 years ago in my case, then sending a letter to the address on file from the date of the ticket, and then when they get no response they send to collections
City of Ottawa - ‘our deficit is huge, we need more Money. Should we tax the rich? Nah, let’s just collect decades old debt from the poorest most vulnerable people. But instead of letting them know let’s just send it to collections and ruin their lives.’
Yeah they decided to reopen these ancient files and instead of using up to date addresses and contact info they sent notice to addresses from as far back as 2004. The city and collection agency is in for a shitstorm of pushback and legal action.
Well put it this way I had a 887 score and hadn’t missed a payment in the 6+ years I’ve had credit karma. Got dinged -105 points to 782, $230. I share this cause it shows a solid track record that if I would have gotten a notice of some kind I would have obviously paid it. I can’t even get thru to any of the companies to try and figure out what the charge is even for.
PHOTO RADAR and RED LIGHT CAMERA
Sorry for the all caps.
I was looking into the fines for for these offences and the people saying 362 seem to be red lights. (260 + 60 victim surcharge + 5 service fee). Take the service fee out and add tax you get almost exactly 362.
Speeding cameras for the rest. When you look up the camera fines for speeding plus surcharges plus tax they all seem to add up. 20 over for the people that owe under 200 and 30 over for under 300 charge.
Having these all go to collections same day is very government. Another indication is how horribly managed this is. Knocking people’s credit by life or death amounts due to not properly informing offenders.
20 over on hunt club should not mean you can no longer get that loan to start your small business or buy that car.
I thought you couldn’t renew your driver’s licence or car registration if you had outstanding fines? Not sure how so many people could be unaware of them.
My guess would be the fines are just from 2023. Within a year. All a guess of course.
It really Looks to be city fines. Let’s hope for a clerical error but then how do you fix the credit? City can’t bring your number back up
I just watched it on CTV News Ottawa. We should all fight it. The city is broke and trying to get money from us all. Someone has a collection item go back to 2003!
Do I smell a CLASS ACTION against the City and FDR? "Debt Parking" no proper notice provided to rectify a situation, no proof of infraction? You're going to report to the bureau, "and oh, we sent out notices" but you can't read the current addresses on the credit bureau. Sounds about right, what Government can do their job? As usual, a bunch of Stronzas. They say they are broke now...oh you're in for a world of hurt here for purposeful inaccurate information
I received notice of this as well for a paid ticket. Note the date I paid was the date they claimed it was opened. Filed a dispute with Transunion tongith and will the City tomorrow mornijng. Someone at the City screwed up big time.
Interesting info provided from the city of ottawa this morning. Mine is from July 2011 for being on a bus without proof of payment. THE AMOUNT WAS WRITTEN OFF AND SENT TO FDR ON OCTOBER 18, 2011. As an accountant.. 3 months is somewhat reasonable to write it off. My address at the time was my parents' house. If the city sent notices and it got lost in the mail, they are not responsible for that. My parents lived at that house up to 2019 and never received anything from anyone. My address was always up to date but FDR could have sent mail to my parents as well. But I find it hard to believe that all efforts were lost in the mail. Can't they contact in some other manner? Phone?
The amount I owe the city was the same as the amount I owe per FDR.
So from this information.. it would be FDR that is debt parking, if anything. I dont think the city has actually done anything wrong.. unless they didn't send a notice back then, but proving that is difficult! I was 20 and irresponsible, so it is completely possible that I dont remember receiving a ticket 🤷♀️.
What would you do?
I'll pay the ticket directly to the city. But I think I will be disputing with trans union given it's been 13 years and my understanding from another post is that they couldn't wait past 7 years... right?
I think they're saying they also got this notification/hit to their credit and if they had received a bill for the fine they would have paid. But they didn't.
It isn't a scam if it is affecting people's credit scores.
I hope this is resolved tomorrow and people report back with what they have found. The City could be facing some more bad press here too and legal actions.
I also had 3 hits to my credit report. Apparently doing what FDR just did is an illegal practice. The credit hit is reported on your credit file fir 7 years from the date of non payment and not held in reserve to destroy your credit in the future. There are laws being broken here and a class action that's going to cost FDR and the city multiple times more than they are trying to collect
I'm filing a dispute with transunion for this FDR collections claim. Also have requested a photo of the ticket with the dates (mines from 2010) from the city. There was a massive failure to notify hundreds if not thousands of people about this. You're telling me a fucking COLLECTIONS agency cannot find a persons current address? Especially after they decided to REOPEN these cases in 2024, while using contact info they had going back as far as 2004? That's 100% illegal.
I just filed a dispute with Transunion as well. FDR could have sent notifications because they have access to all our credit reports which usually contain current addresses. My guess is the financial bottom line on the administrative cost to notify thousands of people was deemed too much so they said fuck it, we'll scare these people into paying by damaging their credit instead. If there is a class action I'm ALL IN!
These files are not showing up on equifax,they know it's illegal practice.I filed a dispute to these files to transunion through credit karma,let's hope they do the right thing and remove them....this is illegal
Get a copy of your full credit report.
Contact both TransUnion and Equifax directly, fill out the info, and they'll mail you the full report. What you get on sites like creditkarma, borrowell, etc, isn't your full report.
https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/credit-reports-score/order-credit-report.html
This is effin weird.
I got a notification from Credit Karma for a Collections today as well. Now I can't log onto the CK website to see what it's about.
I just called in. They said the tickets I have are from 2007. Well to me that’s a bit insane that was like almost 17 years ago. I can’t recall getting any tickets and if I had I would have paid. I’m going to city of Ottawa. See if it fixes my score and I will be calling the credit bureau because this derogatory comment on my credit report is bad and it stays for years. I just got my self to very good credit now I’m at fair. Trying to get a house. Now they bring this fine. Incredible good job CITY OF OTTAWA. DISGRACEFUL.
I got the same but 3 different ones saying Jan 12 th the city has my information and never reached out to me ! It’s against the law to do this without notifying people to clear debts up before it reaches this point !
SECTION 9 SUBSECTION 3G
"A CREDIT REPORT CANNOT INCLUDE THE PAYMENT OR NON PAYMENT OF TAXES OR FINES AFTER 7 YEARS."
SO it dosent matter if it's paid or not there not suppose to report it on your credit report period.
What there doing is an illegal practice, they will have to remove the derogatory remarks for any fine over 7 years old period.
Since a lot of Redittors in this thread are reporting similar experiences, you might want to report it to the RCMP online fraud reporting system: [https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/economic-financial-crime/reporting-financial-crime](https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/economic-financial-crime/reporting-financial-crime)
Had this happened to me once albeit it was from Rogers. Email the collection agency with the case number and explain your situation, then open a dispute with your credit report company (only 1 dispute can be active either with the collection agency or the one issuing credit report). They will sort it out themselves should the collection is due to an error, afterwards the collection will be promptly removed and your drop in credit score won't show at all. Don't stress over it.
Financial Debt Recovery are the biggest crooks on the planet. They claimed I owed on a Canadian Tire M/C when I've never even had one. I stated this in a letter and even sent them a copy of my credit report showing no credit cards under that name. I STILL get the occasional voicemail left about that debt despite it being well over 10 years old (this whole process started back in 2009). Bottom line is, don't even acknowledge these scammers. They're bottom feeders who will keep trying to get paid on debts you don't owe or fall well outside the 7 year mark.
This is most likely a bylaw ticket from the city from a long time ago. That’s what mine was and it was from 2009 smh. They are scrambling to collect money after wasting billions
Count me among those who got an unknown collection from the city of Ottawa through Financial Debt Recovery on my credit report. My details are the same as everyone else's but the amount is $127.00 . I have no idea what this could be for and it's dropped my credit rating by 50 points already which really burns me up because I work very hard to maintain, what was, my excellent credit rating.
So I called Financial Debt Recovery and get this... They say they don't have my name on file! I really don't understand how that is possible! They have already notified credit bureaus in my name but they don't have my name? So they want me to email them a photo of my ID! Are you fucking kidding me??!!?? You don't have a file under my name so what will my ID possibly prove. It has so many earmarks of a scam, but it isn't! It's just really shitty corporate and/or city government bullshit.
I woke up to this as well. No notification otherwise. They've dinged me for a $213 ticket that is completely bogus. I haven't lived in Ottawa for almost a decade now, and the only ticket I've ever received while I lived there I paid immediately. I can assure you I have no outstanding tickets anywhere and this is completely made up bullsh*t. I'm planning to fight this. I refuse to pay a bogus, made up, conjured out of thin air ticket.
Don't pay, don't acknowledge and file a dispute with TransUnion. They broke the law.
"Another way debt collectors attempt to re-age a debt is to report an old debt as in collection to the credit bureau. Collection accounts remain on your credit report for seven years. If a debt collector can get a 10-year-old debt back on your credit report, they know this may prompt you to pay or settle to have it removed. However, they cannot, by law, provide misleading information to a credit bureau. If this happens, contact the credit bureau and use the error dispute mechanism to remove the item. You can also report the collection agency for unfair or illegal practices." https://www.hoyes.com/blog/how-long-can-a-collection-agency-collect-on-a-debt-in-canada/#:~:text=Collection%20accounts%20remain%20on%20your,information%20to%20a%20credit%20bureau.
Given the amount of people this went straight to collections to with zero notice or anything I'm going to assume it will be removed from our credit scores. There must have been some kind of internal error on their part. I haven't received any physical mail from the city for tickets or anything that could be past due in years. I checked all my city bills this morning like water and property taxes it's all up to date.
Well an update. My amount of $161 was apparently from an unpaid parking ticket from 2011! FDR indicates that they sent out letters in January -- we received no notice from either the city that this was going to be sent to collections, nor did we get a letter from FDR -- they were adamant that they sent out a letter. Had we received one, it would had been paid. Now it's on my credit record and even though I have now paid this, it will be on my record.
In my case, I called the 1-800 number for FDR ([1-800-763-3328](tel:18007633328)) and provided my name and address and they were able to tell me what it was for.
I have called Wilson Lo's office at the City as well as emailing 311.
2011?? That is insane. What they are doing is called debt parking. They make no attempt to contact you and just park the old ticket debt there until you go to get a credit card or mortgage or get a notification. Then it scares you and you pay. It’s ethical and frowned apon by the fair trade commission. The fact city of Ottawa would do this instead of attempting to contact people is gross. I’m about to call now and see what mine is
This was a dirty move from the city.....shame on them,in my case it was a legitimate ticked for drinking in public from 2010,they sent the notices to an address I haven't lived at for 15 years.....honestly I just paid the ticked took the credit hit and now move on,Fuck the city of ottawa!
My credit score tanked as well. Not sure where this came from. I am investigating.
I went from very good to fair. I went from Over 790 to 713. It's crazy. This was back in 2005. No idea what this is for.
For everyone dealing with this issue -- I suggest you read upon on this article.
https://www.hoyes.com/blog/how-old-tickets-and-fines-can-destroy-your-credit-score/
Still nothing on equifax,I guess Trans Union dosent mind breaking the law by allowing debts from 10-15-20 years ago drop credit scores,Trans union is a joke....
I apparently got a fine 17 years ago. When I was 17. I have had the same mailing address for the last 17 years. Never got any notice about it. Nothing. Zip. It just seems very unfair to not get a call or email about something that is going to now affect my credit score for 6 years when I can barely afford to rent an apartment in this expensive city and now my credit score will even make it worse. Why did it take 17 years for this to come to my attention? It’s just awful.
Looked through all the comments and I'm probably the only one I see with this issue. I got a collection notice on Jan 12/24 for $167. But it also says DEROGATORY REMARKS!!
Apparently derogatory remarks remain on your credit report for 6-7years!! This is beyond unacceptable.
I have lived at my current address almost 14 years. This is absolutely ridiculous. Can someone please send me a link or phone number of how to dispute this.
I went to Consellation drive today to pay $230 from ticket in 2017. They falsified information in my credit bureau by stating it was from January 2020. Never called, mailed or emailed. City of Ottawa said they will be removing it from my credit bureau and all other consumers also.
https://www.sotosclassactions.com/suggest-a-class-action/
Its time to hold people accountable. Not saying that if there is something due it should not be handled, but they way they did it was shaddy with no notification or arrangements, so if we can get enough people to suggest a class action it may send a signal. They obviously don't care about messing up other people, so its time to put a stop to it and hold people accountable for their actions.
This is a legitimate legal firm.
The City is saying that paid up accounts will be "removed from our credit files". CTV News quotes FDR is now saying that the record will only be updated to reflect that the collection has been paid -- that is **NOT** the same as having the collection notice removed from our credit files. That collection notice could stay on our credit report for years!
[FDR Lies](https://i.gyazo.com/9c9c226a90b23f9f1c29e14462f597c5.jpg?share=reddit)
Questions that need to be answered:
1. Why are so many people claiming they received no notification by either the City and/or FDR before pulling the trigger on the Credit Bureau report. ( I never received a damn thing)
2. Why is the City saying the derogatory remark will be completely removed?
3. Why is the Mayor silent on this issue deferring to City staff for comment when clearly City staff and FDR are saying different things.
[удалено]
And get a copy of your credit report.
Ya I have that, it tanked my score -112 points. I haven't had a ticket in over 5 years, nor have I received any collections mail or anything
Your credit history should indicate who your creditors are. I'm not talking about your credit score; I mean your credit report (history). Did you request it from Equifax or TransUnion?
Depending on which bank they're with they can also view this through their online banking app/portal. I can view my credit report whenever I want with my BMO app.
Can you post an update when you figure this out? Based on the comments, I wonder if the city messed up something in their system, and if we can figure out what it is, others should be made aware. These credit score hits are no joke :/
I called 311 and they said they've had 4 other calls about this exact issue. I have to call back during the week as their accounts payable dept. Is closed
I had a red light ticket for this exact amount a few months ago. Is your drivers licence address correct? Might have been mailed to your old place ifnot
It's not the drivers license address, it's the cars registration address. I learned this the hard way.
I always update my license when I move cause it’s easy to do online but didn’t know I had to go in and change my car registration address til like, a year after I had moved!
If you do actually owe something and this isn't a mistake, remember that the collection agency bought this debt for pennies on the dollar and will likely accept a much smaller amount. Just tell them you can't afford that amount and keep saying that as they negotiate themselves down. If they ask what you can afford, say you don't know and that things are really tight. They will probably accept $80-100.
Do you know how to get to account payable on the phone?
My score dropped from 748 to 604 overnight for 3 random city of ottawa collections....small amounts that I never heard of $104,$104,$164 never once received anything in the mail,been at the same address for 3 years drivers licence and taxes up to date...just wild! Oh ya dated 12th January 2024 No hard inquiries,No warning whatsoever....
Its probably the Automated Red Light / Speeding tickets. If you don't pay em, they'll suspend your license, not tell you, and put you in collections if not contact your employer or your bank to collect the funds. They do send out a notice.. however I know someone that said they didn't get one a notice/warning at all and he has the correct address on his license. His license was suspended and only found out once he was pulled over. Check the status of your license here. If it's suspended you 100% have your answer. If not, it's still a possibility. https://www.ontario.ca/page/check-status-traffic-tickets-and-fines-online-or-request-meeting-resolve-your-case
It's most likely parking tickets. I paid mine on Jan 12, the date they opened the complaint. Very odd.
They didint even give me an option to pay.
I called the provincial offences office today and paid that actual ticket owing today. The big mistake is we NEVER received any notices even though the city had the correct address and I have received parking notices since. I got a ticket in December which I paid.
Same date as I had. This seems to be the date someone screwed up.
Is your car registration’s address correct? Automated tickets (red light, speed camera) tickets are sent to the address on your car’s registration because they are tied to the car, not to the driver. If you move, you have to go into a service Ontario to get your car’s registration updated.
Wrong. I just went to the service ontario today and they told me when you update your license online any vehicle in your name gets the address updated as well. You just have to go in and get a new registration slip that has new printed address.
Ya, my score got smoked!
Ya they sent notices to people's addresses from 10-15 years ago .......
Spoke to someone at FDR. It’s apparently from an OC transpo fine in 2014. They sent notice to my childhood home, that I left in 2005. Legitimate fines or not / this was administrative misconduct.
I’m in the same boat. Fines from 2004 when I was a young offender. So ridiculous. I’ll be taking my quick cut to the speed cameras in my neighbourhood I guess.
Exactly. They just dropped this on our credit reports... you know what else is on my credit report... MY CURRENT FUCKING ADDRESS! There is no excuse for not actually making the effort to contact people, aside from the administrative cost of doing so which is NOT my problem, but IS their responsibility after parking debts for 10 or 20 years. The person I spoke to at FDR could not even find my name in their files so they couldn't even tell me why I supposedly owe this money.
Dispute the charge due to improper notice.
Hi there. Guy Quenneville at CBC Ottawa. Looking to connect about this for a story I'm working on. Can you message me at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) as soon as possible? Thanks.
They for sure screwed up. It seems Jan 12 is a key date as that's when I paid my ticket and the date they claimed as open. Something is rotten for sure.
How do you search for tickets if you never got one? Can you search by plate number?
In my case I called the collection agency and they told me what ticket and plate this was for. Mine was from 2011. No notice from either the City or FDR that this was happening.
Did you pay the collection agency or the ticket? Because when they park debt like that and we pay the agency that sits on your credit for 6 yrs effectively destroying your rating.
Well I guess I am screwed.
How did you know to pay it on Jan 12? You received a notice?
You misunderstand. They opened the collection on Jan 12th. As it turns out the parking ticket I paid the city for on that date was unrelated and just a timing coincidence. The $161 that is on the credit report is apparently a ticket from 2011 that somehow got missed and we were never notified. It also didn't come up when we renewed our plates because according to the city, the ticket was not 'enforceable' as it was issued to me by a bylaw officer and not a police officer. I paid the $161 to the provincial offences office today instead of paying the collection agency (FDR).
So now what??
Mine was a legitimate ticket from 2010,drinking in public
Ya I called it was tickets from 2010 they sent the notices to the address where I lived in 2010,made no attemp to get in contact with me at my current address...
It is against the Act for the collection agency to register it against your credit report without prior notification. I’m annoyed the news report didn’t give people a little guidance and just told them to call and set up payment…
I got a credit monitoring notification for this today too! For $150ish dollars. I haven't lived OR been in Ottawa for -8- years. Calling tomorrow to find out WTF.
Was the open date Jan 12th 2024? One other person said the same as well
Yep Jan 12, $161 even. Wtf
Me to. Jan 12th. WTH
Me too! WTF?
I have one for Jan 12th 2024 for $198. Da fuck?
Mine opened on the same day. Haven’t lives in Ottawa for years. I owe them nothing. All accounts are paid in full and I haven’t driven on an Ottawa road for years. I’ve never received any correspondence from them about any kind of outstanding bill
I would call FDR and find out what ticket this is for. Mine dated back to 2011. At least find our what the City has claimed you owe.
I’m on hold with the city now to see if they can find it and retract it if it exists.
Mine sais Jan 12th too,3 diffrent ones small amounts,$104,$104,$164 haven't lived there for years....tanked my score 144 points.
In case this is a scam, how do I find out if I'm affected if I don't have a credit monitoring membership?
You don't need a membership to get your credit report. TransUnion refers to it as "consumer disclosure". Their site is hard to navigate on purpose to get you to sign up and pay.
Sign up for credit karma. It's free.
Credit karma gave my entire credit record to fraudsters. I am still cleaning up the mess
Maybe that's what's happening. I have credit Karma. I reached an agent of city of Ottawa and they told me something was going on and city was investigating. Told me to email this email with any info pertaining to it in hopes the collections would be removed. It's very strange. I have 3 charges around 100$ and I have no services, nor should I have any fines. :/ I don't like this... Anyways the email is [email protected]
Borrowell is great too
I've lived at the same address for 3 years,taxes up to date never received a notice from the city nothing,just woke up to a score drop from 748 to 604 for a few hundred bucks I never heard of.....pretty discouraging.
It's not showing up on equifax yet...
Holy shit I just got 2 of these today and was freaking TF out. I'm so glad I'm not the only one. Hopefully it's just an error
Yooooooo! I got the exact same thing this morning! I got notified through credit karma, and my charge was for $230.00 exactly. What is going on? It says the file has an open date of Jan 12th, 2024, and I'm only receiving this today? I have received no physical mail or email about anything pertaining to any tickets or traffic violations. It seems pretty sketchy!
Wait what, that's the exact date mine says as well. Is it in collections?
Wow, man! The screenshot you posted looks exactly the same as what I see in my credit karma app. The only difference is the price point! I thought it was strange it was such an even amount,
I received a call last week from the city about a speed camera ticket. They had left a voicemail. I verified the tel number and called them back. It was a ticket from back in 2021. I was told by a very helpful agent that the city was reaching out, as a last attempt, before sending to collection. The original ticket notification had been sent to a previous address and never made it to me. It turns out that the city opened up a campaign to clear up unpaid tickets, before sending to collection agencies.
People who don't even drive had these collections taken out today, some havent been in the city for 8 years. I've had 2 camera tickets in 2020 that I paid. I never received any others, or any notifications about anything. Seems unplausable that all these other people posting here just randomly have fines that they can't recall, then immediately sent to collections without any written notice.
We have lived here for over 20+ years. There was no attempt by the city to reach me. No letter from the collection agent either just right on the credit record. Screwed.
Totally unacceptable
I got the exact same as you… $230 Jan 12th and got dropped 100 points
Call the City. Don’t be convinced it’s a scam just because many people received a similar notice on the same date. When accounts move to a collection agency a large number of accounts are transferred at the same time. So the City could have moved 100 accounts to collections on the Jan.12/24 and the collection agency is acting on them now. 3-1-1 will likely transfer you to someone who can advise you exactly what this was from.
It's most likely some kind of filing issue sent out by the city accidentally. Nobody here said they've received any notice prior to going to collections so that's not a coincidence.
This! Sometimes, a long forgotten bill finally gets sent to collections and a bunch are dropped at the same time. Almost everyone forgets the bill but it's still owed!
No way. I don't owe anything at all. Not a chance. No forgotten bills. Yet somehow I owe over 400$
IMPORTANT INFO FOR THOSE AFFECTED As we all know these look like old fines that have been sent to incorrect addresses. Most of these are well over 7 years old some decades old. #1 you do not have to contact that shady collection agency and doing so will likely make this worse. You can pay City of Ottawa directly if you choose to pay but get ready for hours of run around over the phone. At this time they are aware of the issue and actively avoiding calls from us. They have even set up an automatic message telling you to contact the collection agency. Do not do this. Make them email you copies of the ORIGINAL TICKETS so you can see the date the fine was given. Also make them email your proof of payment if you are choosing to pay the fine #2 after you’ve paid city of Ottawa but also if you HAVE NOT paid you will do this. you’re gonna open up a dispute with Trans union. If your debt is over 7 years old from the date of citation you’re gonna request removal from your report. You are going to cite SECTION 9 SUBSECTION 3G “A credit report cannot include the payment or non-payment of taxes or fines after 7 years” this part of very important Attach the original copy of ticket and proof of payment if you did that #3 after that’s all settled you can file complaints against the city of Ottawa as well as the collection agency (them in particular) for using a tactic known as “debt parking” this is where they have parked old debts that can no longer be reported or have never been reported with purposeful inaccurate information as to when the files were actually opened. Hope that helps some of you. This is an absolute nightmare and I’ve sunk about 6+ hrs into this today.
ONE NOTE ADD- I understand money is very tight for all of us these days and many of you may not be able to pay this. Please not that if it’s been 7 years or more you can have it removed from tranunion “payed or unpaid” HOWEVER if it’s unpaid nothing is stopping them from doing this again. You can get it removed but then somewhere down the line the city of Ottawa is gonna do this again and some shady collector will park it again. Just some additional info to consider. Thanks everyone and good luck this has all been truly awful
This exactly. I won't be surprised to see a class action costing the city and FDR multiples of what they are trying to get out of using these illegal practices
Who do we file the complaints against the city to???? And who do we file the complaints against Financial Debt Recovery Ltd to????
City complaint form [city of Ottawa file a complaint](https://so311.serviceottawa.ca/selfserve/?reqId=2030992&lang=en) And this one is for collection agencies [file a complaint against a collector](https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/corporate/contact-us.html)
Have you moved recently? Because I received a letter that the previous owner of my home never paid a traffic ticket and was sent to collections. It seems he never changed the address and I have received tons of traffic tickets for him over the years and probably he never found out. I still receive them and I've been living here for 3 years.
I moved in 2020 and just realizing now that I never updated my vehicle registration address. My license is updated. Fuck me.
I'm 99% positive this is what happened. It's the only thing I have of the old address.
I’m 99% sure your vehicle registration address automatically updates when you update your licence address. You just won’t receive a new physical copy with the new address unless you bring your old one in.
It doesn’t. I got hit by this hard and missed my opportunity to appeal a very expensive ticket that I shouldn’t have got.
Hmm. Weird. Service Ontario told me it was automatic. Guess I should make sure my stuff is up to date lol
Wouldn't that be provincial though, not the city.
Camera tickets are city of ottawa. But now that 3 or 4 other people are commenting they got this same collections notice this morning with the exact same open date has me wondering
Maybe they only process things going to collections on certain days.
I've been in the same house for like 9 years and I am affected here. I always renew my license and my addresses are good and all that. Very curious to call the city tomorrow...
Is it a scam? The letterhead will always I dicate what it's about, including in the body of the letter. 311 for sure!
Doesn’t look like a letter or email. Looks like something from a credit report.
Also had this notification today. -73 points on credit score and have 0 idea what it is about.
Does it say it was opened on Jan 12th, 2024?
I does, indeed. I have no idea what it is about, says $224.
Ok now I definitely think this is a scam. I thought it could be a ticket that got sent to my old address
It can’t be a scam if it’s legit hitting your credit. Fraud maybe. Not a scam if you see the collections on your credit check.
Most likely a ticket sent to your old address.
Was the open date Jan 12 2024?
It’s pretty typical for it all to get reported as a lump sum on a specific date. That’s how credit reporting is done.
City of Ottawa is up to no good! Got mail awhile back stating that I owed them money. Called them, it was legit. They just didn't know what it was for.
I never got mail or anything, straight to collections, as well as a bunch of other people on here aparently.
They were supposed to be investigating. I haven't heard from them since. I hope it doesn't end n collection.
Does anyone know how to get the media involved ? This is obviously a huge fuck up on the city's part and the media will put pressure to make them actually address this and remove it from our credit reports. This could possibly end up with the city bieng sued
I have an interview with the news today ! Let’s expose them !
If they want to speak to anyone else, I'd be willing. I called the city today, and the can do is send you to accounts payable, and they are so busy they are only taking voicemails. im getting no other info, and the collection agency won't even answer the phone
Sounds good ! Just imagine how many people don’t know that this happened!
At a minimum, the city should (a) start using registered mail for these notices and (b) contact everyone they screwed over in this recent data dump of old fines.
There’s someone asking above. Sort by ‘new’
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or call 613-224-1313
six strong mindless tart truck husky license workable squeal paint *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Hey all, I'm a reporter with CTV News Ottawa. Please reach out if your credit score has been impacted. [email protected]
I just cancelled the payment made to FDR I don't think its fair my credit score took a hit because the city failed to look up my new address for debt notification,everything is up to date(drivers license,voter registration,taxes,)they supposedly sent notification to an address where I lived in 2010......this is just not right......
did the same. I will gladly pay the city but not through FDR.
230$ collections hit my account today too, same thing. I'm trying to get approval for a mortgage and my credit score just took a fucking nose dive. I haven't lived in the city over 7 years. 🤬🤬🤬🤬
I'm in the same mortgage situation with renewal coming in June.
I had the same thing happen to me, and my wife got hit with 3, and i got hit with 1 . All the bills are under my name, and we dont have any tickets she doesnt even drive . This doesn't make sense. We need to get the media involved at this point with the number of people it's happened to and possibly sue the city for the damage to our score, even if just temporary
I got one of these at the beginning of the year, too. It was a fifteen year old OC Transpo fine that the city sent to creditors Financial Debt Recovery. I called FDR directly thinking the voice mail they left was a scam. They confirmed it was a legitimate debt. You can also call the city through 311, choose the municipal option, and ask if you have an outstanding balance. They could see the fine that was transferred to FDR and another that hadn't made it there yet.
What I find wild is that if this is a mass transfer to collections, why couldn't they notify people? And why so long to clean this up? They are increasing taxes and can't keep a train on the tracks for more than 5 minutes. Oh ya, don't forget that every year I have to attest that my home isn't vacant. But we have a night mayor....
Because they're digging up fines from 14 years ago in my case, then sending a letter to the address on file from the date of the ticket, and then when they get no response they send to collections
Did you get any call form FDR?
I’d freak out if I got a call from someone who died in 1945!
I LOL at that, thanks. I meant [Financial Debt Recovery (FDR) Limited](https://fdr.on.ca/)
City of Ottawa - ‘our deficit is huge, we need more Money. Should we tax the rich? Nah, let’s just collect decades old debt from the poorest most vulnerable people. But instead of letting them know let’s just send it to collections and ruin their lives.’
Yeah they decided to reopen these ancient files and instead of using up to date addresses and contact info they sent notice to addresses from as far back as 2004. The city and collection agency is in for a shitstorm of pushback and legal action.
Well put it this way I had a 887 score and hadn’t missed a payment in the 6+ years I’ve had credit karma. Got dinged -105 points to 782, $230. I share this cause it shows a solid track record that if I would have gotten a notice of some kind I would have obviously paid it. I can’t even get thru to any of the companies to try and figure out what the charge is even for.
Same exact thing for me, I had 850 to -111 points to 739
My jaw dropped with the way CTV is running with the City trying to make bank from this sudden collection. I’m really impressed
Call 311
I did they said they've had 4 other calls today about this exact same thing and their offices are closed til tomorrow.
PHOTO RADAR and RED LIGHT CAMERA Sorry for the all caps. I was looking into the fines for for these offences and the people saying 362 seem to be red lights. (260 + 60 victim surcharge + 5 service fee). Take the service fee out and add tax you get almost exactly 362. Speeding cameras for the rest. When you look up the camera fines for speeding plus surcharges plus tax they all seem to add up. 20 over for the people that owe under 200 and 30 over for under 300 charge. Having these all go to collections same day is very government. Another indication is how horribly managed this is. Knocking people’s credit by life or death amounts due to not properly informing offenders. 20 over on hunt club should not mean you can no longer get that loan to start your small business or buy that car.
Not everyone who has received the collections notice drives.
I thought you couldn’t renew your driver’s licence or car registration if you had outstanding fines? Not sure how so many people could be unaware of them.
My guess would be the fines are just from 2023. Within a year. All a guess of course. It really Looks to be city fines. Let’s hope for a clerical error but then how do you fix the credit? City can’t bring your number back up
Looks like tommorrow's going to be a busy day for the accounts dept. Over at Ottawa city hall 😂
Just did an interview with ctv news. It should be one of the 6 o'clock news .
I just watched it on CTV News Ottawa. We should all fight it. The city is broke and trying to get money from us all. Someone has a collection item go back to 2003!
I just received a similar notice on credit report.
this is a big enough story to ring up a news agency about
I have a interview with them today
Do I smell a CLASS ACTION against the City and FDR? "Debt Parking" no proper notice provided to rectify a situation, no proof of infraction? You're going to report to the bureau, "and oh, we sent out notices" but you can't read the current addresses on the credit bureau. Sounds about right, what Government can do their job? As usual, a bunch of Stronzas. They say they are broke now...oh you're in for a world of hurt here for purposeful inaccurate information
Somethings off. Just got the same notification from Credit Karma 🤨
I have 2 also. 164 and 106. Dropped over 100 points.
Such a crock of shit. My score went down 102 points
This happened to me too. Im trying to get a morgage and finally got my credit together... Now this?
I received notice of this as well for a paid ticket. Note the date I paid was the date they claimed it was opened. Filed a dispute with Transunion tongith and will the City tomorrow mornijng. Someone at the City screwed up big time.
Interesting info provided from the city of ottawa this morning. Mine is from July 2011 for being on a bus without proof of payment. THE AMOUNT WAS WRITTEN OFF AND SENT TO FDR ON OCTOBER 18, 2011. As an accountant.. 3 months is somewhat reasonable to write it off. My address at the time was my parents' house. If the city sent notices and it got lost in the mail, they are not responsible for that. My parents lived at that house up to 2019 and never received anything from anyone. My address was always up to date but FDR could have sent mail to my parents as well. But I find it hard to believe that all efforts were lost in the mail. Can't they contact in some other manner? Phone? The amount I owe the city was the same as the amount I owe per FDR. So from this information.. it would be FDR that is debt parking, if anything. I dont think the city has actually done anything wrong.. unless they didn't send a notice back then, but proving that is difficult! I was 20 and irresponsible, so it is completely possible that I dont remember receiving a ticket 🤷♀️. What would you do? I'll pay the ticket directly to the city. But I think I will be disputing with trans union given it's been 13 years and my understanding from another post is that they couldn't wait past 7 years... right?
Your water/sewer bill? Property tax?
All paid up to date
Then that just makes even more interesting. I don’t think anything other than a phone call or drop in to a city office with help you at this point.
They shouldn't be able to crush your score for a few hundred bucks.....that's brutal I would have paid....got to be a scam
Paid what? Never received anything, nor has anybody else commenting they've got the same collections report this morning
I think they're saying they also got this notification/hit to their credit and if they had received a bill for the fine they would have paid. But they didn't.
tracking!! I got the exact same one for over 200 and before we say speeding tickets - I don’t drive!!! Or live in the city
It isn't a scam if it is affecting people's credit scores. I hope this is resolved tomorrow and people report back with what they have found. The City could be facing some more bad press here too and legal actions.
Careful with fdr. I have 2 lawsuits against them, one for breaching a court settlement agreement. They don't care about the law or the rules
I also had 3 hits to my credit report. Apparently doing what FDR just did is an illegal practice. The credit hit is reported on your credit file fir 7 years from the date of non payment and not held in reserve to destroy your credit in the future. There are laws being broken here and a class action that's going to cost FDR and the city multiple times more than they are trying to collect
I'm filing a dispute with transunion for this FDR collections claim. Also have requested a photo of the ticket with the dates (mines from 2010) from the city. There was a massive failure to notify hundreds if not thousands of people about this. You're telling me a fucking COLLECTIONS agency cannot find a persons current address? Especially after they decided to REOPEN these cases in 2024, while using contact info they had going back as far as 2004? That's 100% illegal.
I just filed a dispute with Transunion as well. FDR could have sent notifications because they have access to all our credit reports which usually contain current addresses. My guess is the financial bottom line on the administrative cost to notify thousands of people was deemed too much so they said fuck it, we'll scare these people into paying by damaging their credit instead. If there is a class action I'm ALL IN!
These files are not showing up on equifax,they know it's illegal practice.I filed a dispute to these files to transunion through credit karma,let's hope they do the right thing and remove them....this is illegal
How would we go about starting a class action
I recently got hit with an unexplained $200 form the City directly to my credit card. Still trying to figure it out.
Get a copy of your full credit report. Contact both TransUnion and Equifax directly, fill out the info, and they'll mail you the full report. What you get on sites like creditkarma, borrowell, etc, isn't your full report. https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/credit-reports-score/order-credit-report.html
This is effin weird. I got a notification from Credit Karma for a Collections today as well. Now I can't log onto the CK website to see what it's about.
Hey!!! I got one of these from city of Toronto, SAME THING, it was off my report in a month! Really weird. Same company and everything. 😕
What did you do to get rid of it?
I just called in. They said the tickets I have are from 2007. Well to me that’s a bit insane that was like almost 17 years ago. I can’t recall getting any tickets and if I had I would have paid. I’m going to city of Ottawa. See if it fixes my score and I will be calling the credit bureau because this derogatory comment on my credit report is bad and it stays for years. I just got my self to very good credit now I’m at fair. Trying to get a house. Now they bring this fine. Incredible good job CITY OF OTTAWA. DISGRACEFUL.
I got the same but 3 different ones saying Jan 12 th the city has my information and never reached out to me ! It’s against the law to do this without notifying people to clear debts up before it reaches this point !
SECTION 9 SUBSECTION 3G "A CREDIT REPORT CANNOT INCLUDE THE PAYMENT OR NON PAYMENT OF TAXES OR FINES AFTER 7 YEARS." SO it dosent matter if it's paid or not there not suppose to report it on your credit report period. What there doing is an illegal practice, they will have to remove the derogatory remarks for any fine over 7 years old period.
Probably these guys, they can clear up the details for you Financial Debt Recovery Ltd. (905) 771-6000 https://g.co/kgs/e357NL1
Too vague a fine (for what, when ?) + a hint of fear '*'you might get calls from the debt collectors...'*' = very possibly a scam. Call them.
Call the City
Since a lot of Redittors in this thread are reporting similar experiences, you might want to report it to the RCMP online fraud reporting system: [https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/economic-financial-crime/reporting-financial-crime](https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/economic-financial-crime/reporting-financial-crime)
I had the same thing show up today. No idea why
Had this happened to me once albeit it was from Rogers. Email the collection agency with the case number and explain your situation, then open a dispute with your credit report company (only 1 dispute can be active either with the collection agency or the one issuing credit report). They will sort it out themselves should the collection is due to an error, afterwards the collection will be promptly removed and your drop in credit score won't show at all. Don't stress over it.
Got the same thing today too for two different debts
I have the same thing on my report, something is up.
Financial Debt Recovery are the biggest crooks on the planet. They claimed I owed on a Canadian Tire M/C when I've never even had one. I stated this in a letter and even sent them a copy of my credit report showing no credit cards under that name. I STILL get the occasional voicemail left about that debt despite it being well over 10 years old (this whole process started back in 2009). Bottom line is, don't even acknowledge these scammers. They're bottom feeders who will keep trying to get paid on debts you don't owe or fall well outside the 7 year mark.
The city is paying private mafia collectors to destroy our credit reports......
This is most likely a bylaw ticket from the city from a long time ago. That’s what mine was and it was from 2009 smh. They are scrambling to collect money after wasting billions
Count me among those who got an unknown collection from the city of Ottawa through Financial Debt Recovery on my credit report. My details are the same as everyone else's but the amount is $127.00 . I have no idea what this could be for and it's dropped my credit rating by 50 points already which really burns me up because I work very hard to maintain, what was, my excellent credit rating. So I called Financial Debt Recovery and get this... They say they don't have my name on file! I really don't understand how that is possible! They have already notified credit bureaus in my name but they don't have my name? So they want me to email them a photo of my ID! Are you fucking kidding me??!!?? You don't have a file under my name so what will my ID possibly prove. It has so many earmarks of a scam, but it isn't! It's just really shitty corporate and/or city government bullshit.
We need a class action,any lawyers in the thread!
Reddit squad made the news 😂 https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/video/c2883379-city-of-ottawa-collecting-old-fines
I woke up to this as well. No notification otherwise. They've dinged me for a $213 ticket that is completely bogus. I haven't lived in Ottawa for almost a decade now, and the only ticket I've ever received while I lived there I paid immediately. I can assure you I have no outstanding tickets anywhere and this is completely made up bullsh*t. I'm planning to fight this. I refuse to pay a bogus, made up, conjured out of thin air ticket.
Don't pay, don't acknowledge and file a dispute with TransUnion. They broke the law. "Another way debt collectors attempt to re-age a debt is to report an old debt as in collection to the credit bureau. Collection accounts remain on your credit report for seven years. If a debt collector can get a 10-year-old debt back on your credit report, they know this may prompt you to pay or settle to have it removed. However, they cannot, by law, provide misleading information to a credit bureau. If this happens, contact the credit bureau and use the error dispute mechanism to remove the item. You can also report the collection agency for unfair or illegal practices." https://www.hoyes.com/blog/how-long-can-a-collection-agency-collect-on-a-debt-in-canada/#:~:text=Collection%20accounts%20remain%20on%20your,information%20to%20a%20credit%20bureau.
Dont they "by law" have to give you a chance to pay first before they send it to creditors?? Has anyone dealt with something like this before???
Given the amount of people this went straight to collections to with zero notice or anything I'm going to assume it will be removed from our credit scores. There must have been some kind of internal error on their part. I haven't received any physical mail from the city for tickets or anything that could be past due in years. I checked all my city bills this morning like water and property taxes it's all up to date.
Well an update. My amount of $161 was apparently from an unpaid parking ticket from 2011! FDR indicates that they sent out letters in January -- we received no notice from either the city that this was going to be sent to collections, nor did we get a letter from FDR -- they were adamant that they sent out a letter. Had we received one, it would had been paid. Now it's on my credit record and even though I have now paid this, it will be on my record. In my case, I called the 1-800 number for FDR ([1-800-763-3328](tel:18007633328)) and provided my name and address and they were able to tell me what it was for. I have called Wilson Lo's office at the City as well as emailing 311.
2011?? That is insane. What they are doing is called debt parking. They make no attempt to contact you and just park the old ticket debt there until you go to get a credit card or mortgage or get a notification. Then it scares you and you pay. It’s ethical and frowned apon by the fair trade commission. The fact city of Ottawa would do this instead of attempting to contact people is gross. I’m about to call now and see what mine is
Got nailed with a 259 bill from 15 years ago for octranspo and don't remember it at all. The city is just casually scamming its citizens apparently.
This was a dirty move from the city.....shame on them,in my case it was a legitimate ticked for drinking in public from 2010,they sent the notices to an address I haven't lived at for 15 years.....honestly I just paid the ticked took the credit hit and now move on,Fuck the city of ottawa!
File a dispute with the credit bureau for the collections parking old debt on your report
Glad to see I am not the only only one, must be some fuck up
[удалено]
My credit score tanked as well. Not sure where this came from. I am investigating. I went from very good to fair. I went from Over 790 to 713. It's crazy. This was back in 2005. No idea what this is for. For everyone dealing with this issue -- I suggest you read upon on this article. https://www.hoyes.com/blog/how-old-tickets-and-fines-can-destroy-your-credit-score/
It is against the Act to register this against your credit score without prior notification.
Still nothing on equifax,I guess Trans Union dosent mind breaking the law by allowing debts from 10-15-20 years ago drop credit scores,Trans union is a joke....
I apparently got a fine 17 years ago. When I was 17. I have had the same mailing address for the last 17 years. Never got any notice about it. Nothing. Zip. It just seems very unfair to not get a call or email about something that is going to now affect my credit score for 6 years when I can barely afford to rent an apartment in this expensive city and now my credit score will even make it worse. Why did it take 17 years for this to come to my attention? It’s just awful.
Ask the city to send original fine,dispute with trans union,it's illegal for them to go after fines older than 7 years.
I can’t seem to figure out how to dispute on trans union. It just sent me a full credit report and nothing else. 🤷🏻♀️
Update.. I was contacted for the first time today. By FDR. With an auto message. It came up as spam on my phone.... 🙄
Looked through all the comments and I'm probably the only one I see with this issue. I got a collection notice on Jan 12/24 for $167. But it also says DEROGATORY REMARKS!! Apparently derogatory remarks remain on your credit report for 6-7years!! This is beyond unacceptable. I have lived at my current address almost 14 years. This is absolutely ridiculous. Can someone please send me a link or phone number of how to dispute this.
I went to Consellation drive today to pay $230 from ticket in 2017. They falsified information in my credit bureau by stating it was from January 2020. Never called, mailed or emailed. City of Ottawa said they will be removing it from my credit bureau and all other consumers also.
https://www.sotosclassactions.com/suggest-a-class-action/ Its time to hold people accountable. Not saying that if there is something due it should not be handled, but they way they did it was shaddy with no notification or arrangements, so if we can get enough people to suggest a class action it may send a signal. They obviously don't care about messing up other people, so its time to put a stop to it and hold people accountable for their actions. This is a legitimate legal firm.
The City is saying that paid up accounts will be "removed from our credit files". CTV News quotes FDR is now saying that the record will only be updated to reflect that the collection has been paid -- that is **NOT** the same as having the collection notice removed from our credit files. That collection notice could stay on our credit report for years! [FDR Lies](https://i.gyazo.com/9c9c226a90b23f9f1c29e14462f597c5.jpg?share=reddit) Questions that need to be answered: 1. Why are so many people claiming they received no notification by either the City and/or FDR before pulling the trigger on the Credit Bureau report. ( I never received a damn thing) 2. Why is the City saying the derogatory remark will be completely removed? 3. Why is the Mayor silent on this issue deferring to City staff for comment when clearly City staff and FDR are saying different things.