Your Rights When Creditors Call in Canada 2025

Updated March 2025 · 9 min read · bremo.io

Getting calls from creditors or collection agencies is stressful — but you have significant rights in Canada. Creditors and collection agencies must follow strict rules about when they can call, what they can say, and how they can behave. This guide explains your rights and what to do if they're violated.

Who Is Calling You?

Understanding who you're dealing with affects which rules apply:

• Original creditor (the bank or lender): Subject to their own policies and some provincial rules, but not always subject to the same strict collection agency laws
• Collection agency: A third party hired to collect or that has purchased your debt — subject to strict provincial collection agency legislation
• Debt buyer: A company that bought your debt from the original creditor — operates like a collection agency and is subject to the same rules

Provincial Collection Agency Rules

Each province has its own collection agency legislation with specific rules. Common protections across most provinces:

Calling Hours

• Most provinces: Cannot call before 7 AM or after 9 PM on weekdays
• Sundays and statutory holidays: Generally restricted or prohibited
• Ontario: Cannot call Sunday before 1 PM or after 5 PM

Frequency

• Cannot call excessively or for the purpose of harassment
• Ontario and BC: After a debtor sends a written request to cease communication, the agency must stop calling (except to confirm legal action will be taken)

Prohibited Conduct

Collection agencies across Canada are prohibited from:

• Using threatening, profane, intimidating, or coercive language
• Giving false or misleading information about the debt, the collector's identity, or legal consequences
• Claiming to be a lawyer without being one
• Claiming they will take legal action they don't intend to take
• Contacting your employer except to verify employment or in the context of garnishment
• Contacting family members about your debt (except to locate you)
• Discussing your debt with anyone other than you, your spouse, your guarantor, or your lawyer

How to Stop Collection Calls

1. Send a Cease Communication Letter

In Ontario, BC, Alberta, and most other provinces, you can send a written request (by registered mail) to the collection agency demanding they stop contacting you. Once received, they may only contact you to confirm they will cease, to advise of legal action they intend to take, or to respond to a contact you initiated. Keep a copy of your letter and the delivery confirmation.

2. File Insolvency

Filing a consumer proposal or bankruptcy immediately triggers a legal stay of proceedings under the BIA — this legally stops all collection calls, not just from collection agencies but from all unsecured creditors. Your Licensed Insolvency Trustee handles all further communications with creditors.

3. Hire a Lawyer

If you instruct collection agencies in writing that you are represented by a lawyer, they must communicate with your lawyer instead of you directly.

Documenting Violations

If a collection agency violates the rules, document everything:

• Date and time of each call
• Name of the caller and agency
• What was said — write it down immediately after the call
• Save any voicemails

File a complaint with your provincial consumer protection authority:

• Ontario: Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery (Consumer Protection Ontario)
• BC: Consumer Protection BC
• Alberta: Service Alberta (Consumer Investigations Unit)
• Other provinces have equivalent bodies

What Creditors CAN Legally Do

It's also important to know what is legal. Creditors can:

• Call you during permitted hours
• Send letters and emails
• Report your debt to credit bureaus
• Sue you in court and obtain a judgment
• Enforce a judgment through wage garnishment or bank seizure (after getting a court order)

None of these things are harassment if done within the law. The key is that they must follow the rules and be truthful in all communications.

A Note on CRA Collections

The CRA is not a collection agency and is not subject to provincial collection agency legislation. However, CRA collectors must still comply with the CRA's own Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which requires respectful, professional treatment. The CRA also has powerful statutory tools — if CRA is calling you about significant debt, speak with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee or tax lawyer.