Collection calls: your rights, and what to say
Collection agencies operate inside fairly tight rules, and most people never find out what those rules are until long after the calls start. Here they are, plus the four things to write down before you say anything else.
Updated July 25, 2026The first call, in four steps
Do not confirm anything, do not agree to anything, and do not make a payment on the first call. Gather information, hang up, verify, then decide.
FCAC's guidance is that on a first contact you should collect specific information and then call back once you have verified it. That is not evasive, it is the correct process, and a legitimate agency will not object to it.
Write down who is calling
The agent's name. The company they work for. The name of the company they are collecting for. Their telephone number.
Ask for the details of the debt
The amount owed. Who it is owed to originally. When it started. If the caller will not give you these, that is itself a signal.
Say you will call back after you verify
Then actually verify. Check your own bills, bank statements and credit report. Confirm the amount and that the debt is yours at all. Debt gets sold, records get garbled, and identity errors are not rare.
Decide before you call back
Once you know the debt is real, you have a decision to make about whether to pay it, arrange payments, or take a different route entirely. Make it before the next call, not during it.
In several provinces, acknowledging a debt or making a partial payment can restart the limitation clock that governs how long a creditor has to sue you. Limitation rules are provincial and the effect of an acknowledgement varies. If a debt is old, find out where you stand before you acknowledge anything in writing or make a token payment.
What collectors can and cannot do
Collection agencies are licensed and regulated by the provinces, so the detail varies. Ontario publishes its rules clearly and they are a reasonable illustration of the shape of the rules elsewhere. Always check your own province.
A collection agency must first send you a private letter by mail or email with details about the debt, and must wait six days before trying to contact you to collect payment. It cannot contact you on a statutory holiday, on a Sunday except between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., or on any other day between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. After it has spoken with you, it may not contact you on behalf of the same creditor for one product more than three times in seven days without your consent.
Source: Government of Ontario, page last updated October 17, 2025.
Who they may contact
FCAC states that a debt collector may contact your friends, employer, relatives or neighbours only to get your telephone number or address, with exceptions where that person guaranteed or co signed the debt, where you asked the collector to contact them, or where a court has ordered it. In Ontario the employer contact rule is narrower still: one contact, to confirm employment, job title and business address.
What is not allowed anywhere
- Threatening legal action the creditor does not actually intend to take.
- Misrepresenting who they are, including implying they are a law firm or a government body when they are not.
- Discussing your debt with third parties beyond the narrow permitted purposes.
- Continuing to contact you in a manner or at a frequency your province prohibits.
If a collector breaks these rules, the complaint goes to your provincial or territorial consumer affairs office, which licenses them. Keep a log: date, time, agent name, and what was said. A log is what turns a complaint into a file.
If the debt is not yours
This happens more often than people expect, particularly with sold debt portfolios and with common names. FCAC's guidance is to tell the debt collector, contact the original creditor to find out how to correct the error, and check your credit report to see whether the debt appears on it.
If it does appear and it is not yours, dispute it with both Equifax and TransUnion. The dispute process is free. Send documentation rather than assertions, and keep copies of everything you send.
If you believe the debt is the result of identity theft, that is a different and more serious process. Report it to your provincial consumer protection office and to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre, and consider placing a fraud alert on your credit files.
Start with the help that costs nothing
Before you borrow, before you sign anything, and before you call a number you saw in an advertisement, use the free options. They are genuinely free, they are regulated or not for profit, and for a large share of people they are simply the better answer.
- A not for profit credit counsellor. The first appointment is normally free. They will look at your whole situation and tell you honestly whether you need a plan or a legal process. Find an accredited agency through Credit Counselling Canada. FCAC also names the Canadian Association for Financial Empowerment, and in Quebec the ACEF network listed by the Coalition des associations de consommateurs du Quebec.
- A free consultation with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee. LITs are federally licensed and supervised by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. The first meeting is free and they are legally required to explain all your options, not just the ones they administer. Search the official register at the OSB trustee search.
- Calling your creditors yourself. Free, and more effective than most people expect. Ask for a hardship arrangement, a lower rate, or a payment plan. Banks and card issuers have hardship teams because unpaid debt costs them more than a reduced payment does.
- The federal debt self assessment. The OSB runs a free debt questionnaire that points you to the right category of solution. No sales call attached.
We earn nothing from any of the four options above. We are listing them first because they are the right first move, and because a page that buries them under a loan application is not worth reading.
Paying a debt that is already in collections
If the debt is genuinely yours and the amount is right, FCAC's practical rules are worth following exactly.
- Never send cash.
- Always get a receipt for every payment.
- Deal only with the collector who contacted you, and do not also contact the original creditor, because that creates confusion about who has been paid.
- If you cannot pay in full, explain your situation, offer a monthly repayment, follow up in writing, and include a first payment if you can, to show good faith.
Get any settlement agreement in writing before you pay it. A verbal agreement that a lower lump sum settles the account in full is worth very little if the balance reappears later. The written confirmation should state the amount, that it settles the account in full, and how the account will be reported to the credit bureaus.
Paying a collection account updates it to show as paid or settled. It does not delete it. Equifax Canada removes a collection or charged off account six years from the date of first delinquency on the account, which is typically when it went to collection, regardless of when the balance is cleared.
Source: Equifax Canada, read July 25, 2026.
Common questions
Can a collection agency call me at work?
Rules are provincial. In Ontario an agency may contact your employer once, and only to confirm your employment, your job title and your business address, unless the employer guaranteed the debt, you gave written permission, or a court ordered it. Other provinces have comparable restrictions, so check your own province's consumer affairs guidance.
What hours can a debt collector call in Ontario?
Ontario prohibits collection contact on a statutory holiday, on a Sunday except between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., and on any other day between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. In practice that leaves Monday to Saturday between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., plus Sunday afternoons.
How many times can a collection agency call me?
In Ontario, once the agency has actually spoken with you, it may not contact you on behalf of the same creditor for the same product more than three times in seven days without your consent. It must also send you written notice by mail or email first and wait six days before trying to collect.
Can I make them stop calling and write to me instead?
Yes. FCAC states you can ask a collection agency to contact you only in writing. Send that request in a way you can prove, keep a copy, and include an address and phone number where they can reach you. Note that stopping calls does not stop the debt or any legal process.
Does paying a collection account remove it from my credit report?
No. It updates to show as paid, which lenders do look at, but the entry itself remains. Under Equifax Canada's rules a collection or charged off account is removed six years from the date of first delinquency on the account, regardless of when you pay it.
Sources
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Dealing with a debt collector. Source for your rights and what to write down when a collector calls. Read July 25, 2026.
- Government of Ontario, Stop collection agency calls. Source for Ontario contact rules. Page last updated October 17, 2025.
- Equifax Canada, How long does information stay on my credit report. Source for the retention periods used on this page. Read July 25, 2026.
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Using a debt settlement company. Source for the risks, the prohibited promises, and the rule that only a Licensed Insolvency Trustee may administer a proposal or bankruptcy. Read July 25, 2026.
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Getting help from a credit counsellor. Source for how to vet an agency and which associations to check. Read July 25, 2026.
- Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, Find a Licensed Insolvency Trustee. The official federal search tool. Read July 25, 2026.
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