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  • Well, that was ... unexpected

    Short backstory: I took out a student loan to retrain after my fulltime job went *poof.* Retraining did not go well. I was unable to find work in my new field and scrambled for quite some time looking for ANY work. Result: my student loan got bounced into collections.

    I am Canadian so that means it went to Canada Revenue Agency (our version of the IRS). Oh joy.

    Among other things, this means CRA has been automatically seizing all sorts of other things, the largest being my income tax refunds, but also things like various government rebates that I'm eligible for. I'm not anywhere near on the verge of being homeless but it definitely makes life a bit tougher.

    I have gotten a couple of calls from them about my payments being slightly late. I have pointed out to them that my ability to make payments at all is based on my Canada Pension/Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement payments (that last one is for people who have no company pensions). And those payments come in at the end of the month. I have no control over that, and unless they do, I cannot change the date of my payments nor the dates they arrive at CRA.

    So today I get another call. I sigh, and call them back. We have the usual discussion ... and the woman says yes, sorry, apparently these calls are automatic when a payment is late even if the explanation of WHY it's late is in the file (as it is with me).

    Then she drops something on me I absolutely did not see coming: I have missed no payments and I should call the National Student Loan Centre and see if I can get my loan back with them in good standing -- OUT OF COLLECTIONS. Among other things this means I will start to get all those rebates again PLUS any future tax refunds!

    She couldn't guarantee anything, of course, but said she saw nothing on my file (such as a judgment) that indicated I would automatically be turned down.

    This sounds almost too good to be true. It's too late to call today but I will call sometime next week and see what they say.
    Last edited by Pixilated; 08-09-2024, 10:15 PM.

  • #2
    Best of luck with that!!
    “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
    One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
    The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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    • #3
      Quoth Nunavut Pants View Post
      Best of luck with that!!
      Your good luck wish worked. I called the National Student Loan Centre and explained the situation ... and they have started the process of putting my loan back with them on a "good" standing. This means all those rebates and future tax refunds will be coming back to me!

      They told me NOT to pay the end-of-August payment because it will just gum up the process (which will take 4 to 6 weeks as it is, after which I will receive the necessary paperwork). I'm going to call Canada Revenue tomorrow just to be safe and confirm this with them. I'd rather not trigger yet another problem if it can be avoided.

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