Latest news with #collections
CTV News
15 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
‘No one wants to see that on their credit report': Direct Energy customers frustrated after being mistakenly reported to credit bureau
'I was so stressed out,' said Terri Wattie, a Calgary resident who recently found a derogatory mark on her credit report, courtesy of Direct Energy. She said she received an email from her credit monitoring app on May 30, alerting her of the mark. 'It didn't equal up,' said Wattie, adding that she always pays her bills on time. 'No one wants to see that on their credit report. It's quite humiliating to get an email like that.' Wattie didn't know the derogatory mark on her credit report was a mistake until she read CTV News Edmonton's story about the incident. 'If it wasn't for that, I honestly would not have had any idea what was going on because Direct Energy did not reach out to me,' said Wattie. In a statement, Direct Energy confirmed that during a reconciliation with its third-party collections agency, ICE Collections, a 'subset' of customers were 'inadvertently' reported to the credit bureau. CTV News Edmonton reached out to ICE Collections but did not receive a response. Kristy Kolodychuk also received a notification from her credit monitoring app, alerting her that a Direct Energy bill had gone to collections. The Fort Saskatchewan resident hasn't been a Direct Energy customer since February 2024. 'I never got any correspondence from Direct Energy,' said Kolodychuk, adding that the company sent her an email after she had called them and asked for one for her records. 'I'm just very surprised that a company like this has some kind of privacy breach and doesn't actually individually reach out to their customers or at least send a mass email the moment it happens,' said Kolodychuk. Direct Energy said the incident was not a breach. 'We want to assure customers that they were not subject to any collections activities,' said Megan Talley of Direct Energy. Had she been trying to get a mortgage or a loan, Kolodychuk said she would be in some 'serious trouble.' Wattie and her husband were planning to buy a new car in the coming weeks. The couple was worried the derogatory mark on their credit report would impact their interest rates. 'If we were applying for a mortgage, everything could have gone out the window,' said Wattie. 'I don't think they realize how much of a stressful situation this is for people.' Direct Energy plagued with problems Since moving customer service centres to foreign countries, customer complaints have ballooned. Lea Williams-Doherty reports. Since the incident on May 30, both Kolodychuk's and Wattie's credit reports were wiped clean of the derogatory mark. 'All erroneous entries have been completely expunged from customers' credit reports,' said Talley. 'It's as if it was never there.' Talley said only those who were actively monitoring their credit reports would have noticed. Direct Energy did not make reports of the incident, and said it was made aware by customers contacting the company directly. Since Kolodychuk hasn't been a Direct Energy customer for over a year, the utilities company agreed to send her a cheque with the $200 credit. But she was perplexed as to why they would still have her information on file. 'Our record retention policy is informed by legal and audit obligations,' said Talley. 'For former Direct Energy customers, that ranges from three to seven years, depending on the type of record.' Wattie was told she would receive a $200 credit to use on her bill as compensation for the incident. But she doesn't think it's enough. '$200 in this day and age is nothing,' said Wattie. 'Half the time, $200 doesn't even cover half of a month's bill.' 'For the stress and anguish I went through over the last week, I really don't think that's sufficient.' She said she might consider a different provider after this incident. Direct Energy said it was sorry for the inconvenience, and if customers still have concerns, to contact its customer service team. Equifax Canada encourages consumers to request and review their credit reports on a regular basis. 'By doing this, consumers can ensure that their report contains accurate and complete information,' said a statement from Equifax Canada. Equifax said if a consumer finds information on their credit report that is believed to be inaccurate or incomplete, they can file a dispute with Equifax and/or the company that reported it.
CBS News
7 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Trump administration pauses garnishment of Social Security checks for defaulted student loans
Student loan borrower shares her story as collections resume for those in default The Trump administration says it's pausing the garnishment of Social Security benefits for student loan borrowers who have defaulted. That means a temporary pause on a decision announced in April to restart collections on student loans in default. On May 5, the restart policy was put into action when the Education Department began involuntary collections through the Treasury Department's offset program, which claws back overdue debts by garnishing federal payments such as tax refunds and Social Security checks. The halt comes after the Trump administration last month retreated from another type of Social Security benefit clawback, when it announced it would only take 50% of a person's monthly check to recover overpayments, down from a previously announced 100%. In that case, advocates for senior citizens had expressed concern that the policy would lead to hardship, given that one-third of Social Security recipients rely on their monthly benefit check for at least 75% of their income. In a statement emailed to CBS MoneyWatch, the Education Department said it hasn't offset any Social Security payments because of student debt since it resumed collections on May 5. The department "has put a pause on any future Social Security offsets," spokeswoman Ellen Keast said in the email. She added, "The Trump Administration is committed to protecting Social Security recipients who oftentimes rely on a fixed income. In the coming weeks, the Department will begin proactive outreach to recipients about affordable loan repayment options and help them back into good standing." While most people may think of student borrowers as recent grads who are juggling loan repayments with other living expenses, there are about 3.6 million people over 60 who carry student loan debt, according to Bankrate. About 452,000 people over 62 — the earliest age when one can collect Social Security benefits — have defaulted on their student loans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said earlier this year.
CTV News
30-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Direct Energy apologizes after some customers inadvertently reported to the credit bureau
Direct Energy says it is working to fix an issue that saw some of its customers accidentally reported to the credit bureau. In a statement to CTV News Edmonton on Friday, the company says it happened during a reconciliation process with Direct Energy's authorized third-party collections agency. 'We are still assessing the full scale of the incident, but we want to assure these customers that they are NOT subject to any collections activity,' Megan Talley of Direct Energy wrote. 'We learned of this issue on Thursday and took immediate steps to resolve this matter. By tomorrow morning, these erroneous entries will be completely expunged from affected customers' credit reports. It will be as if it was never there.' Talley added Direct Energy apologizes to impacted customers, and encourages anyone with concerns to contact 1-866-374-6299 or 1-866-420-3174 for Direct Energy Regulated Services.
Vogue
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Sachin & Babi Pre-Fall 2025 Collection
What to make of the year in fashion thus far? Political turmoil, tariffs, a looming recession—you name it, our collective preoccupations seem to be anywhere but the industry. Nonetheless, designers are chugging along, building collections that speak to our everyday lives and a pursuit of normalcy in the face of, well, everything else. 'We're here in this crazy time trying to sell beautiful things,' offered Babi Ahluwalia of Sachin & Babi's pre-fall collection. In this delivery, that idea translated into linen and soft organza gowns in classic shapes and vibrant summer florals. The lineup's most novel pieces were a column gown and a shorter shift with broderie anglaise detailing, while the most striking were a run of painterly florals placed on bright green and fuschia gowns. The Ahluwalias have given their Garment District showroom a makeover, priming it to host bridal parties, wedding guests, and other occasion-wear clients for fittings and alterations. It's part of a broader effort to expand their direct-to-consumer footprint; one that, as reported by Babi, is very much working. 'The guest of the wedding is a big client of ours,' she said. It's self-awareness like this that keeps labels like Sachin & Babi going during challenging times.
Fast Company
10-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Are the feds about to start hounding you over your student loans?
After a five year reprieve, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is coming for defaulted federal student loans. The ED has not collected on defaulted loans since all payments on federal student loans were paused as part of the Covid-19 emergency relief effort in 2020. Student loan payments resumed on September 1, 2023 for all 42.7 million federal student loan borrowers. The majority of borrowers resumed monthly payments at that time and have loans in good standing. However, some 5 million borrowers have not made a payment for more than 270 days, meaning their loans are currently in default. The ED refrained from collecting on defaulted loans until earlier this week. Nearly 5 million more borrowers are currently delinquent, meaning they have missed at least one payment and owe a past due amount. If these borrowers don't repay the past due amount or otherwise make their federal loans current, we may see upwards of 10 million borrowers–almost one-quarter of all federal borrowers–default on their federal student loans before the end of this year. Unfortunately, the government has called in the heavies to enforce collections on defaulted loans. The good news is that the Department of Education won't send a leg-breaker named Eyeball to shake down borrowers for missing payments. The bad news is that government collections garnish your paycheck or Treasury payments instead of menacing you in a dark alley. Whether you're in good standing, delinquent, or in default on your student loans, it's important to understand what to expect from federal student loan collections. Here's what you need to know. Garnishment hasn't started yet If you've only seen the headlines about collections restarting for defaulted loans, you might assume that as of May 5, 2025, borrowers in default were already seeing money lifted from their paychecks and Treasury payments. But even though we have a WWE Secretary of Education, the ED can't pull a heel-turn without any warning. According to Adam Minsky, an attorney who focuses on helping student loan borrowers and their families, 'it was only the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) that began this week.' In other words, as of May 5, TOP began the process of identifying borrowers in default so they can be notified of the government's intent to offset, aka garnish. Expand to continue reading ↓
