What to do about Garnishes & Statements of Claim

A Step Beyond.ca offers assistance with garnishes and statements of claim from creditors or collector's.

You should contact A Step Beyond.ca for assistance if you are:

• receiving creditor or collector calls
• afraid to answer your telephone
• worried about your debts and wondering how you're going to pay them
• in receipt of a statement of claim and would like to know what to do about it
• afraid that your wages are going to be garnished and you want to know how to avoid this

I have received a Statement of Claim from my creditor and I would like to know what to do:

• Don't ignore this action, it will not go away
• You need to have a plan of action
• Creditors need you to respond once the Statement of Claim has been filed and forwarded to you
• File a Defense to the Statement of Claim, if you don't the creditor will get judgment because you didn't dispute or answer to the Statement of Claim
• Creditors must notify you at your last known address, if the creditors do not have your current address the Statement of Claim could end up at your last known address and you may not even know that an action is taking place against you.
•  It is important for creditors to have your current address and for you to check out your credit history on an annual basis.
• If garnishes have been rendered against you they will show on your credit history. 
• Notifying creditors and checking your credit report on a regular basis allow you to be proactive when dealing with your finances rather than reacting to something that was done to you without your knowledge.

You're probably wondering how you should respond to a Statement of Claim:

• File a defense

This is what your defense should consist of:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Reason(s) why you have not made payments
• Letter stating what you are proposing to do to deal with the debt,  and should include the following:
  • Assets / Net Worth or Income Statement (complete with pay stubs if applicable)
  • Monthly Expenses Statement or budget showing your monthly living expenses in detail
  • Debt Statement (listing total amount of debt and monthly debt commitments)

If you require assistance to file a defense contact A Step Beyond.ca or become a member  to access Sample letters for creditors / collectors