City of Ottawa brings in collection agency to gather decades-old tickets, tanking residents' credit scores

Thousands of people in Ottawa have seen their credit score dip or outright plummet because of old tickets and fines. Some go back as far as 2003.

Thousands of people in Ottawa have seen their credit score dip or outright plummet because of old tickets and fines.

Some go back as far as 2003.

"In January, the City contracted a new private collections agencies (sic) through a competitive process. Financial Debt Recovery (FDR) is the final collection agency in the process and only collects debts that have already been at previous City-contracted collection agencies and remain unpaid," said Joseph Muhuni, Deputy City Treasurer Revenue in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

"FDR attempted to collect the debt and to date, has subsequently reported 103,000 unpaid Provincial Offences Act fines and 3,000 unpaid water bills to the credit bureau."

Muhuni claims the city issues several notices by mail, phone and through other "collection activities" available to the city.

"Prior to the debt being referred to the Collections Unit in Revenue Services, individuals are provided with an invoice, bill or a ticket and a deadline to pay the debt through regular channels," said Muhuni in the statement.

"Revenue Services advises the individual that if the debt is not paid by a certain date, enhanced collection activities will commence. If the receivable remains unpaid, it is referred to a private collections agency that will use all the tools available to them to ensure the outstanding debt is paid. The City has the authority to refer unpaid debt to a private collection agency under the Provincial Offences Act and the Municipal Act."