About us
Learn about who built this site and why it exists.
Who's behind this site?
My name is Joe Conlon. I built CollectionAgencies.ca because I needed it myself.
A few years ago, I had a couple of debts go to collections. When I tried to figure out who was calling me, whether they were legitimate, and what I could do about it, I got nowhere.
Some of the agencies' own websites were useless. Half the phone numbers were wrong. Government licensing databases were slow and hard to use. Reddit was the best source I could find, but a lot of the posts were years out of date. I'd Google the number and get nothing.
I've been working in and around Canadian personal finance since 2023. So I decided to build the resource I couldn't find.
I started pulling the licensing data from provincial regulators and cross-referencing it with public records.
Then I started building a directory where you can quickly verify who's contacting you, whether they're licensed, find working contact details, and know what they can and can't do.
I launched CollectionAgencies.ca in October 2025. Thousands of Canadians use it every month, mostly to investigate who just called them.
I'm not a lawyer, debt counsellor, or financial advisor. I just couldn't easily find accurate information about debt collection agencies, so I decided to do something about it.
Everything on this site comes from provincial licensing records, legislation and publicly available data.
Our team
Mark is a leading debt collection expert who writes and reviews content for CollectionAgencies.ca. He spent 12 years as a collection lawyer for some of Canada's largest collection agencies before switching sides to help consumers. He now advises Canadians struggling with debt through his firm, Debt Coach Silverthorn. He's the author of The Wolf At The Door: What To Do When Collection Agencies Come Calling, published by McClelland & Stewart, and has appeared on CBC National News, Global National News, and CBC's Marketplace. See full bio
Help us build better data
We're conducting the first Canadian study of real debt-collector behaviour. It's anonymous, takes 30 seconds, and the results will be published on this site.
Editorial independence
No debt collection agency can pay to influence its description, ranking or coverage on this site.
Our editorial process is completely separate from any commercial relationships. Where referral or outbound links are used, they don't affect coverage, order or recommendations.
Verified listings
Collection agencies can verify their listing for free. Verification lets an agency confirm its contact details and receive enquiries from consumers and businesses directly through this site.
Verification doesn't change how an agency is described, ranked or presented. All editorial content, licensing data, and consumer guidance stay under our control. Same standards whether a listing is verified or not.
If you're a collection agency looking to verify your listing, visit your agency's page and select Verify this listing.
For journalists
CollectionAgencies.ca tracks licensing data for collection agencies across all provinces and territories in Canada.
If you're working on a story about debt collection and need data, context or a source to check something against, get in touch below.
Get in touch
Found an error? Have information about a collection agency? Want to suggest an improvement? I read everything.