Sued by Canadian Tire Bank and Own a Home? What Our Ontario Files Show at Refinance
If you own a home in Ontario and a Canadian Tire Bank credit card account has gone to collections, this article is about the letter you may already have received, the writ that can follow it, and the number you may be asked to pay when you sell or refinance. It is based on documents in our files involving Canadian Tire Bank from 2018 to 2026 (collection letters, writ payout statements and settlement correspondence) and on three refinance files we handled in 2026, described below with our clients’ written permission, with names removed and amounts and dates rounded. No homeowner, court, city or file number is named.
The pattern in the files we reviewed is this. Before judgment, the bank’s agents settled Canadian Tire Bank accounts at a discount, as many creditors do. Once a writ of seizure and sale had been filed against an Ontario home, each of the seven writ payout statements we reviewed was for the full execution balance, interest and costs included, and six of the seven added the agent’s discharge fee. In the three 2026 refinance files, Canadian Tire Bank was paid in full in the two that closed, while the other judgment creditors on those two files accepted about 65 to 70 per cent of their balances; the third file did not close. For a homeowner trying to refinance, that difference matters. These are a small number of files, not a survey of the bank’s practice, and what happened in them does not predict what will happen in yours.
The letter: “we have confirmed that you own property”
The collection letters we reviewed come from an Ontario collection agency acting for Canadian Tire Bank. A 2024 letter and a 2025 letter open with the same two paragraphs, and a third letter from 2025 uses the same sentence about property ownership. The 2024 letter states that the account has been assigned “for immediate collection” and then says: “Please note that we have confirmed that you own property.”
The letter goes on: “If you fail to satisfy this matter in full, your account will immediately be sent to a Licenced [sic] Paralegal with instructions to prepare and serve a Statement of Claim in accordance with the Rules of the Small Claims Court, O Reg 258/98.” And then: “Once Judgment is obtained, our client, Canadian Tire Bank has provided further direction to issue a Writ of Seizure and Sale of Land in your name with the Sheriff’s Office”. It adds that after six months from the filing of the writ “the Sheriff’s office can be directed to seize and sell real estate and personal property in order to satisfy the Judgment,” that the homeowner will be responsible for the costs of the claim, the judgment and the writ, and for “pre- and post-judgment interest at the contractual rate found on your monthly statements”.
Three things stand out. First, the agency says it has already checked property ownership before writing. Second, it says the bank has already directed that a writ be filed once judgment is obtained. Third, each step it describes is one a judgment creditor may take, through the court: a claim in Small Claims Court (a Plaintiff’s Claim, Form 7A), then a judgment, then a writ of seizure and sale of land filed with the sheriff. A collection agency cannot itself seize anything; enforcement belongs to the creditor and the sheriff, after a judgment. Small Claims Court now hears claims up to $50,000, and licensed paralegals can appear there.
What the payout statement looks like once a writ is filed
Most of the writ payout statements in our files come from the paralegal firm that acts as the bank’s agent, writing “as agents for the Plaintiff.” The statements state an amount the agent will accept “as full and final payment of this debt” if it is paid by a stated date. The amount is broken down as the execution balance “inclusive of interest and costs,” plus “$275.00 + HST ($310.75) representing our Execution Discharge Fee,” and, on five of the seven, a per diem for each day of delay. In return, the agent will write to the sheriff authorizing the withdrawal of the execution.
That is the structure of the Ontario writ payouts in our files, from faxed letters in 2018, when the discharge fee was $282.50, to statements issued in 2026. A second firm that has acted for the bank issued a payout in our files for “the amount required to pay the account in full” (our file shows no request for a reduction). What happens when a homeowner asks for less is the subject of the three 2026 files described in the next section. In none of them was a reduced amount paid and the writ withdrawn.
Before judgment, Canadian Tire Bank accounts were also settled for less. In our 2025 and 2026 files, agents collecting for the bank agreed to accept between 40 and 80 cents on the dollar on accounts that had not been sued. Outside Ontario, one Canadian Tire Bank judgment in our files settled at about 70 cents on the dollar through a different agent. One file is too few to say why that outcome differed; the agent, the homeowner’s equity and the stage of the file may all matter.
Three 2026 refinance files: what the other creditors did
For a homeowner with equity, a refinance is, in our experience, often the cleanest way out of judgment debt. The new mortgage pays out the old mortgage and the judgment creditors at closing, and the writs are withdrawn. When the homeowner cannot borrow enough to pay everyone in full, the usual approach is a settlement package: every creditor is shown the same numbers, the homeowner’s hardship is documented, and each creditor is asked to accept a share of what is actually available. In our experience most judgment creditors, and many mortgage lenders, take that deal, because it pays them now without the cost and delay of a forced sale. A package usually closes only if every creditor with a claim against the home agrees, is paid in full, or lifts its writ. One creditor that will not agree can stall the transaction.
In three refinance files we handled in 2026, the paralegal firm acting for Canadian Tire Bank communicated the positions below. Not every position appeared in every file. Our files include the settlement correspondence, which we summarize here without quoting it. First, in one file, the agent’s view was that the homeowner had enough equity to pay in full if the home were sold. Second, in two files, in place of a discount, the agent offered to lift the bank’s writ temporarily so the new mortgage could register ahead of it, in exchange for a partial payment, and then refile the writ for the balance. Third, in two files, any discount was limited to a set percentage that the agent described as the bank’s policy.
A creditor that has won a judgment is entitled to the full amount, and no law requires it to accept less. The lift-and-refile option does let a new mortgage go through. What follows is what those positions meant in practice for three homeowners in documented hardship.
File 1: declined two offers above its principal, then paid in full
Homeowner A, Ontario. Shared with permission.
The bank’s judgment principal was about $14,000. Interest and costs had carried the payout well past that. A refinance was arranged, and the new lender adjusted its terms to free up money for creditors. The only other judgment creditor accepted about 70 per cent of its balance. Canadian Tire Bank declined two offers, the higher of them about 138 per cent of its original principal, on the view that the home’s value was enough to pay in full, and offered to lift and refile instead. The refinance closed in 2026. The homeowner, who received no cash from it and took on a higher-rate mortgage to pay creditors, paid Canadian Tire Bank in full: about $26,000, nearly twice the original principal. The writ was withdrawn the following day.
File 2: the other creditors took about 65 per cent
Homeowner B, Ontario. Shared with permission.
The home appraised at about $450,000, with private mortgage debt of about $322,500. To make the refinance work, the private mortgage lender agreed to accept roughly 65 per cent of what it was owed, and the two other judgment creditors each accepted about 65 per cent of their balances. Canadian Tire Bank, owed about $20,000, was the only creditor that did not accept the package. The homeowner raised additional money to increase the offer to 80 per cent of the balance, days before the lender’s deadline. The agent declined it as beyond what the bank would approve and, as in the first file, offered to lift the writ for a partial payment and refile for the rest.
Our estimate of what a forced sale would have produced: a sale at about $405,000, less about $25,000 in costs, less the full $322,500 of mortgage debt, since the lender’s discount would have disappeared with the package, leaves about $57,500 for all of the judgment creditors combined. The settlement package offered them about $58,300, immediately. The refinance funded in 2026. Canadian Tire Bank was paid in full. The other judgment creditors and the private mortgage lender on this file settled for less.
File 3: a 90 per cent minimum; the plan did not close
Homeowner C, Ontario. Shared with permission.
The homeowner’s business had failed, leaving large business debts. Several judgment creditors had writs against the home, which was heavily mortgaged, with no room to borrow more. The homeowner raised about $60,000 from personal sources to settle the personal debts. There was no other money. One judgment creditor, owed more than $100,000, agreed to settle for about 30 per cent. Canadian Tire Bank, owed about $13,000, said through its agent that it would not go below 90 per cent and would otherwise rely on its writ until a sale. The plan did not close. We do not attribute that outcome to any one creditor; the file is included for the position the bank’s agent took, not for its result.
The comparison
The clearest way to see the difference is to look at what the other creditors did in the same transactions, with the same numbers in front of them. In the two files that closed, the other judgment creditors accepted about 65 to 70 per cent of their balances, and a private mortgage lender in a stronger position accepted about 65 per cent, while Canadian Tire Bank was paid in full and the homeowner found the difference. In the third file, another judgment creditor accepted about 30 per cent and the bank’s stated minimum was 90 per cent. In our view, the outcomes in the two files that closed are consistent with a minimum set by the bank or its agent, not with anything the law required. We have not seen a bank policy document, and we have asked the bank whether it has one (see below). One Canadian Tire Bank judgment in our files outside Ontario settled for about 70 cents on the dollar.
Why the writ holder can wait and you cannot
Refusing a discount is not unlawful. A judgment creditor is not obliged to accept less than the judgment, and the law gives a creditor holding a writ against a home with equity every reason to wait.
The writ binds your land from the effective date the sheriff enters in the index of writs (Execution Act, s. 10(6)). For land in the land titles system, no registered land is bound until the sheriff has entered the writ in the index (Land Titles Act, s. 136(2)). Nothing goes on the parcel register, which is why a title search can come back clean while a writ sits against you. The lawyer acting on a sale or a refinance searches executions by name, and when the writ surfaces the lender’s instructions require it to be paid from the proceeds or withdrawn before the mortgage can fund. The closing date is your deadline. It is not the creditor’s.
Meanwhile the balance grows. Postjudgment interest runs from the date of the order (Courts of Justice Act, s. 129(1)), at the court’s rate unless interest is payable by another right, such as a rate in a written agreement that is awarded in the judgment (s. 129(5)). The per diems quoted on five of the seven Canadian Tire Bank writ payout statements in our files work out to about 25 to 26 per cent a year of the stated balance. We express no view on whether the interest or fees in any particular payout were properly claimed. On a $12,000 balance, 25 per cent is about $8 a day.
The creditor need never spend a dollar on a sheriff’s sale to be paid: it can renew the writ every six years (Rules of Civil Procedure, rr. 60.07(6), (8) and (9); Rules of the Small Claims Court, r. 20.07(3) and (4)) and collect in full the day you sell or refinance. If it does choose to enforce, Ontario exempts a principal residence only where the owner’s equity is currently $12,997 or less (Execution Act, s. 2(2); O. Reg. 657/05, s. 1(2), as amended by O. Reg. 393/25), and above that figure the whole property is exposed, not just the excess (s. 2(3)). The Rules build in delay, no step toward a sale for four months after filing and no sale before six (r. 60.07(17) and (18)), and a writ that is withdrawn and filed again starts those periods over. The agency’s letter is right that, in time, the sheriff can be directed to sell.
A discount, in other words, is a business decision for the creditor. Many creditors make it because a lump sum today is worth more than years of waiting. The payouts in our files show the agents for Canadian Tire Bank quoting the full balance on writ files, and a homeowner planning a refinance should plan for that.
Waiting carries risk for everyone. A forced sale costs money: realtor and legal fees, carrying costs and a discounted price all come out of the equity before judgment creditors see a dollar. Mortgage lenders who agreed to take less as part of a package will usually want the full balance if the package collapses. And if the homeowner ends up in bankruptcy, s. 70(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act gives the bankruptcy precedence over executions that have not been completely executed by payment to the creditor, so a card creditor holding a writ can end up sharing with every other unsecured creditor. In two of the three 2026 files the homeowners found the extra money, by borrowing or by adding to a higher-rate mortgage, and paid the bank in full. In the third, the plan did not close.
What it costs a homeowner
Take an illustration, not a client file: a $12,000 judgment on which a writ was filed two years ago. At the per diems on the statements we have seen, simple interest alone brings the execution balance to roughly $18,000. Add the $310.75 discharge fee and the lender’s legal costs for clearing the execution. If the refinance was sized to pay out the debts at the discounts other creditors offered, the shortfall can land on the homeowner at closing, sometimes days before funding, when the choices are to find the difference, borrow it elsewhere, or lose the refinance and any rate hold that came with it. Where a refinance cannot close, the writ stays and the interest keeps running.
What to do if you have a Canadian Tire Bank account and own a home
Before judgment, discounts are possible. The settlement correspondence in our files shows agents collecting for the bank agreeing to a discount at this stage. If you have been served with a Plaintiff’s Claim, a Defence must be served and filed within 20 days of service (Rules of the Small Claims Court, r. 9.01). A defended claim is a negotiation; an ignored one becomes a default judgment and then a writ. Check the dates: a creditor has two years from discovery to sue (Limitations Act, 2002, ss. 4 and 5), and our guide on whether your debt is too old to sue explains what restarts the clock. If the claim comes from a company that bought the account, make it prove it owns the debt.
If there is a judgment but no writ yet, the creditor can generally file one at any time within six years of the judgment (after that it needs the court’s leave), and the collection letter above says the bank has already directed that a writ be filed once judgment is obtained. Our Ontario files do not show what a creditor will accept at this stage, so do not assume a discount: get the current balance in writing and speak to a lawyer before a writ is filed.
If a writ is already filed, assume the full number until the creditor tells you otherwise in writing. Get the payout statement early, including the per diem and the discharge fee, check it against the judgment and the writ as you would with any creditor, and size the refinance to it. Ask whether the creditor will consent to a postponement, so the writ ranks behind the new mortgage and is paid later; nothing requires it to agree. Confirm the writ is valid: it has no effect against registered land if it was issued against you under a different name from the one on title (Land Titles Act, s. 136(6)), and it does not bind land unless it names you with at least one given name in full or the creditor has filed a statutory declaration (Execution Act, s. 11(1)). A writ expires on the sixth anniversary of its issue unless it was renewed before then, and a Small Claims judgment more than six years old needs leave before a new writ of land can issue (r. 20.07(1.1)). If the judgment was a default judgment you never knew about, a motion to set it aside may be available (Rules of the Small Claims Court, r. 11.06); a writ cannot survive the judgment it rests on. And when you do pay, insist on the withdrawal in writing. On full satisfaction the creditor must withdraw every writ it filed (Rules of Civil Procedure, r. 60.16(2)).
If more than one creditor has a writ, treat them as one plan. A package that shows every creditor the same numbers, documents the hardship and sets out how the money will be divided is, in our experience, usually the strongest approach, and it is far easier to run before a mortgage renewal date than against a lender’s deadline. If one creditor will not move, the alternatives include a lift and refile (the creditor withdraws its writ so the new mortgage registers first, takes a partial payment, then refiles for the balance, which stays against your home behind the new mortgage), a longer payment plan, or a consumer proposal or bankruptcy through a Licensed Insolvency Trustee. Each has real costs and consequences, and in our experience the earlier a lawyer sees the file, the more options are open.
If you co-own the home, the writ attaches only to the debtor’s interest, which the sheriff may seize and sell even where it is held in joint tenancy (Execution Act, s. 9(1)), but the home still cannot be sold or refinanced cleanly until the writ is dealt with.
Before you apply for credit
Every creditor has the right to collect what it is owed, but creditors differ a great deal in how they respond when a homeowner falls on hard times. Some routinely work out settlements. Others hold firm policies and are prepared to wait for a sale. In the files described above, creditors in the same transactions responded very differently to the same numbers. We are not aware of a published ranking of how lenders treat customers in hardship, so it pays to do some homework before you sign up. Read the default and collections sections of the cardholder agreement, not just the rewards page. Ask about hardship programs before you need them, and get the answer in writing. Read the lender’s complaint-handling process, which every federally regulated bank must make available. Look at independent records: the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments publishes case summaries. And remember that if you own property, any unsecured debt can end as a writ against your home. Borrow with that in mind.
We asked Canadian Tire Bank to respond
On October 6, 2026, we emailed Canadian Tire Corporation’s media relations office (mediainquiries@cantire.com), with Angelos Spingos copied, a summary of what we intended to say about Canadian Tire Bank’s position on reduced settlements where it holds a writ against an Ontario home, including the three 2026 files described above, and asked for a response by 12:00 p.m. ET on October 14, 2026. We asked whether anything in it was inaccurate; whether the bank applies a minimum settlement percentage, or another policy, when a debtor owns a home with equity; how it takes documented financial hardship into account in those decisions; whether, given the hardship many Canadians are facing, it would consider changing its recovery policies; and whether there was a statement it would like included. As of 8:45 p.m. ET on October 14, 2026, no response had been received. If one arrives, we will add it, or a fair summary of it, to this page.
Frequently asked questions
Can Canadian Tire Bank take my house in Ontario? Not directly, and not without a court. Like any unsecured creditor, it would have to sue, win a judgment and file a writ of seizure and sale with the sheriff for the county where your home is. The writ binds your land from the effective date in the sheriff’s index of writs; the sheriff can be directed to sell only after the waiting periods described above, and a sale is not automatic. Our guide on whether a credit card company can take your house walks through each step.
Is it legal for a creditor to refuse a reduced settlement? Yes. A judgment creditor is entitled to the full amount of the judgment, interest and costs. Discounts are a matter of negotiation, not a right.
Will the writ show up on my title search? No. A writ lives in the sheriff’s index of writs, searched by name, not in the parcel register, searched by property. A clean title search does not mean there is no writ. Ask for an execution search under every name you have used.
Can I refinance with a writ against me? Usually only if the writ is paid out from the proceeds, or withdrawn or postponed with the creditor’s consent, before funding. In practice a lender will not advance funds until the writ has been dealt with.
What does “lift and refile” mean? The creditor withdraws its writ so a new mortgage can register first, takes a partial payment, then files the writ again for what is left. The debt stays against your home, now behind the new mortgage, interest keeps running on it, and the four-month and six-month waiting periods start again from the new filing.
Will a consumer proposal or bankruptcy remove a writ? It changes the creditor’s position, often significantly, but the details depend on your situation, and an execution that has already been paid out is treated differently from one that has not. Speak with a lawyer and a Licensed Insolvency Trustee before deciding.
I never knew about the judgment. Is it too late? Not necessarily. A default judgment can be set aside on a motion if you have a defence worth hearing, a reasonable explanation for the default and you move promptly. Delay counts against you, so act as soon as the judgment surfaces.
Where to start
If you have received a letter like the one quoted above, a Plaintiff’s Claim, or a payout statement for a writ, the questions are narrow: how far along is the file, what are the dates, and what is the number. Send us what you have received and we will tell you what the next step is and when it is due.
Sources: Execution Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.24, ss. 2, 9, 10, 11 · O. Reg. 657/05, Exemptions · Rules of Civil Procedure, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194, rr. 60.07, 60.16 · Rules of the Small Claims Court, O. Reg. 258/98, rr. 9.01, 11.06, 20.07 · Land Titles Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.5, s. 136 · Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.43, s. 129 · Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B, ss. 4, 5 · Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. B-3, s. 70 · O. Reg. 626/00, Small Claims Court Jurisdiction and Appeal Limit · Collection letters, writ payout statements and settlement correspondence involving Canadian Tire Bank in our files, 2018 to 2026, and three 2026 refinance files described with our clients’ written permission (names removed; amounts and dates rounded). Not affiliated with or endorsed by any company named. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. General information for Ontario, not legal advice.
General information for Ontario, not legal advice. Reviewed by Angelos Spingos. Last reviewed October 14, 2026.