A B.C. company that allegedly offers loans at high interest rates has become the target of a proposed class-action lawsuit for attempting to exploit economically vulnerable Canadians and circumvent the law.

Lead plaintiff Megan Beckmann said her financial troubles escalated in 2024 when she and her neighbours were forced to abandon their residential building in Kelowna after a nearby construction site caused irreparable damage.

Beckmann, who has two children, said she ended up in a motel for a couple of months. When she finally found a two-bedroom unit, her rent spiked by $1,500.

“It’s been a struggle the last couple years,” she said. “You can’t dig yourself out. A lot of people, we’re in the same boat. … One step away from a food bank.”

Beckmann said she regularly works up to 50 hours a week at a homeless shelter, in addition to part-time jobs cleaning up construction sites and doing data annotation. When that wasn’t enough to pay the bills, she did an internet search using terms like “payday loan” and “no credit check.”

That’s when she came across Toledo Credit Inc. At first, Beckmann said the terms looked good. The website showed a company based out of Surrey, purporting to lend money across Canada in the range of $500 to $1,500 on terms of up to a year.

On Oct. 15, 2025, Beckmann obtained a $750 loan with a contract showing a 19.99 per cent annual interest rate, compounded daily, according to a recent petition filed with the B.C. Supreme Court.

“When a person looks at that, no alarm bells go off,” said Polina Furtula, a lawyer with Vancouver’s Westpoint Law Group representing Beckmann. “That’s better than a credit card.”

All a prospective borrower has to do is go to the company’s website, apply for a loan and sign an agreement that allows Toledo Credit to directly withdraw funds from their bank account, added Furtula.

Over the coming months, Beckmann claims she was directed to make payments to Services Financiers Donovan Inc., a Quebec-registered company with the same sole director and shareholder as Toledo Credit: Pascal Côté.

Other defendants named in the proposed class action are Avila Warranty Inc./Garantie Avila Inc.—a company that allegedly guarantees Toledo Credit’s loans and collects its debts—as well as its director, François R. Bossé.

Beckmann continued to make payments over the loan term. Still, she said, Toledo Credit threatened to call her employer, and regularly called or sent menacing messages at all hours.

“It looks great at first,” said Beckmann. “And then that day comes and you pay it.”

By the time the loan was paid off on April 10, 2026, Beckmann had paid $1,868.04, claims the proposed class-action suit.

That represents an annual interest rate of more than 60 per cent per year—far beyond the 35 per cent ceiling that turns a lender into an illegal operation, claims the petition.

“The problem with these companies is, even if you pay on time, you’re still being charged more than what’s allowed under the law,” said Furtula.

The lawyer pointed to a number of hidden fees, fines and other charges that, taken together, raise the effective interest rate far above what’s legal under Canada’s Criminal Code.

Lender faced several official warnings and consumer alerts

B.C.’s Better Business Bureau—a non-profit that seeks to advance marketplace trust—says it has so far received 30 complaints about Toledo Credit, including 21 last year alone.

The unsubstantiated allegations claim the company offered illegally high interest rates, harassed and threatened debtors, and charged consumers despite paying back what they owed.

On the Better Business Bureau’s website, a number of the complainants paint a picture of financial hardship after losing a job or facing an emergency before Christmas.

One complained of having a “ghost balance” rolled into a second loan, despite paying off 168 per cent of the principal loan amount.

“All the fees are clear in our contract,” Toledo Credit responded on the website. “You signed it and didn’t want to follow the scheduled payments.”

Another borrower claimed they paid off a $500 loan in full, only to have Toledo Credit continue to attempt to withdraw biweekly payments of nearly $155.

“I’ve tried to stop payments, [redacted] tried to contact Toledo and they don’t respond,” wrote the borrower. “I don’t know what to do.”

In response to a pattern of complaints, the member-supported business group issued three alerts against the company. Toledo Credit’s poor record, failure to respond to the bureau’s questions, and lack of transparency over its ownership and services earned the lender an “F” rating.

The company has also come to the attention of the B.C. regulator overseeing compliance with laws designed to protect consumers and govern business practices.

B.C.’s Business Practices and Consumer Act makes it illegal for a collector to harass someone who owes them money. That includes contacting the debtor’s family, relatives, neighbours, friends, employer or acquaintances.

In 2025, Consumer Protection BC issued Toledo Credit six warnings over breaching sections of the act meant to prevent harassment from loan collectors.

Under B.C. law, companies offering high-interest loans with a yearly interest rate over 32 per cent must hold a licence with Consumer Protection BC.

A spokesperson for the consumer protection watchdog said that when they last reviewed Toledo Credit’s business practices, the company’s model did not meet the criteria for a licence based on the annual interest rate they offered.

The assessment was based on the loan agreements submitted as part of a consumer complaint. It did not include “certain associated fees that we understood to be optional,” said Consumer Protection BC’s Louise Hartland.

“If those fees are in fact mandatory, this could affect our assessment and the related calculations,” she added.

“We encourage any consumer with concerns of this nature to contact Consumer Protection BC.”

Hartland added that the watchdog continues to assess consumer complaints about Toledo and its broad business practices.

Defendants reject allegations they broke laws

Toledo Credit’s website lists an operating address at a strip mall off King George Boulevard in Surrey.

A receptionist at a shared office space told Business in Vancouver the company has no permanent presence there and its representatives “rarely come here.”

Many of the companies Côté and Bossé hold across Ontario and Quebec appear to operate without dedicated brick-and-mortar operations.

Corporate records show Toledo Credit’s alleged debt collector and guarantor, Avila, is registered at a home in Plantagenet, Ont., that appears to double as a “private bakery.”

Bossé is also the director of two other companies: OMind Science Inc., a fish oil company based out of Vancouver, and TimeOut Hydrate Inc., which sells sports and nutrition supplements.

The petition claims Côté is a resident of Quebec. He is also named as a director of TimeOut and at least a dozen other corporations claiming to provide products and services ranging from health supplements to financing for used vehicles, records show.

Both individuals have also served as directors at a handful of non-profits.

Bossé is a member of the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s grant review team. Funded through Ontario government lotteries, the arms-length organization provides over $100 million in annual grants to help local communities meet their environmental, social and “economic hard-time needs.”

Reached for comment,, Bossé confirmed that he attended the Royal Military College, works as a certified management consultant and lobbyist, and is currently enrolled at the Royal Roads University in Victoria. He has also served as the CFO for multiple Ontario Progressive Conservative candidates through the Ottawa Centre and Orléans riding associations.

Bossé described his relationship with Côté as a friend and business partner. He said Avila has acted as a loan guarantor for Toledo Credit but that it’s “not a collection agency.”

Bossé declined to comment on the allegations in the proposed class action lawsuit.

“It’s not the shiniest of industries, but it’s one that’s firmly needed,” he said of short-term loans. “When there’s no regulated short-term loans, the criminals take over.”

In an email, Côté said he and Bossé have engaged in a “variety of lawful entrepreneurial, consulting, governance, and corporate activities across multiple sectors.” None of that activity, he added, is “indicative of wrongdoing.”

According to Côté, Toledo Credit was established in B.C. for legitimate business and administrative reasons, that among other things, gave it operational flexibility across Canada.

He said Donovan Inc. has “distinct legal and operational functions” from Toledo Credit.

“We are not in a position to publicly discuss confidential commercial arrangements, internal corporate structures, financing relationships, or third-party contractual matters,” Côté said.

Toledo Credit’s director also disputed allegations in the petition that the defendants had issued hidden fees or provided interest rates that breached federal and provincial laws.

“We categorically reject any suggestion that borrowers were intentionally exploited or that any business activities were conducted unlawfully,” Côté added. “Toledo Credit has always sought to operate in good faith and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.”

Lenders exploited Canadians’ ‘economic vulnerability,’ claims suite

In advancing a conspiracy against the borrowers, the defendants are alleged to have breached Canada’s Criminal Code and consumer protection laws in every province except for Nova Scotia.

Côté, Bossé and their companies were “unjustly enriched” when they exploited the “economic vulnerability” of Beckmann and other Toledo Credit borrowers, claims the petition.

Toledo Credit’s business model was “designed with the intention and for the purpose of circumventing” Canada’s Criminal Code, states the petition.

The court challenge seeks orders certifying the class action and stating that those affected are entitled to monetary damages.

None of the claims have been tested in court.

In addition to her client, Furtula estimates there are more than a thousand other Toledo Credit borrowers who could qualify as class members should the action be certified.

The lawsuit comes amid an economic climate that has left many people struggling to pay rent and buy groceries, said Furtula. With more desperate people struggling to make ends meet, Furtula expects the scale of high-interest money lending to increase.

“No one is really stopping them,” said the lawyer. “I’m not sure why the government isn’t doing anything about it.”