Collections Committee

Part Of: Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds; United Jewish Relief Agencies, Toronto (UJRA) series; Collections Committee sub-series

Part Of: Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds; United Jewish Relief Agencies, Toronto (UJRA) series; Collections Committee sub-series

Admin History/Bio: The UJRA Collection Committee was appointed in November 1951 when the UJRA's Loan Committee, established earlier that year, decided to hand over responsibility for collection of its loans, the oldest of which dated back to 1939. The Collections Committee worked hand in hand with the Loan Committee, and engaged the services of the Guardian Credit Corporation to locate delinquent borrowers and encourage repayment. Loans had been granted by the Canadian Jewish Congress direct and by the Hebrew Free Loan, and guaranteed by CJC, Jewish Child & Family Service, Jewish Immigrant Aid Services and UJRA. The Collection Committee operated with a flexible policy, considering loans on a case-by-case basis. In each case they had to ascertain if the monies given were relief or loans, whether documents of indebtedness, such as chattel mortgages or promissory notes, had been obtained, and whether these were still valued. Mindful that it was connected to a social services agency and not an inflexible financial institution, the committee stopped short of forceful measures, and some loans were deemed unrecoverable and written off.

Scope and Content: Sub-series consists of minutes, reports, lists and correspondence of the UJRA Collections Committee. The records relate to the creation of collection procedure, policies and rates, lists of loan recipients with the amounts owing and comments, and loan account updates/outlines with decisions reached at committee meetings. The records are arranged in chronological order.

Access Restriction: Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing some of the records.

Related Material: Related records may be found in the minutes of the Loan Committee, in sub-series 6 of series 4. Client case files may match with cases discussed by the Collections Committee; these case files are in sub-series 11: Refugee case files.