TD wipes $41,188 debt after grieving mother fights back

TD Bank has cancelled a $41,188 student-loan debt owed by a Gatineau, Que., woman whose daughter died of breast cancer, after CBC’s Go Public presented the bank with its findings, the broadcaster reported.

Joyel Singfield co-signed a $40,000 TD student loan in 2020 for her daughter, Maari, who was studying for a graduate degree in counselling psychology. The loan included life insurance, Go Public reported. Maari Singfield died in January 2025 at the age of 30.

Joyel Singfield said she learned only after her daughter’s death that the insurance had expired, which left her responsible for the $37,806 balance outstanding at the time. “It was honestly shocking,” she told CBC. “We committed to that loan in 2020 with insurance.”

The bank has since cleared her of all liability. The debt had grown to $41,188 with interest by the time TD wrote it off, according to CBC.

The dispute is among Canada’s trending searches after the CBC report. Google Trends Canada showed the phrase “TD Bank student debt dispute” with more than 2,000 searches in the past day.

CBC reported that it took the bank seven months to explain that the original insurance policy was cancelled automatically when Maari’s student line of credit converted to a personal loan after she graduated in 2023. Singfield said TD never told her or her daughter that the policy had to be renewed. “We would have taken action for sure,” she said.

TD told Singfield it had sent a letter to Maari in 2023 explaining the loan changes and the insurance renewal requirement. Go Public found the letter was undated, and the bank could only give an estimated mailing date of November 2023, CBC reported. TD told the broadcaster that Singfield had opted out of receiving notifications. Go Public said it challenged that explanation after finding the bank had sent her several other notices about Maari’s personal loan, but not the one about renewing the insurance.

An internal TD investigation had concluded that Singfield owed the full amount plus interest. She appealed to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI), which sided with the bank on her liability, CBC reported. Both the bank and OBSI agreed TD should cover $1,577 in unpaid interest and pay Singfield $500 for distress. She rejected that offer, calling it “an insult.” An OBSI spokesperson, John Bowes, declined to comment, citing confidentiality obligations.

TD spokesperson Ashleigh Murphy said in an email to CBC that the bank handled the account appropriately but decided to help Singfield because of her “difficult circumstances.”

Duff Conacher, co-founder of the advocacy group Democracy Watch, told CBC that undated letters are viewed with suspicion by the courts. “You have to actually prove things, not just claim you did something,” he said. Erik Knutsen, a law professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., said a bank cannot “dig its way out” of the fact that it sent other notices but not the key one, in comments CBC reported.

Conacher said the case shows the power imbalance between ordinary customers and large banks. “You’re up against the bank with a team of lawyers and unlimited resources to drag it out and argue their case,” he said.

Singfield said she was relieved but disheartened that it took so long. “Too many people don’t have the energy to fight something like this,” she said.

The account of the dispute is based on CBC’s reporting and the statements it attributed to TD, OBSI and Singfield. Canada News Media has not independently reviewed the loan documents.

Banking costs are also in focus for households this week after the Bank of Canada raised its policy rate to 2.5 per cent. Our earlier report on the rate hike explains what it means for borrowers, and our cost-of-living report tracks the pressure on household budgets.

Source: CBC News, Go Public (Sophia Harris), Nov. 2, 2026.

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