History
Our story begins in 1959. It was a year of change. Alaska was admitted as the 49th U.S. state, Hawaii was officially recognised as the 50th sate, the Barbie Doll made her debut, the first ever weather satellite was launched, while in Canada the Avro Arrow program was cancelled and Gilles Senécal, who began his career in finances, started a credit recovery company called Polycredit.
With time and experience, Gilles Sénecal began to understand that what businesses were missing was access to information that allows clients to detect what he called ‘The Symptoms Of Bad Financial Health’. In 1971, he begins publishing Courthouse Echo, a publication that aggregates all the legal corporate actions, precursors of financial difficulties to come, undertaken by businesses in Quebec’s Civil Courts.
Gilles Sénecal’s credo is to ‘Base all services on the credit information needs of the clients’. To make sure not to waver from that objective, personnel training and service refinement begin to take on more and more importance within the organisation.
The 80’s and the 90’s were a defining period for Gilles Sénecal’s company. During this period many acquisitions and developments were made:
1983: Creation of the ECHOGRAM service. A weekly monitoring service that instantly transmits any serious signs that could be considered precursors of bad financial health of their client accounts to the subscribers of the service.
1984: The credit recovery agency ‘Polycrédit’ acquires the credit research frim ‘Crédit Conseil’.
1985: The Telecho database is becomes available to iNet 2000 subscribers.
1986: Regrouping of all services under the Groupe Echo Inc brand.
1990: Quebec City branch opens.
1991: Strategic alliance with TransUnion of Canada Inc, and the launch of consumer credit information services.
1998: Halifax branch opens. First steps are made into the Ontario markets.
1999: Development of Groupe Echo’s training and continuous education services.
2001: Launch of Groupe Echo’s interactive Website.
2003: Toronto branch opens.
2004: Acquisition of Edmonton based Credifax of Canada Ltd.
2005: Groupe Echo becomes Groupecho Canada after obtaining a federal charter.
2012: Acquisition of Quebec based Marathon Ltd.
Groupecho Canada is now firmly rooted in the four great regions of Canada. Financial institutions, governments, and thousands of businesses now count on our expertise and on our advice to make solid, well-informed business decisions or for recovering the maximum revenue that is owed to them.
We are the leaders in our field, and we offer a one-stop-shop that allows us to participate in the prosperity and growth of our clientele.