Cash Today: $83 million owed, and a receiver that may not take possession

Cash Today Inc. lends money against vehicles. In the representations attached to its December 2024 financing agreement, the Edmonton company called itself "a lender to customers/borrowers that have smaller cash requirements," in business for more than 13 years, with 13 full-time employees, an average loan of $6,000 and approximately 20,000 loans on its books. It registers a lien on the borrower's vehicle, lending up to 50% of its wholesale value, or holds the motorcycle, recreational vehicle or construction equipment until the loan is repaid. Where the borrower keeps the car or truck, Cash Today "typically installs a hard-wired GPS tracking device in the vehicle that includes the capability of remotely shutting down/disabling the vehicle so that it can be located and repossessed." The same schedule puts revenue at $38,310,442 for 2022 and loan receivables from customers at $151,821,000 at June 30, 2024, per the First Affidavit of David Hawreluk, May 14, 2026, Ex. "A", Sched. "A", pp. 28–29.

Since September 2023 the company has also borrowed from "a group of individual and corporate lenders" whose money reaches it through Grow Capital Two Inc. (GC2) as administrator, with Union Lending Corporation as broker. Under the agreement as revised on December 10, 2024, Cash Today pays interest only, at 21.5% a year; GC2 passes 18.0% on to the lenders and keeps the difference as its administration fee; the broker earns 3.0% of every advance; and the loan may not exceed 50% of Cash Today's total loan receivables. The first advance, on September 11, 2023, was $12,125,000. The lenders stand at one remove: the loan documents are not intended to create any relationship between them and the borrower, except that after an uncured event of default they may act on assignments of GC2's debt, and what Cash Today owes then "shall be payable to the Lenders and not to the Administrator," per the First Affidavit of David Hawreluk, May 14, 2026, paras. 5–9 and Ex. "A", ss. 2, 7(a), 9(a), 23.

David Hawreluk, who swore GC2's evidence as chief executive and legal counsel of a related entity, puts the money raised for Cash Today at "over $86 million from dozens of lenders," per the Supplemental Affidavit of David Hawreluk, July 8, 2026, paras. 1, 7. On May 15, 2026 GC2 demanded the outstanding principal of $82,375,000, or $83,102,833.90 with interest and fees to that day, per the Second Affidavit of David Hawreluk, June 29, 2026, para. 6 and Ex. "E". On August 18, on GC2's application and with the parties' consent endorsed on the order, Justice Dunlop of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta at Edmonton appointed MNP Ltd. receiver of all of Cash Today's property under s. 243(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and s. 13(2) of Alberta's Judicature Act, in action No. 2603 11676. The order took effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 9 and was filed on September 18. It gives the receiver "only the powers set out in paragraph 5," and "the Receiver shall not take possession of the Property except upon further order of this Court," per the Receivership Order, Aug. 18, 2026, paras. 2, 36 and the Letter to Service List, Sept. 18, 2026, p. 1.

What the administrator says it could not see

The agreement required annual statements prepared by a chartered accountant within 180 days of year-end, a twice-yearly statement showing the loan within the 50% cap, tax returns, and monthly access to Cash Today's internal financial information and to "a random sampling" of its loan files. Hawreluk deposed on May 14 that no externally prepared statements had been delivered for 2023 or 2024, and that access to internal information had come "several months following each quarter" and at no other time. "Except for one instance in spring 2025 and March 2026," he swore, "Cash Today has failed and refused to provide the Data Tape," the loan-by-loan listing of balances, terms, vehicle identification numbers and delinquency status. Without it, he said, GC2 could not tell whether the loan still sat within the cap, or whether borrowers more than 60 days past due had passed 30.0% of the portfolio, a separate event of default, per the First Affidavit of David Hawreluk, May 14, 2026, paras. 13–19, 25.

Under s. 8(b), "At any time before an Event of Default has occurred," a lender may ask at a quarter-end to redeem up to $1,000,000, and Cash Today has 90 days to pay, up to $5,000,000 a quarter. A $5,000,000 quarterly redemption payment fell due on or before March 31, 2026; the cure period ran out on April 30 without it, and "several Lenders have submitted redemption requests," Hawreluk swore, per the First Affidavit of David Hawreluk, May 14, 2026, paras. 20, 28 and Ex. "A", s. 8.

His May 14 affidavit supported an oppression application under s. 242 of Alberta's Business Corporations Act, in file No. 2603 11178, on the footing that Cash Today's "sustained and deliberate failure to comply with the Reporting Covenants" was oppressive. On May 15 GC2 delivered its demand and a notice of intention to enforce security under s. 244(1) of the BIA, with demands on the guarantors, 2327619 Alberta Ltd. and 2327624 Alberta Ltd.; a statement of claim followed on May 27, per the First Affidavit of David Hawreluk, May 14, 2026, paras. 2, 30 and the Second Affidavit of David Hawreluk, June 29, 2026, paras. 6–7, 10. The guarantors are holding companies owned by Cash Today's principals, Cameron Schiffner and Grant Patterson, per the Affidavit of Grant Patterson, July 2, 2026, para. 4. The oppression hearing, first set for June 8, was adjourned to June 26 and then to July 27, per the Brief of Law of the Applicant, June 29, 2026, para. 18.

The receivership application, filed June 29 and returnable July 8 before Justice Marion, stopped short of the powers "ordinarily granted" to a receiver and manager. GC2 called it "the least intrusive means of protecting GC2's position": monitoring, investigation, access, reporting and "limited treasury oversight." It asked for liberty to come back for possession, operation and sale "if warranted by the Receiver's assessment," per the Application for Appointment of Receiver, filed June 29, 2026, paras. 1, 14(h), 16. Its brief presented the receiver as "an independent officer of the Court rather than a representative of GC2," an answer to Cash Today's confidentiality complaints, per the Brief of Law of the Applicant, June 29, 2026, para. 39. By July 8 Hawreluk swore that the redemption payment due June 30 and the June 2026 interest payment had also not been made, per the Supplemental Affidavit of David Hawreluk, July 8, 2026, paras. 30, 35.

The company's account

Patterson, a director, swore Cash Today's reply on July 2 to oppose both applications. In the fall of 2025, he says, Cash Today learned that Union or its principals had business dealings with a third party with whom Cash Today has "a firm policy" of doing no business, and "Cash Today perceived this to be a massive breach of trust," per the Affidavit of Grant Patterson, July 2, 2026, paras. 1, 11, 16, 67. Hawreluk answers that the dealing was a mezzanine loan by his professional corporation to a group of companies, not to that person, first advanced in February 2023, before the Cash Today relationship began, and paid out on November 6, 2025, and that nothing in the agreements restricted it, per the Supplemental Affidavit of David Hawreluk, July 8, 2026, paras. 5–6, 10.

Union named on its website, Patterson says, a large Canadian retailer with which Cash Today had a lending program, after being told the name was confidential; and after a March 5, 2026 meeting Cash Today delivered at least 160 loan files to its counsel's office for a Union principal to review, per the Affidavit of Grant Patterson, July 2, 2026, paras. 21, 35. Hawreluk replies that lenders had to be told how their money was used, that GC2 and Union have never breached the agreement's confidentiality clause, and that the files were chosen by Cash Today: "A pre-selected (non-randomized) sample of 160 files does not constitute the sampling of files contemplated by the Revised Financing Agreement," per the Supplemental Affidavit of David Hawreluk, July 8, 2026, paras. 14–15, 27.

In October 2025, Patterson swears, Cash Today concluded that the relationship "was irreparably broken," citing the third-party dealings, "the ongoing and repeated breaches of confidentiality," "the erratic and bullying behaviour of Hawreluk," and "the haphazard and inconsistent manner in which Union was applying the Financing Agreement," per the Affidavit of Grant Patterson, July 2, 2026, para. 38. Hawreluk calls the account of his conduct "a complete mischaracterization," per the Supplemental Affidavit of David Hawreluk, July 8, 2026, para. 28.

Union kept advancing after it declared the default in June 2025, Patterson says: $880,000 on September 23, $4,150,000 on October 2 and $1,155,000 on October 14, "an aggregate of $6,185,000," before Cash Today decided to take no more. Cash Today took those advances, and an August 26, 2025 email asking when it would start accepting funds again, as "a demonstration that Union Lending did not actually consider the loans to be in default," per the Affidavit of Grant Patterson, July 2, 2026, paras. 26–29. Hawreluk's account is that at a June 27, 2025 meeting Schiffner's reported reason for the missing statements was that Cash Today's accounting firm "did not understand Cash Today's business"; that GC2 emailed the same day that it would raise no further funds until the default was resolved; and that the autumn advances rested on Schiffner's representations that review-engagement statements "were in progress and would be produced in the fall of 2025," representations Hawreluk says "later proved to be false," per the Supplemental Affidavit of David Hawreluk, July 8, 2026, paras. 19–21.

On redemption, Patterson reads s. 8(b)'s opening words as closing the door once default is declared: at that moment, "no further redemption requests are permitted," per the Affidavit of Grant Patterson, July 2, 2026, para. 31. Hawreluk points to s. 8(a), under which GC2 "may" demand the whole loan on default. "The Revised Financing Agreement is an interest-only facility," he swore. "If redemption rights were extinguished upon an event of default, and GC2 chose not to demand the entire Loan, the lenders would have no mechanism whatsoever to recover any of their invested principal." Cash Today, he adds, paid valid redemption requests in December 2025, per the Supplemental Affidavit of David Hawreluk, July 8, 2026, paras. 23–24.

The oppression action was sent in draft, Patterson says, immediately after he told a Union principal in May 2026 that Cash Today was talking to private funding sources about paying Union out, and he believes it "was intended to disrupt the refinancing, and it has had that effect," per the Affidavit of Grant Patterson, July 2, 2026, para. 40. Hawreluk says that is not accurate, and that through April 2026 Cash Today "repeatedly represented to GC2 that redemption fund payments were imminent and would be paid any day, but those funds never materialized," per the Supplemental Affidavit of David Hawreluk, July 8, 2026, para. 32. Among Patterson's grounds against a receivership: that enforcement was premature, that the alleged defaults had been tolerated historically, and that "investors would recover more if management stays in control." "This is not an insolvency issue," Patterson swore, per the Affidavit of Grant Patterson, July 2, 2026, paras. 52, 64.

What the consent order allows

The order recites the four affidavits and the transcripts of the cross-examinations on Hawreluk's. At the August 18 attendance, Cash Today was represented by Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP of Toronto, whose counsel signed its consent beside GC2's, per the Receivership Order, Aug. 18, 2026, recitals and p. 9 and the Letter to Service List, Sept. 18, 2026, p. 2. MNP may monitor receipts and disbursements, with direct access to accounting records and online banking data; monitor "the Debtor's collection of principal repayments from its borrowers"; and "review a statistically significant random sample of the Debtor's loan files" for a fully executed loan agreement, borrower identification, vehicle registration, evidence of insurance and valuation support, and for registration of the vehicle security at the Alberta Personal Property Registry. Absent a further order it may not operate, manage or carry on the business, per the Receivership Order, Aug. 18, 2026, paras. 4–5.

GC2's draft had reached further. It would have let the receiver direct Cash Today to deposit borrowers' principal repayments into a segregated "Redemption Account" for GC2, with Cash Today retaining "only such amounts as are reasonably necessary to preserve and maintain the Debtor's business and its assets," and those amounts "expressly excluding the making or funding of any new loans, advances, or extensions of credit to any person," per the Application for Appointment of Receiver, filed June 29, 2026, Sched. "A", para. 5(c). The consent order has neither the account nor the lending ban. It adds a clause of its own: without the receiver's consent or a further order, Cash Today may not repay principal on "any debenture, subordinated debt, or other borrowing" other than GC2's debt, though interest may still be paid as it falls due, nor make distributions to shareholders or to the two guarantor companies, per the Receivership Order, Aug. 18, 2026, para. 12.

The receiver and its counsel have a charge of up to $150,000, ranking first subject to specified BIA priorities, and the receiver may also borrow up to $150,000 under a borrowings charge ranking behind it. GC2 gets its costs of the application on a solicitor-client basis, paid from the estate "with such priority and at such time as this Court may determine." The appointment runs until an amended and restated order expands or varies the receiver's powers, a trustee in bankruptcy is appointed, or the receiver is discharged, per the Receivership Order, Aug. 18, 2026, paras. 3, 16, 19, 30.

The receiver's first word

MNP's statutory notice, dated September 28 and signed by senior vice-president Kristin Gray, says the receiver "has not taken possession of the Property and is not managing operations of the Debtor," and puts the estimated realization on cash, consumer loan receivables and other property at "Unknown." Its table of creditors holding security registered at the Alberta Personal Property Registry lists GC2 at $83,102,834, and three further entries — debenture holders, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada Corporation and the Canada Revenue Agency — at amounts "unknown as at date of Receivership." A 14-page creditor list as at September 18 is attached. MNP intends to monitor the company "and report to the Court and stakeholders as appropriate." Creditors need file nothing for now: "If a claims process is undertaken in the future, you will be contacted," per the Notice and Statement of the Receiver (Form 87), Sept. 28, 2026, paras. 3–8.