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I received a letter from Mann Bracken, LLC. They state in the letter that:

The contract that your original Cicuit City account provides for the resolution of claims or disputes by means of arbitration.

-AND-

My firm is not licensed to practice law in your jurisdiction and will not persue any legal action in the state or federal courts.

So, the account is going into arbitration? What does that mean? And if they are not allowed to practice law in my state (NY), then why are they contacting me to resolve the matter?

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:24 pm Subject:

The first statement given by the law company states involving your attorney for payment arrangements towards your debt to the creditor.

And,

The second one implies that the law company is not licensed to do their business in your state. It thus means that any kind of disputes will be resolved in the court in THEIR state of business.

Now, you need to check the statutes in your state that will be applicable on this law office.

For your understanding, I have picked the website of Dept. of Consumer Affair of New York city. Know your legal rights before paying the debt.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dca/html/law/law.shtml

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:45 pm Subject:

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 1:52 pm Subject:

Hi Shirley, not all the federal statutes are applicable on the collection agencies. But there are some that should be necessarily followed as per the state laws. For example, these are the requirements as per the statutes in WY.

http://audit.state.wy.us/banking/cab/cabfaq.htm

Check your local attorney general office for the specific statutes applicable in your state. It must be followed by any collection agency or the law office not licensed to do business in your state.

Hollis

I got the letter from them they just keep calling. and the letter says about arbitration and they cant practice in the state of N.H.they said if they have to they will get a law firm up here.I am in financial trouble since last september.I did not mean to get in this trouble it just happened.I do at some point want to payoff circuit city at some point which was backed by chase bank because I had good credit 6 mounths ago but I will be dammed if Im going to clear this up with mannbracken and still have bad credit,I would rather pay chase not them bloodsuckers.Thankyou What can I do and what are my rights up here in N.H.

Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 1:10 pm Subject:

Hollis,

You can contact your creditor to inquire if they can accept payment for this account. If your creditor disagrees to work with you, contact the law firm that has sent you the letter. Explain your problem and try to arrange some payment plan so that you can afford it.

BTW, have you checked the SOL of the debt? SOL starts from the date of last activity seen in the account. It varies for different states. You can check it here-

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/state-sol.html

If the account is out of SOL, no legal action is enforceable. Keep us updated.

Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:03 pm Subject:

Overmyhead, what the second statment means is that the will not fiel a suit because they are not licensed. Most states have a Uniform commercial code that says that a resident cannot be sued in a collection matter in that state unless their attorney's are licensed in that state. It sounds like in this case they are acting as a collecotr instead of an attorney.

hello? · Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:41 pm Subject: I hgot a letter as well

I received a letter from Mann/Bracken as well about arbitration. I have sent them a faxed letter asking them to stop callingme since discussing the matter is mute. I have been homeless for over a year now, living in my truck and have been under the care of 3 Physicians for 5 years due to a crippling disability and the inability to work. My case is not settled fro compensation and I have no income what so ever. So why does this firm still call me everyday? Sometimes three times a day? I have informed them and the President/CEO of the credit card company that I have nothing to give and until the state starts to pay me my disability they are wasting time hiring a law firm. Does this make sense?

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:49 pm Subject:

Since you have the debt, the company has the rights to contact you and recover the amount from you. You can't stop them from taking actions if they intend to. How old is this debt and when did you make the last payment? Verify the SOL period of this account if it has expired.

Kelly Ruth · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:28 am Subject: MANN Bracken activities

They are always abusive and impossible to deal with. When I threatend them with determining to get thru to their "real attorneys" they stopped calling me.

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:59 pm Subject:

Help me understand here...is the company calling you a CA or the original collector? If it is the orginal creditor I would send a letter of good will to them explaining what happened and that you would like to rectify the situation. If its a CA send them a cease and desist letter.

Linda · Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:22 am Subject:

I received the exact same letter back in July of 2006. I notified my debt settlement company and they have never once tried to contact me at work and they are working with my settlement company.

The OP only posted parts of her letter. My letter says they (Mann Bracken) are not licensed to practice law in my jurisdiction, meaning: they are hired by my Chase credit card balance of 5,000 to try to settle the acct. If they get nowhere, they can either sent back to original creditor or sent to collection agency to try to collect in my state.

I actually have two accts with Chase, each 5,000.00 and they are both with Mann Bracken. One in my name and other in hubbys name. Both accts are working with my settlement company and I quit paying on them over a year ago.

My minimum payments on the cards were 70.00 each....TOTALING 140.00 monthly. Then the new increase law went into effect and it was going to be 210.00 minimum payment. I could not afford that, so I had to do something. I paid 140.00 monthly, faithfully until the law changed for 5 years!!!!!

I called them numerous of times crying to them, worried to death about the new increase in minimum payments and I warned them I would have to file bankruptcy, so maybe that is why they are working with me, I don't really know.

BUT good luck and keep me posted.

Linda Y · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:52 am Subject: feedback?

I have not payed my bill to Capital One in over 2 years, in my case due to unexpected occurences that were out of my hands, such as military training, dealing with criminals in the military and taking time away from my own job, to collision on the highway and a new grandbaby in the family you name it it occured and paying off other bills at the time. My first letter informed me about the attempt to collect the debt along with the harrassing phone calls on a daily basis. To a summons to court Sad

which led to many sleepless nights and anxiety attacks. And my ignorance on the law hasn't helped the situation much either. Mad

Now I've arranged monthly deductions with Mann Bracken for $150.00per month after 6 months they will evaluate so they say, till the rest is paid off. Wink

So well, only been made to feel like a criminal myself for letting it go this far?! Embarassed

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:47 pm Subject:

Linda you have setup a payment arrangement and that is a good step. I would call Capitol 1 to see if they still own your account.Next I would send a verification letter to Cap 1 to get an updated payment history from them. The collectors need to send you information on the debt.Mainly I would be looking for the balance showing total debt,fees,and interest. By reviewing their info along with Cap 1's info,you can see that your payments are being properly credited.I would also ask collector to send you written receipts for every payment made.This will be for your own protection in the future.