Chase Bank Loses Arbitration in National Arbitration Forum

FAKE STORY

Fake story people. Go read the Florida Attorney General law suit against Hess Kennedy. Laura herself said that they never kept any money in any accounts to pay off depts.

"She conceded some of her client agreements specified funds would be placed in client escrow accounts for subsequent payment to creditors but acknowledged no such funds were maintained. In an earlier response to the Bar last October, she said funds collected were for legal fees and not to pay clients' creditors."

What crap. Hess Kennedy is real deep trouble. And they still keep trying to scam you out of your money.

Actually, I'm the client who had the arbitration case against Chase and not only did they win and have my over $6,000 debt zeroed out, but they were awarded damages by the NAF. I'd urge you to keep in mind, just because someone's accused of something, does not make them guilty. When will this country learn that its innocent until proven guilty. See the Duke Lacrose case or numerous other examples of people making judgments before all the facts come out.

In fact Tom321, why don't you stop hiding behind your computer and go contact the NAF using the file number provided in the story and see if its legit, instead of spreading lies.

LOL...I'm really laughing right now out loud I can't believe this. You guys are serious. You never stop. Don't you think I did my homework before I posted the remark. NAF own site said they were established around 1986. The BBB said it was established in 1994. LOL. Sounds screwy doesn't it. It is run by Ed Anderson. There goes the name Ed again. LOL. No one is hiding, you are behind phony site names. If you are the person prove it to us. We all await.

LOL....too funny. People look up the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) on the net and just read away. It's just another scam. If you don't believe me check it out. Many complaints against them. Also check out what arbitration is. If you do you will better understand. And if you notice, all of Hess Kennedy fake sites are set up with the same design. And the same person seemed to have written the info on all of the sites. They all sound the same when you read them.

San Francisco Sues National Arbitration Forum, Collector and Issuer

by Burney Simpson
insideARM
April 8, 2008

The city of San Francisco has sued the National Arbitration Forum, the collection agency Columbia Credit Services Inc. and FIA Card Services claiming unfair and unlawful business practices.

The filing on March 24 by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis J. Herrara charges that the NAF is an ???????arbitration mill, churning out arbitration awards in favor of debt collectors and against California consumers.???????

According to the filing with Superior Court of the State of California, the NAF ???????bends and breaks its own procedural rules in favor of its debt collector clients.???????

The suit claims that the NAF rules in favor of business interests against California consumers ???????100% of the time ??????? (and) ceases using arbitrators that decide in favor of consumers.???????

The law suit found that there were 33,933 consumer arbitration hearings in California involving consumer collections from January 2003 though March 2007. Of these, 18,075 went to a participatory or paper hearing before an arbitrator. Only 30 of these cases resulted in favor of the consumer, according to the suit.

The suit reports that FIA is a national bank based in Wilmington, Del., and successor to MBNA Corp., following its purchase by Band of America. FIA issues cards to California consumers, according to the suit. Columbia Credit is a debt purchaser and collection agency based in Sacramento, Calif., according to the suit.

The suit charges FIA and Columbia with participating in NAF????????s ???????sham by forcing consumers into the NAF forum which they know to be biased in their favor.??????? The suit also charges Columbia with seeking attorney fees from consumers that lose an NAF arbitrated suit, ???????an unlawful business practice??????? that abets NAF????????s activities.

The NAF released a statement that said it did not comment on active litigation but that it is preparing its defense in the case. The Forum said its ???????independent case administration and neutral decision makers constitute a system that satisfies or exceeds objective standards of fairness. Our arbitration program has been supported in numerous courts in which it has been reviewed, and has frequently been praised by noted members of the nation????????s judiciary, including the United States Supreme Court.???????

The NAF also contended that studies have shown that ???????arbitration outcomes are the same or better than court, where similar subject matter is at issue. Arbitration provides all parties with the same substantive outcomes as court, and does so more efficiently and less expensively.???????

In addition, the NAF said its arbitrators ???????are former judges or seasoned attorneys,??????? who have ???????a sincere interest in helping parties resolve disputes fairly and efficiently.???????

The filing follows a study released last year by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen that found that NAF arbitrators ruled against California consumers in 95 percent of cases filed (???????Activists: Mandatory Arbitration Stacks Deck Against Cardholders,??????? Sept. 28, 2007.)

I'm interested in hearing more about the Arbitration Forum", since it appears I will be dealing with this.

Shazzers how are you dealing with this?

I received an arbitration letter, Federal Express, yesterday. :? Mann Bracken

Mann Bracken is another scam operation. If you read about it on the net all these companies, lawyers and judges are banding together with bottom feeder credit collectors to get your money. Now the crazy thing about this is that alot times it is legal to do it. If you don't have the knowledge to beat them they will win. Most people do not have the knowledge. How can someone go into court and say you owe them money when they don't even have the contract that you signed saying you owe money to anyone? All they have is your name, SS# and maybe an account #. And the judges rule in their favor and never ask for proof from the company if you ignore it. If you did that as an individual, the courts will throw you out for wasting their time and not having evidence. In this day and age with credit being so important, a new industry is forming to find loop holes in laws to swindle you out of money.

The odds are against you that you will win the case. I've learned alot from dealing with Hess Kennedy. HK states they protect you from these practices but they don't. Thousands of people, me and four states can't be wrong about them.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

Wall Street Journal Reports on Allegations of NAF Bias

An April 21, 2008 article in the Wall Street Journal delved deeper into the allegations of bias on the part of NAF. More than other arbitration providers, NAF works with ???????a few large companies, such as credit-card issuers, who potentially have disputes with many consumers,??????? said Jean Sternlight, a law professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who specializes in arbitration. Says Sternlight: An NAF arbitrator ???????can expect to see many many disputes involving the same company, there may be a heightened pressure on the arbitrator to rule in favor of the company or else risk losing future arbitration work.??????? The Journal notes that one California appellate court ruled that an employee whose employer required all employee disputes to go before NAF did not have to arbitrate his discrimination claim. The court said the employer enjoyed a possible ???????repeat player??????? advantage, including ???????knowledge of the arbitrators???????? temperaments, procedural preferences, styles and the like, and the arbitrators???????? cultivation of further business.???????

Something else:

Companies do not choose arbitrators who do not rule in their favor. One former National Arbitration Forum arbitrator, a Harvard law professor named Elizabeth Bartholet, was blackballed after she awarded $48,000 to a consumer in a case brought by a credit card company. After the same company had her removed from other pending cases, she resigned, citing the National Arbitration Forum????????s "apparent systematic bias in favor of the financial services industry."

This explains how arbitration works. The little guy has no chance.

I sent them a DV letter two months ago, I have a signed receipt.

How can this be called a "scam", if it's perfectly legal?

Hey Tom, are you a former Hess Kennedy Client? Or are you a debt collector who is feeling his pockets getting light?

i agree guest,tom seems likr he is determined to shoot down NAF.suspicous indeed.

Debtor Almost Free,
Former client of HK. So....uuummm you think I'm a debt collector who gives you advice to beat debt collectors??..LOL. Now really think about that for a second. And why would you think I'm a debt collector? That's such an absurd statement to address any further.

Shazzers it is legal. But if you ask for proof that you owe anyone it might save you. alot of times they don't have proper documentation. They use legal loop holes. I know everyone has heard of that one. It's a pain to contest and you have to go to court but if you want to win you have to do it and raise a ruckus. Just because it's legal does not mean it can't be a scam. I'm sure in your lifetime you tried to side step something by using legal loop holes and the excuse of NO ONE SAID I COULDN'T DO THAT. Most adults have in some shape of form. Whether small or not. That's what going on.

But again don't take my word for it do the research yourself on line to find out how to beat this. The more you learn the better you will be.

Thanks Tom. :)

paulmergel and Shazzer:

I looked you guys up on this site and read some of your posts. You guys know all about what I'm saying. We are all on the same side. You see that's what I do. Look things up. The internet is great for that. Being a former HK sap myself, do you really think I'm not going through what you guys are going through. I'm being hit from every bottom feeder dept collecter I can think of. But I said to myself if I'm going to have to go through this I better find out what's really happening to me. So I did and learned alot. I learned I'm screwed on alot of levels for ignoring it for so long so I said to myself "How to get out of this?" Well it's simple. PAY MY DEBTS ON TIME AND START PAYING MY DELINQUENT DEBTS THE BEST WAY I CAN, NEVER SPEND OUTSIDE OF MY MEANS. That's all I can do. I'll be debt free soon. Plus I've learned that legit debt collectors will work with you. Dealing with them is better than dealing with the courts and freezing my bank accounts along with taking my pay checks. I've heard the stories. Sorry if I sound like a traitor by being an adult and taking responsibility for my stupidity. But it's choosing the lesser of two evils.

But here is a loop hole for us:

Either file for bankrupt status. Or never use a bank account or anything like that and wait it out. If you do every time they say that they are going to take your money quickly close that account and open up a new one at another bank. That will buy you some time. When or if you move do not change your mailing address with the post office. Do not change your address on your credit report to the new one, that's how they find you. After a certain amount of years the debt is removed from your credit report and no one is allowed to collect on it. The time limit varies state to state. NJ I think is seven years. But beware junk debt collectors will still try to get you.

If taking care of my business makes me seem shady then shady I'll be. I'm tired of this credit crap and I want to buy a house one day.

You're welcome Shazzers and good luck. We all need it...LOL.

The National Arbitration Forum is nothing but a scam and they are mere debt Collectors trying to scare consumers into setting collection on behalf of their clients. (The bottom of all their communications state that they are debt collectors!) So, I handled them just like a collection agency. They tried to scam my mom!!! They sent her the arbitration notice saying that they had been retained on behalf of NCO Financial. So, I immediately typed up a refusal to arbitrate letter addressed to the NAF and NCO Financial. Next, I typed and sent a debt validation letter to NCO Financial. ( I sent all correspondences to NAF and NCO Financial via certified mail.) NCO Financial responded to my debt validation letter with a letter stating the my mother's account was closed with no debt owed and that they were contacting the credit bureaus to have the account listing removed from her credit reports. I sent this letter from NCO Financial to NAF requesting that the forum no longer contact with arbitration notices etc..pointing out that if they continued to do so, it would be interpreted as an continued attempt to collect on a debt that had been verified not to be my mom's. They "accidently" sent me another notice, so I then sent a letter back to NCO Financial stating my intent to pursue compliance via legal methods as well as informing them that I had filed a complaint with the FTC because the company that they had retained to collect/arbitrate the alleged debt was still pursuing arbitration activities, after they (NCO Financial) stated she did not owe the debt. (I also included FTC claim #) Within a week, my mom received a letter from NAF asking her to disregard the notices that they sent and next she received a letter from NCO Financial stating that they had asked that their claim against her be dismissed. The next month, my mom received an "order" from NAF stating her case had been "Dismissed with Prejudice". NAF is such a joke!!!! LMAO!!!!