Mann Bracken: Is it difficult to deal with them?

I live in MI.

hiya MMC--

Tell me something--exacly how does the agency name show up on the letters they send you? Is it Mann Bracken, or Mann and Bracken, or something else?

I am trying to find out some info for you, and in Michigan, collection agencies are required to be licensed or they cannot conduct business there. I searched on your state's website for the following:

Mann Bracken
Mann Bracken LLC
Mann Bracken law firm

Mann and Bracken
Mann and bracken LLC

And none of those searches pull up anything. If they do not have a license in your state, regardless of where their state is, I would tell them to get bent, honestly, because any action they take, be it arbitration, filing a lawsuit, even just calling you or sending you a request for payment letter, all of it is ILLEGAL. They cannot report on your credit files, because the FTC has concluded that doing so is collection activity. They cannot legally do ANYTHING over this debt. Now, that doesnt change the fact of whether or not you owe it, but it means that they cannot collect it.

What you need to do is send them a certified letter as soon as you can. In this letter, tell them that you are hereby requesting that they cease and desist. Tell them that no further contact is allowed, be it in writing, over the phone or by any other means. Of course, lets verify that I got the name right before we do that, but if they arent licensed, I would tell them that they are unlawfully trying to collect a debt without being licensed to conduct any business in your state. Inform them that should they ignore this request you will have no choice but to file suit for violation of federal and state laws.

Read here how to handle Mann Bracken law firm. The arbritration is a scam!

My wife and I Beat Them At 1 Arbitration Case.They took us to arbitration on 2 accounts.We had all her coworkers and myself print afadavids on the way they talked to people on the phone.All the threats were listed and we sent them to Atlanta.On the second account we were never notified of the arbitration untill I recieved a summons to court.We setup a payment plan with them and paid 6 payments and now I cant get anyone from Mann Bracken law firm to contct me. Hopefully They Have Closed up Shop but I cant get that Lucky.Hope This Helps.

I too got involved with FDRS (a debt relief system) big mistake. I have been served a summons & have 2 weeks to get up $25,000 or 7,000 & 12 payments of 2200.I don't have it. What can I do?

Amber, your summons will just validate the debt. in your state. I am dealing with Mann Bracken law firm. I send them $50 a month and when they clear the first check, that means they are accepting your payment plan. I even wrote them a letter stating my proposal. They are full of $%$@

What happens when they serve you the summons, that validates the debt. in your state. Once they do that, they can garnish your wages, ect. It takes a lot of debt. to do that though. Usually over 10K

Yesterday I got a FedEx from Mann Bracken saying that I too have an arrbitration. I am working with FDR (Freedom debt relief) and I've contacted them, but I'm still extremely nervous. Has anyone ever dealt with Mann B on something like this? What can I do?

I don't believe a summons validates a debt in any state. All a summons is is a court document that says you are being called to appear in court.

I spoke to Mann Bracken Law firm back in March, just two months after signing on with a debt management company. In July, my son received something in the mail from a junk company about it saying that they could help me. There was a case number. When I looked up the case number on the courts web site, Mann Bracken had filed and I was to appear in court on Sept 3rd. Only one thing.....they never served me. I decided to go to court anyway. I did, no case, no Mann Bracken. Because they did not serve me, no case. However, I do keep up on the courts web site and have found that they've filed again which will mean another day off of work. I know that they looked into my credit report and know where I live, but they are taking me to court in another county where my son lived (he just moved back).
So I'm going to keep track of the web site to see if/when another date is set and will go again summons or no summons.
So far the debt management company that I am working with have been straight and up front with what to expect. Also, being new with this company and not enough funds to get accounts settled, one of my 'smaller' accounts settled last week.

mann bracken law firm
can be vicious. They will settle for less you just have to say the right things. They say they will only settle for 80% or so. They are a collection agency. Not a law firm. They try to scare you by using the mann bracken attorneys. They do have attorneys. But they are a collection agency. As far as debt settlement companies stay away from them. They will tell you whatever sounds good to you. They will ruin you completely. Go with a credit counseling company. Your payment may be a little higher but it will be well woth it.

what are the right things to say to mann bracken law firm
? i would like this to be over. don't want my wages garnised

i received lawsuit from this company too. they gave the paper to my mom on Sept. 01 2008 and they said to call first before calling an attorney.. they wanted to pay $1031.57 plus their attorney fees. I'm 22 and a single mom i only make minimum wage. what should i do? I'm nervous and I don't really know what to do.

Mann Bracken has a weakness-their lawyers. Refuse to deal with their collection agents. These people make $5 an hour if they're lucky and the rest is commission.

You will find a current list of the REAL mann bracken law firm
attorneys at johnpfryedebtlawyer[dot]blogspot[dot]com. Contact one of them and tell them to work things out.

If the lawyer you talk to does not, file a Bar complaint. You will want to file against them in Georgia, your state, and the state of the Mann Bracken Llp. office that contacted you.

A couple of mann bracken law firm
lawyers have been disciplined, and Branton could lose his law license at this rate!

Good Luck!

What happens when mann bracken law firm
serve you the summons, that validates the debt. in your state. Once they do that, they can garnish your wages, ect. It takes a lot of debt. to do that though.

----- This is BS. Only if the Plaintiff has a court-ordered judgment can any collection activity begin. Furthermore, not all states permit wage garnishment. ALWAYS, ALWAYS dispute the validity of the debt and request verification!!

I just got a fed ex arbitration from MB, too. So what are the next steps? Send a dv letter or cease and desist or ignore?

A DV letter CMRRR.

How old is the account? What state do you live in? When was the last time you paid on it? You would need to send them a Refusal of Arbitration letter. They would need to prove that you agreed to MBA and that an arbitration agreement was in place while the account was still current with the OC. I found this a while back:

Great info nascar.

Mann Bracken came after me. I read the post about lawyers. I found their Virginia office. The attorney is Scott Kramer but he's really in Maryland. I told him he was supervising abusive collectors and would report him. He asked me how much I owed and how much I'd be able to pay.

He settled in return for a letter saying I would not file a bar complaint. Fine.

This is the way. Deal with the lawyers. They are responsible.

Can you give a persentage of what you settled for?

Mann Bracken are the rudest people I ever heard of. They sent me a summons for district court a week ago for a debt of 791 dollars. A few days later I recieved a letter from Van Ru Credit Corp. to call them to discuss the matter. They offered me a settlement through them and Palisades (the original debtor) for three payments at 198 dollars and this was agreed through both VR and Palisades. I took the offer and this will cost me less than the original amount. The magistrate told me to contact Mann Bracken to let them know about this. I called and the rep flatly refused to deal with me and said the settlement was no good. They want over 1000 dollars out of me for the debt, interest and court costs. I called VR to let them know what was going on and they told me that to send VR the payments since Palisades was contacted that I was accepting the offer. Also MB said to me that they will see me at the hearing which I now wrote to the magistrate via certified letter that I will not attend and gave her the info (copies) of all documentation and wrote down the conversation with names companies and phone nubers. Was I right about doing this in this way?

Go to mannbrackenwatch.blogspot.com

Then get the current 703 # for Mann Bracken. Get.a hold of Scott Kramer, attorney.

He is up on discipline in VA and so moving to MD. Fake court dates won't help his case.

If you are in another state tell Mann Bracken's lawyer there you are going to the Bar Association.

A month ago Kramer took $400 for a $6000 HSBC bill.

I am in MD but they have Bar issues in all 50 states! Doug Mann took a buyout before the GA Bar suspended him!

Good luck!!

My chase credit card account got charged off due to the delinquency. Mann Bracken is a company that attempts to collect charged off debts. They claim to use "Attorneys at law." but they do that to frighten you. I got a letter from fed ex claiming arbitration against me. Another letter came in saying the same thing. They do have attorneys but they are really a collection agency. I am having a conflict with them. They want to settle my debt for 70% The representatives are very unproffesional and will try to rip you off. They do not seem to care about your situation. Obviously they work off commision and that is why they are expecting huge payments. If someone worked salary they would work with an individual by income and other bills. DO NOT LET THEM SCARE YOU!!

I don't know who this Mann Bracken is , but they keepcalling my house, leaving messages on my machine.I called them 3 times telling them the person that they are asking for doesn't live here and I don't know this person. The lady I spoke with was very rude,she has no bussiness working for a law firm or dealing with the public.They told me it takes 24 hours to get my number out of there system, but this has been going on for 3 weeks, which I believe is more than 24 hours.I don't know what this company does, but if they call one more time I am reporting them.

Guest you need to send them a C&D letter to stop the calls, just telling them to stop usually doesn't work.

Mann Bracken is a total bunch of rude hard****. They will not settle, in fact only want the whole amount only. If you're on a fixed income, say Social Security Disability, they can not by law touch your money. See Social Security website for more information.

If they continue to harass you. Keep detailed records of all conversations. Also send them a letter via certified mail offering a payment plan option. Keep record of delivery of letter. If they refuse any offer and you're headed to court, make sure you have all this information with you.

Mann Bracken is not interested in anything than collection of the WHOLE debt and loves to give lectures on the phone about why you can't pay etc etc. I hung up in them and have refused all court notices. They will get a judgement against in court, so make sure to have all of you I's dotted and T's corossed. But make sure to seek advice from an atty like I did.

[color=Red]****Adult term removed - Jason[/color]

I have been sending payments to Van Ru Credit Corporation for an account that is actually being handled through Palisades Collection LLC. They taken the amount of a little over 1400 dollars and taken it down to three payments of 198 dollars to settle the debt. When I heard this I agreed to these terms and started sending the payments. This came prior to Mann Bracken?Palisades going through my local magistrate to have a hearing regarding my debt. When I called Van Ru to settle ( which they were the ones handling the matter ) I started sending them the payments because they told me that Palisades has agreed to the settlement. I then called the Mann Bracken office in Camp Hill Pennsylvania which was handling the matter the rude female on the other line got really bold with me and told me that Palisades would never settle for such an amount. I told her that I would not be at the hearing due to me already making the payments. She said they will and it would be to my best interest to show. I sent a letter to my local magistrate and told her the situation and also told her that I will not show since Palisades settled. Needless to say Mann Bracken never showed either. My first payment went through without a hitch wilt V.R but when I made my second payment they told me that there was a hold on my payments with no real reason given. This happened on the 5th of December. I called V.R. on the 9th to see what was going on and they told me that they sent the payment to Palisades. Today ( 11th ) I recieved a letter from V.R. stating that they are no longer handling the account and now I must deal with Palisades. Can anyone tell me what has just happened since there was no reason by V.R. given to me due to this decision??

Connell Loftus is one of the new owners of Mann Bracken. He is Dick Cheney's cousin's kid. He bought out Wolpoff Abramson and Eskanos Adler. It is all Axiant now.

He has about three junior lawyers. Bracken and Jim Branton are left from the merger. So go for the weak spot, like others have said: bar complaints.

One thing wrong, too many calls, abuse, forget it. They pay the collectors minimum wage plus a percentage.

I owed Chase over $20,000. Mann Bracken called my job over and over. I sent them a registered letter and told them to stop. They did not.

I started calling them. Finally Loftus came on the phone to settle. I told him to forget the $20 grand. He took $1100 and made me sign a release fine. I guess I just broke it posting here.

But now you know, they know they are in poop with the bar association.

Read Bud Hibbs site and also mannbrackenwatch.blogspot.com

After reading several sites and having received a letter from them myself, this definitely seems to be a scam.
I have been victim to this type of scam a lot. I googled the name Mann Bracken LLP, just as it has on the top of my letter, but nothing came up. The closest link was Mann Bracken LLC. which is a different business entity.

I'm not going to do anything with this, I may send a copy to my lawyer for her to review.

The fact that you are doing payments ($50.00) on an already defaulted bill doesn???t mean you have a payment agreement; that is just a voluntary payment.

Never, ever, ever, ever try to work with a Consolidation Agency, credit counseling Service, or any other name you want to give them because they CAN NOT do anything different than what you can do. The only thing they want is to charge you a fee to manage your debt. When you ???hire??? them they make you sign a Power of Attorney to be able to represent you, and with that they send communications to your creditors to avoid any calls or communications, what does not mean your creditors stopped the collection activities, it only means you will not know what is going on until is too late to resolve it.

I can go on and on regarding this matter. The last thing I want to say is DO NOT TAKE ADVISE FROM SOMEONE THAT YOU DON???T KNOW, AND EVEN IF YOU KNOW THEM BE CAREFULL WHEN YOU RECEIVE THEIR ADVISE. All of them are honestly trying to help you but most of them don???t really know what they are talking about.

Be careful when managing your past due debt, it is your future what is in risk

I have read real trash on this blog. Most of the comments are coming from angry people that have put themselves in a situation where they don???t have any control of things.

Let me give you just one example. Arbitration is a process that was already agreed in advance by both parties. When you accept to use a credit card, for example, you already agree to be part of an arbitration process to resolve the matter and a letter will not stop the process.

First off this is not a Blog. This is a forum. Second, many accounts were astablished long before arbitration became the next greatest scam the CC companies could screw a consumer with. Arbitration is an attempt to strip away our rights to due process and simply because a CC company slips it into their TOS long after the account was established still does not mean that consumers have to agree with it.

Blog vs. Forum, serves for the same purpose... communication.

The Arbitration was created by a law firm in 1996, not by the credit cards. It started to be used by the cc's to obligate the users to use instead of the judicial litigation to resolve a dispute resolution. If a consumer/client does not accept it the cc companies will simply not issue the credit, as simple as that.

The majority of people in this situation chose not to be. Instead of declaring bankruptcy we are left with commercials,advertisements and email saying they can help you get out of debt by getting a low settlementt with these companies. You have to pay them a fee and they are telling you that is is better to wait until you are served or contacted by a collection agency because they deal with them all the time. I paid 4000 over six months and I settled several accounts on my own and they sent out cease and desist letters and then tried to claim they settled the accounts. I have written to the better business bureau which is what I would suggest befire dealing with any company. Mann Bracken is on the worst. They will not try to work with you but just threaten you,. I was told that they would offer me a 80% settlement and then copied someones else agreement to me with their settlement being 50%. I asked why the difference and she said it was none of my concern. It truly is not but i wonder how many people have received information about someone else's account including mine. As far as I am concerned i should just declare myself a bank and then I should receive a bailout as well with my taxpayer money. I have been working for 33 years and paid my taxes and more than happy to do so but these collection agencies go too far in harassing people and debt resolution companies are just aiding and abetting. If it were not for this forum many of us would not have any information that will help us.

Amazed,
What junk debt buyer do you work for? lol
You don't know the difference between a blog and a forum, yet you obviously have access to the web? lol

I have told them I will speak no more to their callers, but just received the arbitration forms. I am on SSI and Social Security, unemployed and have no property to attach. Can they force me to appear in court?

are mb registered in michigan. if a settlement is made is chase then paid

i have bean dealing with these scuzzy for yrs they are vicious ruthless, nothing is correct, c&d s letters do not help, if you catch them they flip you to someone you never heard of before in your credit report,summons i need a lawyer can not find one in Florida it sucks

Contact Frogpatch on this site, they are in Fla and have a very good atty that will sue for you.

I informed manna bracken that i was no longer working as i was on disability...so i agreed to 3 monthly payments and they said they would send me documentation to make further arrangements....they never did...then this weekend i called my bank to report that there have been fraudulent checks written to my checking account and they said that a sheriff's levy was placed on my account...called the sheriffs department and they said that mann bracken had sued me and got a court order ...took almost 1300 (almost all the money i had in my acct) from my bank account and will take any other money that i deposit in my acct. This was all the money i have to live off of because i am not working and employed. They did all of this without contacting me or even notifying me of any court case. Now I dont have any money and because its the end of the month...i will not have a place to live. :!:

Contact the county clerks office to see when a judgement was issued against you, also find out when and where you were served. If you weren't served properly, you can ask the court to vacate the judgement and have the bank return your money.

Here is what Mann bracken can do to you. I signed up with a debt consolidation company (Credit America, something like that). When they didn't make any payments to my creditors, but continued to take my money, my accounts were sent to Wolpoff and Abramson. I was threatened by them, harrassed by them, they even harrassed my parents. How they found them, I have no clue. After being harrassed too many times, I finally agreed to a payment plan with them. I paid them for about 6 months, on time, every month. One day in the mail, I got a notice of arbitration. Not knowing why, I called them and was told that it was an accident that I got it, but once the case is arbitration, they can't take it out (this is a total lie!!!). After being threatened again by W&A, I agreed to sign a stay of execution,(basically I had to put in writing that I paid them by a certain day every month, something I already did anyways). I paid W&A for 18 months. Then Mann Bracken bought them, and the process started all over again. I was getting harrassed again, I was told that the payments weren't getting made (which was another lie because I was doing EFT payments) and I had to pay the balance in full. If I had the money to pay the balance in full, I wouldn't have been in this mess. After 2 months of going back and forth, they offered me a settlement. So, I took money out of my IRA and paid them 70% of the balance. No one said anything to me about what happens to the money that I didn't pay, they were just saying thank you for paying and closing the accounts. The fact that I didn't pay the balance in full I have been told by Mann Bracken will be on my credit report for 7 years. Trust me, it doesn't end when you pay off the balance. Then last night, I got a 1099-C form in the mail saying that I had to add the balance of what I didn't pay to my total income from last year!! I am not even sure this is legal!! Does anybody know??? Mann Bracken will come after to you any way they can, legal or not..be careful before you agree to ANYTHING with them!! I would hate for someone to go thru what I thought I was done with!! :evil: :x

I HAVE TRIED TO CONTACT SEVERAL TIMES CONCERNING A credit card debt THEY MADE PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS WITH ME. PAID THE AMOUNT FOR 2 MONTHS AND NOW RAISED THE PAYMENT SAYING IT WAS NOT ACCEPTABLE A COURT DATE HAS NOW BEEN SET FOR ME - I HAVE TRIED SO MANY TIMES TO CONACT MANN BRACKEN NO ONE CALLS ME BACK OR THEY HANG UP ON ME - GUESS I'LL JUST GO TO COURT

I'd tell them to go jump; a cease and desist letter is also in order. I had an encounter with those turkeys seven years ago; both debts to former MBNA were settled for a compromised amount yet one was forgiven. I wonder how I go about getting my money back from those turkeys?

These Junk Debt Buyers want CASH ONLY!! NO partial payments!! PAY UP OR THEY FILE ARBITRATIONS ON YOU!! THESE PEOPLE ARE RUTHLESS!!!!

THEY DO NOT ACCEPT DV OR CD LETTERS!!!!!!!!! I have sent well over 15 DF letters to these SCUM BAGS!!

The Mann Bracken/Walpoff people refuse to negotiate realistically. To the extent they do negotiate, the negotiation is a fraud. They will not live up to what they negotiate. For example they will take partial payments and then not reduce the balance as agreed prior to your sending the partial settlement payment. Do the public a favor and fight these people any way you can so their business is not profitable. Do not feel guilty about eliminating the enemy! I like what someone else wrote and have recopied it below.


Mann Bracken has a weakness-their lawyers. Refuse to deal with their collection agents. These people make $5 an hour if they're lucky and the rest is commission.

You will find a current list of the REAL Mann Bracken attorneys at johnpfryedebtlawyer.blogspot.com. Contact one of them and tell them to work things out.

If the lawyer you talk to does not, file a Bar complaint. You will want to file against them in Georgia, your state, and the state of the Mann Bracken office that contacted you.

A couple of Mann Bracken lawyers have been disciplined, and Branton could lose his law license at this rate!

Good Luck!

Mann Bracken received a summary disposition against me in Michigan, even though I disputed their right to collect the debt. The original debt was to Washington Mutual. The law suit was initiated by Mann Bracken on behalf of Palisades Collection, LLC. I understand that Mann Bracken/Wolpoff & Abramson/Palisades Collection are now all one entity. The judge did not support my demand that the debt had to be validated (I should say he did not really give me the opportunity to argue the point). Is Mann Bracken licensed in Michigan? If they are not , is there anything I can do?

Mann Bracken has noting, they buy the debt. Here is wat one person did, send a DV to NAF directly, CMRR, requesting a full accounting of the debt as per the FDCPA from account balance 0 to present $$$. State as they are being used in the debt collection process as a collection agent they are bound by the FDCPA. This make 'em nervous. Also state that you will
file formal charges against any attorney from the NAF used in this collection and will file a Bar complaint with a complaint against the State AG.

See, NAF operates under an umbrella of being lowkey. They can and will be liable if you know how to press this issue.