I got the word a few days ago that gigantic debt collection law firm Mann Bracken was going under. Atlanta consumer lawyer Tim Cook says Mann Bracken’s lawyers are out of work and the phones are instructing callers to contact their creditors. Could it be?
It could. Mann Bracken has been under fire in Georgia, and its parent company, Axiant, took a big hit when the Minnesota Attorney General forced the National Arbitration Forum to stop handling consumer arbitrations. That is a lot of weight to carry, and I am not surprised to find out that Mann Bracken is the next casualty of the Axiant love triangle.
From the comments, here is my best advice if you had a debt with Mann Bracken:
Mann Bracken is a debt collection law firm. As far as I know, Mann Bracken does not purchase debts, it just collects debts that belong to its clients.
If Mann Bracken goes bankrupt, its clients do not lose the right to collect their debts, they just have to find another debt collector to do it.
If you had a debt with Mann Bracken, you should probably start by contacting the creditor. If you had reached a settlement with Mann Bracken, find out whether the creditor intends to honor that settlement. (Note: Making payments is not necessarily the same thing as settling your debt. A creditor must credit your account for any payments you make, regardless whether you have reached some kind of settlement.)
If you are in Minnesota, contact The Glover Law Firm, LLC, for a free case evaluation. In any other state, you can find a consumer rights lawyer using the National Association of Consumer Advocates lawyer database.
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I was on a MB payment plan for a MBNA account and like some of you my payment was not taken out for December. I called Bank of America (who now manages the MBNA account) and was told that the terms I made with MB will stay the same, but I will be making them to a different agency. They did not know who the new agency would be and said I would be contacted about setting up the payments witht he new group. They were aware of the situation and assured me that the payment not being taken out in December would not affect the payment plan I was on. Calling your creditor is right move.
They can contact me as all you get is passed around because no one ever seems to know anything. If they do, hope they do not hassle me as I have
a settlement amount in writing from MB which was $5172 of a $8388 which of
$1300 was fees and have paid all but $86 and have all receipts saying all the payments I made to them.
Guess they will have to contact me and hopefully, they dont hassle me as I have an amount from MB for a settlement in writing for $5172 from $8388 and $1300 of that was fees and have paid all but $86 and have all receipts where I made the payments over the last 5 months. Also, I have no numbers for direct merchants bank.
Dont have any numbers for direct merchant bank so guess they will have to contact me
I am so glad I read these comments because I was wondering why my payment for MB was never deducted from my account this past December. I was worried because I had reached a settlement with them as well. Like jell, I do noot have any numbers for my ssears direct merchants, guess they will have to contact me!
Mann Bracken is out of business but it still exists.
This week I am going to file lawsuits in Fairfax against Mann Bracken through their registered agent (serve them by the Secretary of the Commonwealth) and likewise against Chris Bracken at his home office in Atlanta.
Now I see why my attorney held the settlement check for over a week before disbursing funds to me. Guess it was a good thing we accepted their settlement offer when we did.
That may be part of it. Attorneys usually hold settlement checks for about 10 days to make sure they clear. Some states’ ethics rules require it, so as not to endanger other clients’ funds held in the same trust account.
Mann, Bracken has indeed gone out of business. I practice in Atlanta where MB is based and the State Bar directory shows new business addresses for the lawyers, and earlier this year a local TV station filed a report confirming Mann, Bracken’s demise. I posted a link to the TV station’s report on my blog at http://bit.ly/mbkaput.
Just thought I’d post an update. I had originally been paying an original creditor through Mann-Bracken and today I received a letter from the OC telling me to deal with Forster and Garbus.
I will be sending them a letter via CMRRR to make sure the new firm will continue to honor the court agreement I had settled with the OC. Of course, I still have copies of all of the paperwork, including records of all my payments.
We had some interesting run-ins with Mann Bracken here in PA as well; sinking ship…
I’ve been making payment to Mann Bracken for (over 3yrs on a 5 yr plan) and Dec Payment didn’t go through. Now another law firm is calling for the bal. They are telling me to settle now or further actions will be taken. Do I settle? or may arrangements? Is there anyone to talk to about this?
Jo: Have you contacted the original creditor?
so i got contacted by my new collector, zwicker and associates which has an entirely wrong balance of 400 bucks which with mann bracking it was at 333…..so i had made payment arrangements….yesterday i tried calling the girl i am supposed to be working with at someone else said she isnt at work but theyd take my payment…they effin told me it had now accrued interest and was 600 freaking flippin bucks?!?!?!?!?!?!? what the H do i do now? can i dispute this? i received a letter with them stating my balance was at the 400 balance….pls. let me know whatever you can! im so hot right now…:(
Who was Mann Bracken and Axiant collecting for???
Many creditors.
I received a letter from an attorneys office here in Houston yesterday, called them and that is when I found out about MB. My problem is, they say they have the December payment, will honor everything, but why am I just now being notified? Also, my January payment (via check from the bank) hasn’t been returned to my bank, and my February payment has already gone out, to MB in North Carolina. So where is everything going that is being mailed to MB??? I am not going to put 2 stop payments of 2 checks. UGH!
I had mailed the December payment to their office in North Carolina.I sent that certified mail.I never did get a receipt or anything like that from them.Since I had misplaced the stub since i do not believe in paying by check to these collection agencies I have to fill out some form to Moneygram.it just makes me wonder that if they knew that this was happening to them,why didn’t they notify us?And will everyone who didn’t get receipts from them as well get anything back?Also I had been making those payments because of some settlement agreement they offered me when they were Wolpoff &Abramson.So also what do I do if their client orders another collection agency after me?Please advise.
I was wondering why my payments hadnt been debited for Dec. and Jan. and now Feb. and tried calling MB today and was told the # was disconnected then seen online they went bankrupt…and I was doing this because I had a law firm call today wanting money from me or they were taking me to court and said nothing to me about MB out of business and tried saying I owed them $3000 which was my original balance with MB and on my last thank you for your payment letter my balance owed was $1200 and they were not willing to work with me and were demanding the $3000 or they would settle for $2500….thats CRAP!! But when I mentioned I had looked on the internet and seen MB out of business and I have all my repiepts for all my payments with the balance owed and I WOULD fight this and mentioned the MN att. general then they said they would pull my file and research it and look at all the notes….so they pretty much tried to screw me and hadnt even looked into my file and were just trying to collect the original balance!! BIG HEADACHE!!!!! They are calling me back Monday with an amount they will take!
I can’t beleive this, this might be a blessing in disguise. They have been taking monies from me for many years, i’ve lost count, but will be getting all my bank records, ASAP, does anyone has the old number for MB, just wanted to call myself, I can also look in my huge bill box. Well! let’s keep posting..i made a deal with MB, maybe i could figth this.
I had an account with Mann Bracken for my FIA/Bank of America account.
Yesterday I received a letter from the Stillman Law Offices located in West Bloomfield MI, stating that the matter has been recalled from Mann Bracken from the creditor and not to send any future payments to Mann Bracken. Stillman states for me to call them to reset any such arrangement that I had with Mann Bracken. I called Credit Solutions (they are handling my case) and they are trying to reach a settlement with them on my behalf.
You have to contact your creditor. I had 2 bank of america accounts with MB and both accounts was settle and the payment was took from MB. However, they didn’t report to credit breua that my accounts was settle by the full balance. So I called the BofA and the account manager told me to fax everything including the settlement letters from MB to investigate. I’m still waiting the result. MB is the messed. Does anyone have the same problem or same situation here?
I had made payments through MB for a $3600 debt from 8 yrs ago. I now have no clue who to contact to find out where it’s been sent. No one has sent me any notice via mail re: the amount owed.
Any advice on how to find out where my debt is?
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