Sunday, January 17th, 2010
A number of stories have recently appeared in bankruptcy and 
consumer rights blogs suggesting that the Atlanta based collection firm Mann, Bracken, LLC has gone out of business. On his Caveat Emptor blog, Minnesota bankruptcy attorney Sam Glover has written several posts about the Mann, Bracken firm including one on December 22, 2009 stating that the calls to the firm's phone number instructs callers to communicate directly with their creditors. I called several numbers listed for Mann, Bracken but the calls were answered by a message that "all circuits are busy, try your call again later."
Although based in Atlanta, Mann, Bracken has a national practice and it has apparently been growing by merging with other law firms. I found a web site called paymbw.com which purports to be a payment gateway for debtors to make electronic check or credit card payments on debts being handled by Mann, Bracken. This site notes that Mann, Bracken is the successor by merger to Wolpoff & Abramson L.L.P., and Eskanos & Adler P.C., two collection law firms well known to debtor's lawyers.
The domain mbllc.com has a "coming soon" page and the registration information for that domain is private. I looked up the contact information for the partners. Douglas Mann's shows him as an inactive lawyer affiliated with Mann, Bracken. Chris Bracken's registration shows a gmail.com email address, a business address at Mann, Bracken's location, but the space for the law firm information is blank. Two other partners – Bill Layng and Steve Knezo – are now affiliated with other law firms.
Atlanta TV station WSB sent a crew to the Mann, Bracken offices and found deserted premises along with handwritten placards stating that the firm has closed down. According to WSB, Mann, Bracken was associated with a large debt collector called Axiant, which is now in Chapter 7.
Based on all the information I can gather, the law firm of Mann, Bracken is no more. However the demise of this firm does not mean that debts owed to clients of Mann, Bracken or Axiant are no longer collectible. Apparently another large debt buyer/collector, NCO, has purchased or is about to purchase Axiant's accounts.
If you had a deal with Mann, Bracken to settle your debt, you may find that the underlying creditor or a subsequent collection agency may not honor your deal – so hold on to any paperwork you may have. As attorney Glover notes on his blog, you should contact your creditor directly if you have previously been dealing with Mann, Bracken.
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Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
How to Manage Debt Negotiations
A simple definition of the term of debt negotiation is any term or method used in order to help an individual to manage their debt. This includes services such as debt consolidation, debt negotiation, bankruptcy, personal loans and any other technique that helps consumers to address their debts. When speaking of debt negotiation is the term most commonly used the term debt consolidation. The idea of debt consolidation is as follows: An individual enters the program, and this allows your monthly payments and interest rates fall, gathering all your debts into one. Then once a month every individual makes a monthly payment to the consolidator company who is paid to the various banks in which the person owes money. The theory behind this is that the customer pays less interest rate, while simplifying the payment process, since not only must pay to a company.
But consolidation also has its cons. Typically the program lasts 5 years, and although the person is paying lower interest rates, the long duration of the program means that the client pays a lot of interest throughout the program. Consolidation companies also charge a monthly commission of $ 30 - $ 50 and increases that add up over time. And the biggest problem is the quality of some companies to consolidate a large number of unscrupulous companies that do not meet the promises they make to their customers. Finally, participation in these programs may have negative effects on your credit score can not be repaired until you complete the program.
Another way of eliminating debts is very popular option of negotiating debts. This practice involves negotiating and reaching agreement with the lending companies. Sometimes lenders agree to receive 40 - 50% of the value of debt elimination. This option may also have problems when dealing with company’s eliminator unscrupulous debt charges as high gain and produce little abuse. How debt consolidation can also affect your credit score, but since this program only lasts 2 to 3 years can be rebuilt more quickly. Debt negotiation can be a very effective way to end your problems, if individuals choose good company with which to work.
There are numerous methods included in the definition of negotiation or debt elimination, which includes filing for bankruptcy, refinancing, mortgage, acquire a consolidation loan, etc.. But the most important thing to remember is to put in a balance the advantages and disadvantages of each option very well. Make sure you choose a program and a company that fits your needs and meets their expectations.
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consumer rights blogs suggesting that the Atlanta based collection firm Mann, Bracken, LLC has gone out of business. On his Caveat Emptor blog, Minnesota bankruptcy attorney Sam Glover has written several posts about the Mann, Bracken firm including one on December 22, 2009 stating that the calls to the firm's phone number instructs callers to communicate directly with their creditors. I called several numbers listed for Mann, Bracken but the calls were answered by a message that "all circuits are busy, try your call again later."
