National Arbitration Forum-After Confirmation

[snoman725]

Hello All,

Today we received an "Award Letter" from the National Arbitration Forum in favor of FIA Card Services, represented by Mann-Bracken, in the amount of $6,000. We filed Chapter 13 in April, had our 341 in June, no objections, confirmed on July 5, and the deadline for claims was August 28. Is what the NAF legal? We are stressing out because we are playing by the rules and feel like FIA and Mann-Bracken are not! Any suggestions. Thank you.

[arkienurse]

Hello All,

Today we received an "Award Letter" from the National Arbitration Forum in favor of FIA Card Services, represented by Mann-Bracken, in the amount of $6,000. We filed Chapter 13 in April, had our 341 in June, no objections, confirmed on July 5, and the deadline for claims was August 28. Is what the NAF legal? We are stressing out because we are playing by the rules and feel like FIA and Mann-Bracken are not! Any suggestions. Thank you.

Were they included in your list of creditors? And di dyour lawyer know they were arbitrating this debt? Definitely contact your lawyer ASAP and ask them. Looks to me though, if they were included in your creditor list and didn't file a claim, they are SOL.
Course I am not a lawyer you know.

[wooisme]

yes, i had one that was awarded to mann bracken for $12k AND it was awarded BEFORE I declared chapter 13........that's one of the reason why i had to declare it. I listed as one of my debts and it was fine

[snoman725]

Yes they were listed in the original bankruptcy paperwork. And no, the debt was not in arbitration at the time of our filing. According NAF's paperwork, the original arbitration request was filed by Mann-Bracken on June 28. One month after our filing and one week after our 341. They also appear in our 13datacenter as a claim. Thanks for the help thus far.

[lrprn]

Yes they were listed in the original bankruptcy paperwork. And no, the debt was not in arbitration at the time of our filing. According NAF's paperwork, the original arbitration request was filed by Mann-Bracken on June 28. One month after our filing and one week after our 341. They also appear in our 13datacenter as a claim. Thanks for the help thus far.

Since MannBracken started the arbitration after you filed, they have violated the automatic stay. Notify your lawyer immediately so he/she can challenge this right away!

[wooisme]

you need to tell your lawyer this and if you don't have a lawyer handling it you need to contact mann bracken and tell them you filed chapter 13 and your plan was confirmed and that they were listed on the bankruptcy....

it's not a big deal, again, they won an award against me, then i declared chapter 13 one week before they were going to take me to court to get the award turned into a judgement and the bankrupcty stopped that immediately

but it's mann bracken that needs to be notified and your lawyer should do this if you have one.

[snoman725]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I am contacting my lawyer first thing in the morning.

[Priceless ProSe]

Seems mann bracken likes to do this

I filed a chapter 7 (pro se) at the begginging of this month and on the 11th i recieved one of these arbitration packets from Mann Bracken. I actually spoke to them on the phone the day after I filed and gave them the case number. I can only assume they quickly ran out and filed for arbitration after hearing this, my account was only in collections for like a month. My questions are:
1) Why would they do this being that ive already filed for BK?
2) Is there any chance this will now survive the BK?
3) Do I need to now ammend my Schedule F to include this arbitration group?
4) What actions can I take (pro se) for violation of automatic stay? (OK im quite sure if I research that last one will be on the forum somewhere).

[Priceless ProSe]

Nevermind questions 2 and 3 as I found the answers elsewhere in the forum, It might be a good idea to make a post/sticky for arbitration (implications, etc.) as there are multiple posts on the same topic. When I have some free time from school perhaps I will finally make a contribution to the forum by doing this (making a descriptive post that is to say).

[wooisme]

who is the creditor...you need to make sure that you list all the creditors with all your account numbers...as long as you have the creditor with the account number on your list and yes i would name mann bracken as well on your list ( i did) you should be fine. if they did this to you after you filed bankruptcy then they are breaking the automatic stay...i would call your lawyer and discuss this a.s.a.p.

[Priceless ProSe]

Yeah i listen mann bracken as well as the original creditor. From what I have read arbitration means nothing in of itself, it just makes it easy for them to get a judgement (assuming i wasnt going through bankruptcy). I do not have a lawyer and so i will probably not take any action for the violation, unless they started actually seeking judgement or trying to garnish my...wait I dont have a job! lol

[catalina2225]

The exact same thing happened to me with the same Mann-Bracken. I had an arbitration settled before filing for chapter 13 and I included them in my list of creditors. I received a letter in the mail after my confirmation that the abitration was awarded in favor of Mann/Bracken and MBNA for xxxamount of dollars. I contacted my lawyer and he had me fax him the letter and they took care of it and said not to worry that it was included in my creditor list of debts. I too hope it all works out after my discharge.

[kornellred]

It seems that Mann-Bracken is either woefully mismanaged or they pull confusing stunts on purpose to muddy the waters for debtors. Once you are confirmed in Chapter 13 there is nothing - absolutely nothing - a creditor can do to get money from you other than through the trustee. Provided, of course, that the creditor in question was properly listed in the BK. Debtors are not responsible for submission deadlines.
There are Chapter 13 post-discharge issues involving liability for debts that were shuffled around and this Mann-Bracken/arbitration nonsense may somehow tie into this conundrum.
Debtors have the law on their side.

[Priceless ProSe]

Just a quick update on Mann-Bracken and the NAF. I decided to fax NAF a copy of my BK notice, got a letter in them from the mail a few days later saying the whole thing is on hold pending the outcome of the BK. I know it wat a legal proceeding but im still glad it stopped, I want EVERYTHING to go my way in this BK, even if its meaningless.

[ssdsco]