I’m not a fan of “Big Government”. I believe in capitalism, self-reliance, personal responsibility and that everyone needs to carry their own weight. That being said, there are instances that arise where Government intervention is not only necessary, but needed in order to stop greed and consumer fraud. One of those instances is the Banking and Credit industry.

Yesterday, the first phase of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act went into effect. Credit card companies are notorious for holding payments until after the due date, jacking up interest rates, and changing terms and conditions without much written notice at all. If you’re unfortunate enough to have just one of these creditors “hold your payment” until after the due date, it starts a snowball effect where the rest of the creditors follow suit in raising rates. Before long, responsible consumers and users are in over their head with no feasible way out. I found the top five tricks used by credit card companies in this Fox 5 news report here that exposed their tactics.

Because this has been such a large problem affecting hundreds of thousands of consumers across the entire industry new legislation was signed back in May by President Obama. The first phase went into affect yesterday to protect consumers and keep the banks from pulling these underhanded stunts. (Video to the left) The second phase of the act will complete the reform in February 2010, preventing these tactics and placing the power back to the consumer.

While the new Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act has been big news this past year it’s only half the story of the injustice perpetrated by credit card companies and credit collectors. Creditors and collectors get even more brazen with even more consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, and false advertising when you attempt to stand up and fight the deplorable tactics now corrected by the new legislation.

In the past, one of the fist things that happens when you decide to dispute a charge, an interest rate, or one of the many fees is a letter from a credit collector, (in our case Mann Bracken) to submit your case to an “impartial, independent and neutral administrator of arbitration proceedings”. The mission of the NAF (National Arbitration Forum) is as follows:

“Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a more efficient, predictable and amicable way to resolve conflicts and achieve legal decisions without the expense and inconvenience of going to court.”

Ronda and I have personally experienced this process, but found the entire proceeding a complete sham. What ADR does is find in favor of the Defendant (the bank) 94% of the time. In addition 64% of all cases sent to the National Arbitration Forum were handled by the law firm of Mann Bracken.

As a result, all of our disputes ended up in court anyway, (because we opposed the decision made by the NAF) and Mann Bracken was able to use the judgments handed down by the NAF to place a court order and judgment of “payment in full” in some cases. To make matters even worse, and show the desperation of the banks, who know changes are coming, Mann Bracken used one of the judgments against Ronda to garnish our joint bank account in an attempt to collect the payment in full.

No warning, no notice, just gone.

Ronda and I were able to file a “traverse” to keep the money out of the hands of Mann Bracken while we fought this hideous stunt in the courts. As a result, the court granted a 60 day continuance in order to settle the dispute. While Mann Bracken agreed in front of the courts, when negotiations again proceeded, nothing less than payment in full, including thousands of dollars more in interest, fees and court expenses would suffice.

Because of the deplorable behavior of Mann Bracken, our legal counsel advised that Ronda file for bankruptcy in order to protect our assets. Therefore, on July 14th, Ronda filed for bankruptcy, unaware of what was going on the very same day up in Minnesota.

On July 14, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a complaint against the National Arbitration Forum, alleging that it had concealed financial ties to Mann Bracken and worked behind the scenes with creditors against the interests of both Ronda and I.

From The Wisconsin Law Journal

The complaint mapped out a “complex web” which boiled down to a cozy financial relationship: the arbitration services of NAF and sister organizations as well as the debt collection services of the law firm Mann Bracken and other companies have all been owned by the same New York hedge fund since 2007.

The complaint alleged that the NAF violated state consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false advertising statutes through “complex and opaque corporate structuring” that concealed its financial ties and represented itself as a neutral party.

“The ability of a class action litigant to get all of these other court cases undone is limited because of comity. Definitely a federal court will not be able to tell state courts to set aside judgments,” said Rubin, who hopes that other state attorneys general or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will step in and order that profits be disgorged.

As a member of YTB, I’m fully aware of complaints filed by Attorney Generals with allegations of consumer fraud and deceptive trade practices. While YTB fought the unfounded and meritless accusations eventually settling the dispute a year later, what do you think big business did when allegations of the same were placed on them?

They folded like a wet noodle.

Five days later, NAF agreed as part of a consent decree that it would cease consumer debt arbitration by July 24.

The ink was barely dry on the settlement when the American Arbitration Association announced on July 22 that it too would be getting out of debt collection arbitration until it can develop standards of practice.

As a result, when the continuance for the traverse came up on the court calendar to oppose the garnishment, Mann Bracken didn’t even show up. The case was dismissed, we got our money back, and our joint bank account was restored.

Unfortunately, because papers and proceedings for bankruptcy were already filed, Ronda may be living with the stain of this gross injustice for years to come. I say may because of what has transpired and the fraud committed against thousands of consumers, the entire proceeding may be able to be expunged. (Not guaranteed, but possible.)

In the meantime, the one last account I have with Bank of America (FIA Card Services) which also has a judgment against me via the NAF and Mann Bracken is still pending. I haven’t decided or been advised as yet how hard I can squeeze to retaliate against this deplorable and fraudulent company. Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin in Chicago, has already filed the first class action against MBNA/FIA and Mann Bracken, exposing it’s financial ties to the NAF. If successful, it will aside thousands of arbitration awards and judgments entered against Illinois consumers since 2007.

I will also be filing a complaint with the Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs and the FTC against Mann Bracken. The state of Georgia is also suing Mann Bracken for FDCPA and for violations of the Georgia Business Practices Act.

I’m fully aware of the bizarre comments and speculation about our personal finances out there on the internet right now. I didn’t feel it necessary to react to a bunch of shallow halfwits who have once again proven how delusional, vindictive, and ignorant they really are.

I was talking with Candi May earlier in the week and she gave me a very interesting quote:

If facts are are on your side discuss the facts. If you don’t have facts plead the law. And if you don’t have the law, drag a dead cat into the room.

Because critics can’t fight the facts about YTB they deflect with personal attacks. One month ago a District Court not only threw out, but severely spanked the perpetrators of a hideous class action lawsuit filed against YTB International. The Judge called the entire document redundant, immaterial, impertinent, and scandalous. Their false illusions of a scam also been compounded with the settlement in California, and the Convention held earlier in the month. In addition, they are now facing the best compensation package available in the travel industry.

Because these punks can’t argue the facts and findings found here, they’ve resorted to these types of personal attacks and finger pointing to discredit or make me simply “go away”. (Cha…RRRRIGHT!)

For the record: The nameless and faceless punks who have been vilifying my wife and family over the internet about this situation owe her an apology. Unfortunately, when you lack class, morals, ethics, and judgment cowards never man up and do what’s right or respectable.

In other words, don’t count on it.

Me…I got what I wanted and that’s exposing a true scam, and telling the truth. Something critics know nothing about.

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Tags: Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, Mann Bracken, National Arbitration Forum

This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Blogging, Critics, Home Based Business, MLM, Network Marketing, Personal Developement, Personal Responsibility, Scam, Scam.com, Travel MLM, YTB, YTB Illinois Class Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.