City Marshall

[gny]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? New York State Manhattan

Hey,

Back in June I received a voice mail from Mel s. Harris and Associates, LLC about past due dept. After that I called them back and tried to discuss settlement. Few days after initial conversation, I made several contacts with that office. We were negotiating a settlement. In mean time I received a letter from City Marshal (dated July 7, 2005) stating that I have to make payments to them for that account or otherwise they will take money from my paycheck. So I started to make payments every two weeks – and everything was OK until today. Today was my payday so I went to the bank to get money order so I can mail it out to City Marshal and I learned that my bank account was placed on HOLD by Mel s. Harris and Associates, LLC. After that I called City Marshall to verify that they got all my payments and they said that they did. City Marshall referred me back to Mel s. Harris and Associates, LLC. I learned that in this same time when I was making payments to City Marshall they made separate action to recover the dept. – Is that what they should do? Is that against Law? I have direct deposit from my job and I relay on those funds to pay for rent food and City Marshall payments
- and that’s my only income which I have. Currently Mel s. Harris and Associates, LLC in order to release my account took 500 dollars and 100 dollars fee.

On top of it City Marshall is requesting to make another payment to them. I explain the situation and they don’t care whatsoever that my bank account is frozen by Mel s. Harris and Associates, LLC and I don’t have funds to make payment this week.

As a conclusion City Marshall and Mel s. Harris and Associates, LLC are located in this same office. They using this same computer system and share staff and phones – Is that legal?

So my questions are:
1) Can Mel s. Harris and Associates, LLC and City Marshall take separate actions against me?
2) Is it legal what they did?
3) Who is overseeing city marshals?
4) Can sue them for misleading me?


Thanks a lot for all your help,

G from NY

[lauren0309]

I can't answer your questions, but I too are from NY and have my bank account on hold also from Mel S. Harris from MKM Acquisitions. I too got a letter from a Marshall at 116 John Street. They are located at the same address.

[lauren0309]

Continuation - The letter I got from the Marhsall also told me to send them money otherwise they will garnish my paychecks. The letter didnt seem authentic to me so I ignored it and didnt send them any money. Everything was okay for 2 years and now Mel S. Harris has frozen my bank account. I have an atty. working on it right now to make a settlement so we can unfreeze my accounts and get a satisfaction of judgment so no further action can be taken after we settle.

[gny]

I think they running some sort of scam. I'm trying to get in touch with them without any luck. I admit I screwed up by not paying my CC but i think there is something wrong with it. City Marshall should not be affilated with Law Firm

[lauren0309]

Let me know if you find anything out. I found out some wierd things about this company also that doesnt seem right.

[gny]

Okay I will - what did you learned about them?

[lauren0309]

First of all when I first received a letter from Mr. Harris in 1988 the signature (I saved all my papers) on them is completely different from the signature as of now. Totally different. I know a signature can change over the years, but this is a totally different signature. Secondly, when I was first served a summons to go to court it was from a totally different law firm and the summons was not served to me properly. It was sent regular mail to an address where I no longer lived, so how did they know I ever received it and also it was filed in the wrong county. My lawyer said right now that the judgment against me is not even valid since I didnt live in the county where the judgment was taken out. So if its not valid how can they freeze my bank accounts? Also Mr. Harris had bought my acccount from a different law firm and I was not notified till 8 years later from him that a judgment had been filed against me. I had obtained a lawyer in September to try to get in touch with them so we can settle this but they never returned any of my lawyers phone calls or correspondence. They seem to be avoiding us. If they want the money why not call back to try to settle? I just hired another lawyer who is also trying to get in touch with this Mr. Harris. I dont know what kind of business they run. If you want to read an interesting article about collection agencies, who are called bottom feeders and scavengers and who buy debts for pennies to make money, go to to budhibbs.com MKM Acquisitions is on the list and there is a 10 page report about these collection agencies and all the illegal things they do.

[lauren0309]

I also forgot to mention that Mel Harris claims I have a judgment against me, yet it does not show up on any of my credit reports. Odd? My lawyer thinks so too.

[natalieqg]

Hey g the funny thing is that my mother is having the same problem You are having with mel s harris they froze her bank account and she has so many bills to pay so when i came home today i called and i explaine what happen and they tell me to call a diffrent number then i call the marshell`s office and they start playing games and they tell me to call mes s harris then i call and there people tell me to call back the marshell and its the same thing i feel like am calling the same offices and the same people.The funny thing is they didnt even let my mom know she had this debt intell march 05 and i told them how could u not inform someone that they have all this debt like laurane said that they send her this summones they send my mom the same thing. Then i told them Why dont they call Why do they add all this money up i dont get it they want my mother to pay 5,600 but shes on disabily rite now am really concerned beacuse my mom has this debt we dont know what to do if u have any ?s plz answer back am glad i found people that can relate to this

[JohnC]

Originally Posted by natalieqg

Hey g the funny thing is that my mother is having the same problem You are having with mel s harris they froze her bank account and she has so many bills to pay so when i came home today i called and i explaine what happen and they tell me to call a diffrent number then i call the marshell`s office and they start playing games and they tell me to call mes s harris then i call and there people tell me to call back the marshell and its the same thing i feel like am calling the same offices and the same people.The funny thing is they didnt even let my mom know she had this debt intell march 05 and i told them how could u not inform someone that they have all this debt like laurane said that they send her this summones they send my mom the same thing. Then i told them Why dont they call Why do they add all this money up i dont get it they want my mother to pay 5,600 but shes on disabily rite now am really concerned beacuse my mom has this debt we dont know what to do if u have any ?s plz answer back am glad i found people that can relate to this

I also am having problems with these crooks. What you need to do is complain to the AG office, Consumer Fraud office and file a complaint with the court to get the judgement vacanted since Disability is excempt in New York. Keep all papers received from mel Harris for later use.

[CBF26]

My fiance was dealing with a collection agency out of New York a while ago (not the same company). After dealing with them, I was told to contact the State of New York Attorney Grievance Committees, and they helped a lot.

[spmlawyer]

I am an attorney beginning to investigate a matter involving this firm. Based upon a preliminary review, there is much to explore here as to whether or not they complied with federal and state laws regarding collections, abused process, etc. Judgements can usually be opened within one year of entry in New York so if any NY posters wish to convey their experience or any reactions from the Grievance Committee, the Attorney General's Office, the Department of Consumer Affairs or other government bodies, please email me at [email]spmlawyer@rcn.com[/email]. Thanks to all.