Need Advice on Arbitration

What is the name of your state? TX

I got into trouble with a dept settlement company. I was not so smart trusting them to take care of my debt. Anyway the result has been an arbitration filed against me by collection lawyers for a loan from NBNA.
(Wolpoff & Abramson, law firm) The first set of arbitration papers were served in July. I still received letters from the law firm asking for me to call to arrange a payment plan or settlement. I did so, but found out the payments were much more than I could afford, and the settlemnt was more than the original loan. Then I started getting letters from National Arbitration Forum saying that a hearing would be held. According to the last letter it was to be no later than Oct. 27th. I have offered this law firm a settlement equalling half the debt, it's all the money I have to my name they have refused my offer, and I haven't heard anything else from the National Arbitration Forum. What should I expect now? Is there anything I can do at this point?
Any advice would help.

[olgethorpe]

W&A and the National Arbitration Forum are pretty much a "kangaroo court" set up by MBNA to circumvent consumer rights. You can read an indepth discussion of these guys at:

[url]http://www.debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16946[/url]

in the [url]www.creditinfocenter.com[/url] forums. There are also some other several other threads about these guys on that site.

Basically, what's probably going to happen is that W&A will win their arbitration with NAF and then try to beat you up with it to pay them. The truth is that the arbitration award doesn't have much legal standing, and they really need to turn it into a judgement before it can be enforced.

Good luck...fight back...

As you had said before....Got a letter from the National Arbitration Forum saying they have granted W & A almost $16,000.00. I had sent a letter or refusal to them as advised but was to late. Now I don't know what to do next. What happens next? Is there any chance of a settlement with Wolpoff & Abramson? I have not contacted W & A yet as the letter says to do. I just got it yesterday. What will they do to me if I can't give them the full amount all at once?

[olgethorpe]

I'd suggest you go read the other link I gave you. It has more info on this whole process.

Basically, the arbitration award isn't worth anything until its turned into a judgement in a court of law. Treat W&A just like you would any collection agency. While the "arbitration clause" MBNA snuck into the terms and conditions (maybe without your knowledge) does say that disputes will be settled by NAF, they cannot remove your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You can still fight them....DO NOT CALL W&A...do everything in writing, so that you will have a paper trail should you wind up in court.

If they do take you to court, show up! Be prepared to defend yourself!

Texas,

I just receievd a letter from another Law firm/Collection Agency regarding a CITI credit card. When I found out no payments were being made on any of my accounts by the CCS I was using, I cancelled with them and started sending $50 a month to my CITI account. I was just making copies of an old bill and requesting a current statement from them with each payment. They have deposited all checks that I have sent. I received a thretening letter from this CA saying that I needed to contact them and no mention of the payments. Should I request validation from them and and deal with them now? Or should I keep sending money to Citi?
Confused!

[olgethorpe]

Well, its hard to tell about the money you've been sending to Citi. The old wive's tale about "send them something, and they'll leave you alone" doesn't really work anymore. I guess I'd suggest you first check your credit reports and see how Citi is reporting this. You should certainly DV the CA (CMRRR of course) and see what you get back, if anything. The only reason you'd have for contacting Citi is if you had the money to pay them in full. They're unlikely to negoatiate with you, although some CC do have a "hardship" progarm whereby they'll reduce your payments and interest rate for 6 months to a year. The only problem with those is that they will expect you to resume massive payments after that time.

You need to consider all of this in light of everything you owe, and build a plan from there.