Frederick J. Hanna Watch

Frederick J. Hanna Sued For Attempting To Collect Debt Already Paid

2011-11-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

Mr. Hanna claims not to know the meaning of the word subterfuge; it should have been his middle name…

November 23, 2011: A St. Clair County man accuses several banks and collection agencies of improperly attempting to collect a debt.

Roger Benson filed a lawsuit Nov. 16 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against LVNV Funding LLC, Resurgent Capital Services LP and Chase Bank USA. United Collection Bureau Inc., Frederick J. Hanna & Associates PC and Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Company LPA are also named as defendants.

The suit seeks a judgement of more than $1.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages plus court costs.

Benson says he was living in Arkansas in November 2008 when he reached a settlement agreement on a debt with Chase Bank. The payment was made by money order and endorsed by the bank, allegedly satisfying the debt on the account.

In June 2009, Benson says he started receiving several demand letters after moving to Illinois. He says the notices from United Collection Bureau demanded he pay $4,700 on the previously-settled account. In August 2009 Benson claims he wrote the company asking for validation of the debt, which he says he never received.

In October 2009, Benson says Frederick J. Hanna & Associates sent him a demand letter for the same amount on the same account. Again, Benson claims he asked for validation and verification of the amount owed, which he allegedly never received. Two years later Weltman, Weinberg & Reis allegedly sent Benson a demand letter for the same Chase Bank debt which was now held by LVNV Funding.

Benson claims the defendants violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Illinois' Collection Agency Act by not providing validation of the debt, repeatedly demanding payment on an account that had been settled and transferring collection activities to new debt agencies. He also accuses the companies of consumer fraud.

Attorney David M. Duree of O'Fallon is representing Benson. They ask for a jury trial.

Frederick J. Hanna: Rated D- By The Better Business Bureau!

2011-10-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Frederick J. Hanna and Associates of 1427 Roswell Road, Marietta, GA 30062 has a BBB rating of D- ("d minus").

Hanna is one of the most egregious violators of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

No More Arbitration Awards for Frederick J. Hanna!

2011-09-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

September 13, 2011: The Bank of America is trying put to rest some lingering consequences of its credit card subsidiary’s decision to use National Arbitration Forum, Inc. to settle disputed consumer credit card debt claims. The nation’s largest bank agreed this week to settle an arbitration lawsuit filed by the City of San Francisco that accused FIA Credit Services (aka FIA Card Services) of unfair and unlawful business practices.

FIA Card Services agreed to pay the city $5 million and not arbitrate any consumer credit card collections in California for two years. The credit card issuer also will not enforce any of NAF’s arbitration awards that have not been confirmed by a judge or collect attorney fees on those awards that have been confirmed, said Christine Van Aken, deputy attorney for the City of San Francisco.

The latter two provisions could still impact the debt collection industry. Aken said the San Francisco attorney’s office believes there are still some unconfirmed NAF awards to Bank of America out there.

“We don’t know how many, but we believe there are still some unconfirmed awards,” she said.

If some debt buyers or collection agencies have NAF awarded accounts that have not been confirmed by a judge, they may be considered invalid. However, Fred Hanna of Frederick J. Hanna & Associates PC in Marietta, Ga. said he doesn’t believe there are any remaining credit card arbitration awards that have not been affirmed by a court.

“In my opinion they have either dismissed all arbitrations or reduced the arbitration to a judgment over three years ago. I just don’t think there is anything pending out there for the major banks or debt buyers,” Hanna said.

Kaulkin Ginsberg Analyst Mark Russell said many debt buyers, nonetheless, are being proactive in trying to ferret out any potential NAF awards that may be among the major banks’ credit card debt portfolios for sale in their due diligence.

“I do know that a lot of debt buyers get concerned with buying portfolios that have any legal accounts that were worked on by NAF because those judgments may become invalid,” Russell said.

Aken said the settlement doesn’t void the debt, so it can be pursued in court. But the agreement does call for debt buyers or collection agencies that are still collecting on NAF awarded and court confirmed debt to remove the attorney fees that were included in the balances. The agreement applies to open accounts, so any attorneys’ fees that have been collected on those accounts must be returned.

Aken said the City of San Francisco fought for the refund because NAF tacked on attorney fees of 25 percent of the principal when it issued the awards. She called the fees excessive because the paperwork was “boilerplate documents” generated by a database that contained electronic signatures.

“In some cases the fees were thousands of dollars,” she said.

Bank of America was one of several major banks accused of participating in an NAF arbitration system that was rigged in its favor in credit card debt disputes with consumers. After the Minnesota Attorney General filed a lawsuit against NAF accusing it of misleading the public into believing it was an independent arbitration company, while at the same time working against the interests of consumers, NAF agreed to stop mediating consumer debt collection disputes and terminated its consumer-arbitration business.

NAF’s decision, in the wake of numerous lawsuits against it, marked the beginning of the end of most arbitration in consumer credit debt-collection disputes as American Arbitration Association, the industry’s second largest arbitration firm, also shut down its consumer debt division.

Aken said the San Francisco City Attorney continues to pursue its case against NAF to keep it from ever doing any consumer related arbitration cases in California. She didn’t know if the city will continue to pursue claims against other banks that used NAF to arbitrate consumer debt disagreements.

“I can’t say if we’re finished with this issue. I just don’t know,” she said.

EEOC v Hanna

2011-01-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

In 2008, The EEOC brought a case against Frederick J. Hanna to correct unlawful employment practices on the basis of sex and pregnancy and to provide appropriate relief to Erin Marshall who was adversely affected by such practices.

The plaintiff (Erin Marshall) alleges that following her announcement that she was pregnant, she was subjected to unlawful discrimination by being terminated from her position with Frederick J. Hanna due to her sex, female, and pregnancy status, in violation of U.S. law.

Not a surprise, given Frederick J. Hanna's repeated displays of ignorance and disregard for the law.

As usual, Frederick J. Hanna settled this case out of court, fearing the implications of a public trial.

Frederick J. Hanna DISPLAYS HIS IGNORANCE

2010-12-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

Frederick J. Hanna, like many unscrupulous debt collectors, will call neighbors.

An angry neighbor complained to Hanna, claiming that Hanna was harassing a minor child by insisting that they "run an errand" to the supposed debtor.

The neighbor accused Hanna of subterfuge. There was a bit of silence, and Hanna asked "what does that mean". The neighbor told Hanna it was Hanna's mother's name, and that Hanna should look it up.

Apart from making Hanna look stupid, there's a message here. Frederick J. Hanna does NOT have his act together. Send him a debt validation letter. He will probably go away. If he takes you to court, meet him there, you will probably win.

Frederick J. Hanna: Evangelical Debt Collector?

2010-05-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

Frederick J. Hanna is well known to Georgia authorities for the large volume of complaints generated by his debt collection operation.

In addition to violations of collection laws, other complaints about Hanna deal with health and safety issues as well as his failure to pay overtime.

Hanna has at least two addresses listed in Marietta, GA: 3085 Johnson Ferry and 4246 Shallowford. A check of Cobb County records shows that these are owned by something called The True Vine Experience Foundation.

Will Fred Hanna become the latest entry in a long line of evangelical scandals?

Profile: Frederick J. Hanna

2009-05-08T17:41:00.000-07:00

Frederick J Hanna & Assoc.
1427 Roswell Road Marietta, GA 30062
Phone: 770-988-9055 Fax: 770-988-8285

http://www.hannalawoffice.com/

They collect for Chase and Bank of America. They are among the worst of the worst.

Our advice: do NOT talk to them. Do EVERYTHING in writing!