Short answer
Arrow Financial Services closed up shop. The Resurgent Capital Management, Sherman and LVNV brand picked up a good portion of the Arrow debt portfolio. If you are trying to resolve or settle an old Arrow account or judgment, start with LVNV customer service at 888-665-0374.
Key points on this page
- Arrow Financial Services was once a major buyer of charged off credit card debt, and one of its more aggressive collection methods was using the courts.
- There is little public information about who bought the Arrow portfolio, but the Resurgent, Sherman and LVNV brand is confirmed to have taken a good portion of it.
- To trace and resolve a former Arrow account, reach out to LVNV at 888-665-0374.
- Default judgments happen when a summons and complaint gets ignored, or when someone never knew they were being sued. Those judgments can then be collected on, or sold off to another debt buyer.
- The two situations that usually force this search are mortgage underwriting asking for old judgment debt to be resolved, and a home sale that needs clear title, including a short sale.
Arrow Financial Services was once a major player in buying up bad debts like charged off credit card bills. One of the more aggressive ways Arrow sought to collect on old unpaid credit card debts was to use the courts.
Debt buyers like AFS send some of the debts they buy up on the cheap to an attorney debt collection law firm. Arrow and other bad debt investors rely on the fact that 90% or so of people are not sure about how to deal with a debt collection lawsuit.
People get served a summons and complaint on an unpaid credit card bill and tend to put their head in the sand. What winds up happening when the lawsuit gets ignored, or where a person was not aware they were being sued (it happens), is a default judgment is entered. Those judgments can then be collected on, or even sold off to another debt buyer.
Arrow Financial closed up shop. Where did the debt go?
In just the last week I have gotten a couple of questions on and off line about how to find where Arrow Financial Services judgment debt has gone. In all cases the requests were related to:
- Someone trying to qualify for a mortgage and underwriting suggests they cannot approve a new loan, or the approval on a new loan will have an increased likelihood of success by settling old judgment debt.
- Someone trying to sell a home and satisfy or settle the judgment debt in order to pass clear title. Even if the home owner is trying for a short sale.
It is difficult to find much public information about who purchased the Arrow portfolio, or portions of it. According to a person I spoke with last week, they have a former arrow judgment account that they tracked to LVNV now owning.
LVNV is a Large Debt Collection Agency
LVNV is part of the Resurgent Capital Management and Sherman Acquisitions brand. I was able to confirm that Resurgent/Sherman/LVNV brand did pick up a “good portion” of the Arrow Financial Services debt portfolio.
If you are looking for how to resolve or settle Arrow Financial Services debts, start by reaching out to LVNV. You can reach them by calling their customer service at: 888-665-0374.
If you have any questions or concerns about resolving an old Arrow Financial Services debt with LVNV, or another debt collector, or having trouble finding who has your debt, post questions and comments in the comments below for feedback.
Hello Michael, Arrow Financial Services had a judgment against me in 2009 , I have since made effort to make payments on the debt but i stopped making payment on the judgment a little over a year ago due to unemployment but recently I’ve been trying to work on my credit and I’ve been trying to get in touch with them to no avail, please kindly advice how do i track the account and if i do can the balance on the account be re negotiated to the a lower payoff amount? Thank you. I reside in Texas.
Quincy – Have you contacted LVNV/Resurgent customer service number in the above article? I would start there and post a comment with what you find out. If they have it, you can settle direct with them.
Thank you Mr. Bovee, I’ve been told that I needed to try to have it removed. But we do have proof that it’s been paid on our credit report. There were some debt that has since been paid. I will relay all this info to my realtor. Thank you again.
i have a credit card debt that was sold to arrow financial, but i was told the company had closed so i kind of forgot about it and i never heard anything from anyone…i recently just got a letter in the mail saying that i have a judgement against me and they will be taking 10% off each check i get from my employer, i called and they said i couldn’t have a settlement at this point so i accepted it and 2 weeks later i get a call from my bank saying that all my accounts have been frozen and i now have a zero balance (one of my accounts is a joint account and that’s frozen too and its not even my money. what can i do??? any advice would be really appreciated
Gabby – Who is collecting? What is the name of the attorney debt collection firm pursing the garnishment and bank account levy. Answer that and lets go from there.
I was suedd by Arrow for a debt that wasn’t mine. They dropped the suit when I replied to the summons that it was not my debt. Now LVNV is using Northland Group to try to get me to pay the debt. What can I do to finally get this stopped and off of my credit?
Jeff – You are going to want to dispute this debt with Northland Group and LVNV. A simple letter outlining the circumstances sent certified mail return receipt to both should suffice. Part of that letter should demand that the debt be removed from your credit report. Do that first. If any collection efforts persist, or the account stays on your credit report after 60 days, post an update to this comment string and lets go from there.
My husband had a credit card and was taken to court for a judgment with Arrow Financial in 2009. He was then given documents for wage garnishment and total amount was taken from his employment checks. Paid in full in 2010. We have been trying to buy a home and it shows that there is a judgment under his credit, but my husband has had an extensive back ground check done by ICE and it shows on the Arrow Financial account that it has been paid as of 2010, but the judgment remains. I have sent letters with information that account has been paid to credit bureau and was sent a letter that it would stay until 2016. Need help in getting this corrected. I have tried contacting parties to no avail.
Michelle – If the Arrow Financial Services judgment is paid off, it does not lead to it being removed from the credit report. It should show as a satisfied judgment. Judgment debts have a 7 year shelf life from the date of entry in the court (as far as credit reporting goes).
A satisfied judgment would not necessarily hold you back from a home purchase after 3 years of it being paid off. Is there anything else on the credit reports weighing down the score or underwriting guidelines?
Hi Michael,
I am selling my house in florida and I find I have a judgement against me for 7,700 plus interest since oct 12 2006
I have been told by the title company that this needs to be settled on or before closing.
I have tried to find a contact for this and the law firm that handled the case no longer handles arrow financial and arrow financial numbers are all disconnected. I called resurgent capital and they told me to call centerpoint legal and their website is down and phone numbers are disconnected as well.
thanks for the advice
Rick
Sky – Centerpoint Legal may have folded into/changed into Frontline Asset Strategies: 651-621-2800. They can look up anything they have in their system when you call them.
Tracking down Arrow judgments has been an exercise in futility for many. Please update this thread with what you learn. Given you need to make progress on a transaction, you can pay the balance to the court to release so that you can close.
Hi Michael,
Thank you for this website and your help. I reached a payment agreement in court with Nelon and Kennard, representing Arrow Financial. I never missed a payment and was more than half way through my payment schedule. Nelson and Kennard returned my last check and stated that they have no further information, other than AFS has recalled my account. I’ve been calling every week to try and resolve this situation. After a month of leaving messages and speaking with multiple representatives , I received a call. Their rep on on the other end said they could not speak with me because I had an attorney on file.Needless to say my attorney has called and left messages to no avail.
Also Michael, I do not have a judgement against me, just a stipulation that states if I miss a payment a judgement may be filed. this is causing me much anxiety, as I am also in the middle of studying for the upcoming October LSAT.
Thanks again
SLK
Slk – There are a couple of other comment posts above where this same concern has been raised. Hopefully your attorney is able to get a response on this. How Arrow Financial Services recalled the account this late in the wind down is odd.
I would be interested in speaking with you and your attorney about your situation. If you are up to it, send an email reply to this comment notification and we can coordinate a time to connect.
Hi Michael,
Here is an update: my attorney spoke with Nelson and Kennard and they stated that arrow financial went toes up,that i may or may not receive something in the mail, and they are no longer handling the case and that they’d back me in regards to payments made and following the stipulation. I asked them prior to this if they had a judgement against me and they said no, it would be entered if i missed a payment etc, etc. the dismissal date is still on calendar for 2015 when I would have been paid in full. I was thinking that i should obtain a document showing that AFS went BK. I checked my credit report and it shows no collections, with a score of 733. in January I financed a new car with a 4% rate. What are your thoughts?
Thanks again,
SLK
Did Nelson and Kennard tell you Arrow Financial Services filed bankruptcy?
From what you shared, you are in the clear with any credit reporting damage from a judgment being entered as a result of having not made payments consistent with the Stipulation. I really do not see any danger area for you unless a legitimate purchaser of your judgment steps up. If that happens, please let me know on or offline.
I have a lien filed 10/2008 by arrow financial does that expire.
I live in pa.
Mark – What month in 2008 was the lien filed? It would need to be renewed to maintain priority at 5 years. That is this year.
10/7/2008
Keep an eye on it from now till then and see if it gets renewed. Please post an update to this comment string if that happens.I would REALLY like to follow up on whoever would have done that.
Do they have to file 90days before expiration?
Mark – I could not find a reference to filing 90 days before expiration here: https://www.pacode.com/secure/data/231/chapter3000/chap3000toc.html
I would think if that were required it would have been evident in that link. You should contact an attorney familiar with debt collection and liens in PA to make certain.
Michael,
I have a judgement from Arrow Financial from 2/1/2010 for $3,100 which I never new existed until a few weeks ago. Just received a letter from an Atty in Tucson AZ asking for $4.5K. The original business credit card last payment was in July 2007. As you know, AFS is out of business, can this atty collect on a judgement from 2010 & does he have to show proof the receivable was purchased??
Also, in Arizona SOL was 3 years but in 2012 they changed it to 6 years, so its NOT grandfathered where they can go back…correct?
This is from another atty that’s sueing me for a past business credit card?? I was just sent certified mail? He took over the case from an attorney where it was adjudicated 2x…with him refiling does that permit him to continue from the 3 year of SOL??
JR – There really is not a concrete SOL on judgment debt in Arizona. The judgment just has to be renewed on time.
I would really like to connect with you on the phone about this. I will help you in any way I can – no charge. I really want to get to the bottom of the fresh information you bring with this post. If you are open to it, email a reply back to the comment notification email you get. Those all come to me. We can connect after that.
I just want to thank you, although it’s been some time I called Steve and he assisted in resolving my issue with Resurgent/Arrow Financial.
Thank you
Mark
hi,
i work for a mortgage company, i have a borrower that has a judgement on title for arrow Financial Services. i understand they are no longer in business, the attorney involved aparently is also out of business. i tried the number above and its not a working number. do you know of any other way to get this judgement taken care of? it was paid off in a garnishment back in 2005.
Nicole – Can the borrower, or their employer, show through bank statement or records that the garnishment satisfied the judgment?
I am now getting fed up with trying to break into this brick wall that Arrow Financial carelessly handled! Certainly in this day and age, everything should be tracked. Can I and others file a lawsuit against Arrow for causing so much chaos? If they went bankrupt, where are the attorneys representing Arrow for the bankruptcy? Shouldn’t they have access to all files from Arrow? I am also at a point that I am going to start emailing news media about this problem… My attorney told me that this is a very unusual situation, because there is always somebody to pay. He was at a loss to tell me what kind of attorney I need. He told me that of course we could go before the judge and motion to vacate,,, but we have no paperwork to present to the judge that we’ve exhasted all our attempts since April. So I guess I’ve got to try and make this an issue in the public arena.
Margaret – You certainly can go as public as you would like with the difficulty you are having. Did you try to connect with the company I outlined in the editorial above to see if they have the account? Have you considered paying the judgment off?
I have hit a brick wall with additional efforts to identify other portfolio purchasers. I may have a lead to follow this week though.
A citation to Discover Assets was filed with the Circuit Court in Illinois. It was entered into the record on June 24 and I received the notice on July 9th. The bank froze my account on July 5th. How can they proceed to freeze my account if I had not received notice or called into court when the motion to freeze my account was entered? Is there a way to use the $4,000 personal property exception to unfreeze the account? How can the law firm collecting the debt refuse to send me documentation of my payments to them prior to the Discover of Assets?
Thank you.
Mark – How the laws in Illinois are structured to allow for what just happened, and what you can do about it now, is best discussed with a debt collection defense attorney in your state. Most of the type of attorney I am talking about will offer an initial consult at no charge. If you would like me to send you contact info for one I find near you, send me an email (hit reply to the email notification of this comment), include the name of a large city close to you.
Hi Michael,
In 2007 I was taken to court by Arrow and a judgment was issued against me (even though I hired a lawyer – don’t think they did their job). In the ensuing time since the judgement, I have never had a single person contact me regarding this, up to this very day. The judgement does show on my credit report and of course is hurting my score ( Good, Fair and Fair from the big 3).
By my reckoning, this should drop off my report somewhere between late 2014 to early 2015.
I called LVNV today and they had no record on me so I’m assuming Arrow did not sell my “debt” to them. As I mentioned earlier, no one else has ever contacted me bout this issue.
Is there something I can do to have this expunged from my credit report sooner than later?
Thanks for your advice!
Richard – The credit reporting about the Arrow judgment is the result of the court record. To get this removed you would need to hit the source of the information – the court. You could pay the court the amount of the judgment and get it to reflect the judgement is satisfied. Is there something you are being held back from accomplishing due to the judgment entry on your credit report?
Sorry Michael – I just got back on and saw your reply. No, I’m not trying to buy a house or anything at the moment, but if I believe it has hurt me several times as I attempted to get a mainstream credit card for example – they would send me a report and on it the judgement would be mentioned.
Richard – The Arrow judgment will be part of any credit risk and pricing decision companies will make until it ages off of your credit report. The judgment will still be there after it ages off of your credit report. The balance of the judgment is likely growing with interest. What is the judgment amount?
Thanks again for your kind reply Michael. The judgement amount is about $3,100.
Richard – If you can wait to apply for additional credit until this ages off of your credit report, you will be able to apply and increase your approval chances after that. The judgment will not go away, and will still need to be dealt with. I am still committed to confirming other purchasers of the Arrow portfolio. I made additional calls to Arrow Financials prior majority owners, and a few other smaller debt purchasers yesterday. I will post any updates worth mentioning to the comments here. If you are subscribed to the comments you will get those updates.
Thanks David I really appreciate your comments and advice!
Mr. Bovee,
We have a client who has a judgment from Arrow Financial Services appearing on his credit report. He is trying to refinance his home and his lender wants us to verify that this is not his judgment (our client says that it is not). I have tried to contact Karen D. Washington, the attorney that handled it, but she says that she has not information about SC Judgments and that I need to contact the Plantiff (Arrow Financial Services, LLC) directly. What do you suggest I do? I just need to contact somebody to compare SS# to see if this Judgment truly is our client’s or not. Thank you, Cathy
Cathy – Connecting the dots to your clients SS and the judgment is not likely at this point, unless you are able to connect with the legitimate debt owner.
Unfortunately, the debt may not be your clients. This type of thing does happen. Here is something else that may have occurred:
Client failed to pay a debt. The debt got sold. Arrow Financial ends up with it and sues, only fails to properly serve your client. Arrow Financial gets a default judgment. Client never knew about it until applying for credit.
Has anyone pulled the court record and identified the original creditor account Arrow sued to collect on? If not, your client should pull the record and identify whether they ever had an account with that creditor.
What was the date of the judgment entry?
Michael,
I am in the same sinking boat that the others are in. I have received a letter from the IRS advising me of a 1099 that was filed by Arrow Financial Services for an amount I thought belonged to a car loan that AFS had bought out. But upon inspection of my credit report from the three reporting agencies, my car loan is still on there with the original creditor. I have no clue how to go about researching what or who this debt AFT bought and filed a 1099 on, came from. Any suggestions on how to go about researching that would definitely be greatly appreciated.
Thanking you in advance for all your help!
Hannah C. Lacara
Hannah – Your original creditor will report the fact the loan with them went bad for 7 years (7.5 in some instances). Based on what you shared about Arrow Financial Services sending the notice to the IRS, your original lender sold the bad debt to them. Look on your credit report to see if your original creditor is reporting that there is a zero balance owed to them on the account. Let me know what you find.
I’ve read through the above comments and still feel unsure about what to do in my particular situation. First of all, I live in Texas and this is what happened: Arrow Financial Services, LLC sued me over a credit card debt (CareCredit – GEMoney Bank)….and a judgement was entered in 2008 by Arrow Financial signed by the Mann Braken Law Firm. I am wanting to get approved for a home loan and need to clear this court record asap. I have filed a dispute (6/17/13) with all three credit bureaus as it is my understanding that if they are unable to contact the plaintiff in the judgement, they will delete it from my record. Is that correct? Or will the credit bureaus just call my local court and confirm the judgement (without ever trying to reach Arrow Financial) and report to me that it will stay on my report? I am willing to pay this debt if only I could find SOMEONE to take the money and clear it in the court. I called LVNV and they do not have my account in their system. Should I get an attorney to try to find who to pay – and then file the paperwork to release it in the court? Or will it fall off my credit report in 7 years? Thanks in advance for any advice.
Amy – Both Arrow and Mann Bracken are gone from the collection scene. Locating who legitimately owns the judgment debts from Arrow has been ridiculously difficult.
The credit reporting agencies are basing their reporting off of information in the court, not something Arrow Financial Services sent to them. Disputing a judgment, when there is one in the record, is not likely going to be effective.
Based on what you have shared about the ability to pay it off, and your goal, you could simply pay the court the full amount and get the record to show the judgment as satisfied, which is what you need. You can hire an attorney to make sure it is done correctly.
Yes, the judgment will fall off of the credit report, but that is a couple years away.
Thank you for your time and the advice, Michael. I guess my next step will be finding an attorney to help me get it taken care of. Thanks again. 🙂
Hi Michael, like others, I just received a letter from the IRS that my 2011 tax return was incorrect and after investigating, found there was a Cancellation of Debt (form 1099-C) filed by Arrow Financial Services in the amount of $658.00 and the IRS is taxing me on this amount ($163.00). First, my credit is very good and AFS is nowhere to be found on my credit report. I have never been contacted by AFS, nor did I receive a copy of the 1099-C. I attempted to look up AFS so I could call and find out who the debt was owed to and I come to find they are no longer in business. What do I do now? I see there are many complaints about this and I don’t want to pay the IRS for something that may be fraudulent and/or cannot be proven.
Any guidance you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Sharon – I am not sure if you read through all of the comments on this thread, but scroll up to the exchange that begins here. And read through that string, including the link I have to the Forbes article. You may want to go through the same steps with the IRS that “This makes no sense” did.
I did read through all of the comments and the Forbes article, all of which were very informative and will help. Since the majority of the comments regarding this subject were 5-6 months ago, I wasn’t sure if any new information came to light. I don’t know exactly when AFS closed their business. I am going to send my response to the IRS in writing and when they attempt to contact AFS and find they have closed, hopefully they will forgive the tax, especially since there is no proof the canceled debt was valid in the first place.
Sharon – Unfortunately, there has not been much to add or share regarding Arrow Financial Services, and where accounts have been placed. I have had some readers provide some great correspondence that I have followed up on. But nothing has resulted in being able to add anything meaningful to the thread.
How you indicated proceeding is how I would go about it. I would expect you will be able to solve all of this that way, but it is going to be a process.
After several letters to the IRS and some research on my own, (to make a long story short), it was determined that identity theft was at play in my case. Someone had initiated an account with an electric company using my social security number and never paid for the services. I was able to prove to the IRS that I never lived in the area that the electric company services. Finally, I received a letter from the IRS absolving me of the amount.
Thank you very much Sharon, for posting an update with how this all shook out with the IRS and the Arrow Financial debt.
Michael,
I live in IL. I had a household bank credit card and eventually the debt of $1,616.09 ended up with Arrow Financial. They hired a law firm called Blatt Hasenmiller F L in Chicago who put a lien/judgement on the title of my home. I am trying to refinance and pay this debt, but no one seems to know where my acct. is. The attorneys office said they are searching for it, and Resurgent Capital Services doesn’t have it either. Mind you, I am EXTREMLY frustrated as I have been dealing with this for approx. 3 months and getting no where. There should always be a tracking system for this sort of thing, it’s just not right to hold people hostage to a debt they need to resolve. Yesterday I called the attorney’s office for Arrow and they told me the debt was cancelled with Resurgent on July 28th 2008, but I still need to pay it, but they can’t tell me who to pay it to??? I offered to pay them, they cannot accept payment, they suggested I call Household bank where the debt originated. They have record of me and cannot accept payment either, as they sold the loan in 2008 to Collect America, who NOW is Square 2 Financial, who then sold it to Arrow… It’s totally unbelievable!! I finally called my attorney yesterday to see what he can do. He said he’d call the law firm and try and work out a solution with an attorney for Arrow,,, “the company that no longer exists”. Who are these financial institutions held accountable to? This sort of thing needs to be exposed and dealt with! My lender wants a clear title, they do not want monies held in an escrow acct., and dear “God” I don’t want to have future problems with the IRS over this. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do, or who I can call? I would appreciate any feedback you can give me. Thank you most kindly for taking the time to help us all to find some resolve from the ARROW nightmare. Good Luck to everyone~
With Warm Regards- Margaret
Margaret – If you are prepared to pay the full amount you can remit that to the court and get the record to reflect the judgment has been satisfied. It would likely be the fastest way to get what you need done in order to proceed with refinancing. Talk to your attorney about that instead. He will not be getting anywhere with the other attorney, or anyone else for that matter, unless they are the rightful owner of the debt. Using the court in your situation is what I would do if I were in your situation and had the money to resolve the Arrow Financial judgment.
Michael,
Thank you so much for your prompt response. I will talk to my attorney about paying the debt to the court, and find out if they will accept it on behalf of Arrow. I will post again to let you know what happens… You have been most helpful. I do know that this whole situation is my fault, it happened because I was laid off when the economy went south. It was more important for me to keep up my mortgage payments, food and utilities which thankfully I’ve been able to do. It saddens me that the banks and auto industries got bail outs when they were in financial crisis, but yet so many families across America have lost their homes.
Once again, thank you for your sound advice…
Michael,
I too have an issue with Arrow– went to court with their agent and it was “dismissed with prejudice” against Arrow. Now I am getting collection letters from LVNV agent for a debt that was unproven by Arrow. What should I do? Do I have any recourse against LVNV? Thank you in advance for your reply!
Tom – It appears that Arrow Financial did not include the disposition of your account when it went to LVNV Funding LLC. LVNV will generally have no interest in trying to collect on an account like yours. If it were me in your shoes I would write a letter to LVNV disputing the debt with a brief outline of the facts. Send it certified mail return receipt. Post an update here if any collection activity continues after that.
Hi, I live in PA and have a judgement that was filed Sept 2009. I want to satisy the judgement so I can refinance. I got a copy of the judgement and contacted the attorney who filed it and told them I would like to settle. They are stating that they are no longer handling it and to contact GEMB. I contacted them and they are showing the account in question as charged off and to contact whoever was listed in judgement and on my credit report which is Arrow Financial and since they are out of business I tried LVNV and they do not have this account. The original debt was from Aqua Advantage and the lawyer on the judgement is Frederic Weinberg in Conshohocken, PA. I would appreciate any advice on how to go about settling this judgement. Thanks
Michael – Without the ability to locate the judgment owner, you may not be able to “settle” the Arrow Financial Services judgment. If you need to make progress on the refinance you could talk to the court about paying the current judgment balance direct to them in order to get the judgment updated as satisfied in the court record.
Oh also, one additional question: Can LVNV garnish wages on behalf of the Arrow judgment?
Thank you!
Yes, that is a possibility depending on your state. Texas, North Carolina, PA, Florida are examples of states where wage garnishment laws protect you. States also have garnishment exemption calculations where if you qualify, LVNV may not be able to garnish.