Arbitration

U.S. Regulator Seeks Return of Class Action Suits Against Credit Cards, Banks

New rules proposed on Thursday by a U.S. consumer watchdog would block credit card companies, banks and other firms from forcing customers to waive their rights to join class action lawsuits and settle disputes only through arbitration. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said financial firms should be barred from using fine print in contracts that mandates arbitration instead …


Proposed Consumer Class Action Rules Don’t Cover Everybody

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has unveiled a proposed new rule on binding arbitration, those clauses usually buried in the fine print of your credit card agreement that say you can’t sue your bank. You have to go to arbitration instead. The CFPB proposal would let consumers band together to sue in class action lawsuits.


Want to Sue Your Bank? Regulators Push to Make It Easier

If government regulators get their way, it’s going to become a lot easier to sue your bank. By and large, U.S. bank customers have signed away their right to sue their bank in court, often without being aware of it. Buried in the fine print of credit card agreements, bank accounts and insurance policies are what are known as binding, or mandatory, arbitration …


Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Arbitration Plan Is Sharp Blow to Industry

In a major setback for banks, credit unions, credit card companies and many other financial firms, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday issued a proposal that would ban the use of arbitration clauses that prevent consumers from bringing class-action lawsuits. The 377-page proposal, released to the media a day early, would still allow companies to offer arbitration as a way to …


How Companies Prohibit You From Suing Them and What the Feds Are Doing to Change It

Have you ever used a credit card? Or signed up for a phone plan? Opened a bank account? Chances are, you also agreed to never sue the company that offered you the service. A massive number of everyday services require us to agree with some kind of written contract. From more significant decisions like taking a loan, to the most trivial, like updating iTunes. The government is now …


Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Publishes Proposed Rule Precluding Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Clauses

As we reported last year, in October 2015 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published an outline of proposals that would limit the use of arbitration provisions in contracts for consumer financial products. On May 5, 2016, the CFPB followed up by releasing a proposed rule that would ban consumer financial services providers such as banks, credit card issuers, and small-dollar lenders …


Regulators Want Easier Path to Suing Banks

The nation’s top consumer financial regulator wants to put a stop to that. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule Thursday that would ban arbitration clauses, which would affect the entire financial industry and the hundreds of millions of bank accounts, credit cards and other financial services …


New Gov’t Rule Would Give Americans More Power to Sue Banks

On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a new rule that would ban the use of mandatory arbitration clauses, which many banks and credit card companies insert into contracts to prohibit customers from filing class-action lawsuits against them. In the event a customer sues a company outside of small-claims court, the business can enforce these clauses to block a …


Is the CFPB Tough Enough?

Much of the criticism leveled against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the Bureau’s brief five-year history has been centered on claims that the CFPB is too tough on businesses it deems to have engaged in predatory financial activity. This week, however, a large number of prominent national organizations called for the CFPB to get even tougher. A coalition consisting of more …


Menard’s Settles OPEIU Labor Law Violations Case With NLRB

45,000 Workers Win Class Action Rights Workers Independent News is heard Monday through Friday at 8:45 and 11:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. At least 45,000 workers have won class-action lawsuit rights in a National Labor Relations Board case against Menard’s. The midwest-based home improvement supply store chain owned by Wisconsin anti-union billionaire John Menard is settling the case with the NLRB …