"It's only fair: If you steal from a bank, you'll be brought before a judge. The same should happen if a bank steals from you - and thousands of others. That's what the CFPB rule says." (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Jul 13, 2017
Wall Street, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and right-wing Republicans are ganging up again this week against consumers who want to hold financial institutions that rip them off accountable.
The target this time is a rule issued this week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that is designed to restore the ability bank and credit card customers, as individuals or as a group, to take a financial dispute to court.
"Our new rule will restore the ability of groups of people to file or join group lawsuits. In some cases, not only will companies have to provide relief, they will also have to change their behavior moving forward," said a statement issued by the agency. "People who would otherwise have to go it alone or give up, will be able to join with others to pursue justice and some remedy for their harm."
However, unsurprisingly, it took less than a day for the guardians of Wall Street profiteering to attack the rule. They are the same people - like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in the Senate and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, in the House - who are working to either get rid of the CFPB entirely or render it toothless.
That's why People's Action is launching a petition asking Congress to keep the CFPB arbitration rule and protect the ability of ordinary people to go to court against corporate wrongdoers.
Cotton announced Tuesday that he would be introducing legislation to undo the rule under the execrable Congressional Review Act, the same tool Republicans have been using since President Trump took office to undo a host of Obama-era regulations.
Quoted in The Washington Examiner, "Cotton accused the bureau of "going rogue again" and said that the rule "ignores the consumer benefits of arbitration and treats Arkansans like helpless children, incapable of making business decisions in their own best interests."
Reuters reported that "the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is contemplating a legal challenge and Trump administration officials are also looking at ways to kill the rule."
Many customers don't realize that right now, if they believe their bank or credit card customer has ripped them off or otherwise harmed them, they can't take the matter to court.
That's because buried in the fine print of more than 50 percent of the nation's credit card account agreements and more than 40 percent of the bank account agreements, accoording to a 2015 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report, there's language that says if you want to challenge wrong or unfair charges to your account, you are required to go into a binding arbitration process, rather than take the dispute to a court.
The arbitration process is rigged to favor the financial institution. When The New York Times looked at this process in 2015, it found that few customers used the arbitration process, and when they did, consumers lost roughly two-thirds of the time. The process is also explicitly designed to keep consumers with similar complaints from banding together to confront patterns of bad behavior.
Among other things, arbitration clauses shielded Wells Fargo from a class action lawsuit when its employees were creating thousands of bogus consumer accounts in order to meet sales quotas.
It's only fair: If you steal from a bank, you'll be brought before a judge. The same should happen if a bank steals from you - and thousands of others. That's what the CFPB rule says.
The use of the Congressional Review Act is particularly pernicious because ff these Republicans succeed this won't be a temporary setback. This fundamentally unfair and undemocratic practice that keeps Wall Street from being held legally accountable for its actions would be permanently locked in, because the act not only invalidates the rule but prohibits an agency from writing a similar rule in the future.
Sign this petition so Congress hears you loud and clear: Keep the CFPB arbitration rule and protect our right to challenge corporate wrongdoers in court.
Republican leaders in Congress are hell-bent on neutering the CFPB or eliminating it altogether, precisely because it takes actions like this to even the playing field for consumers going up against the financial giants.
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Isaiah J. Poole
Isaiah J. Poole is the editorial director of The Next System Project, a project of the Democracy Collaborative. He was previously communications director for People's Action and for the Campaign for America's Future, where his responsibilities included serving as editor for the organization's website and blog, OurFuture.org. Poole has more than 30 years of experience in journalism, both as a reporter covering Washington D.C.-area and national politics and as a news and features editor. He also was a founding member of both the Washington Association of Black Journalists and the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association.
Wall Street, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and right-wing Republicans are ganging up again this week against consumers who want to hold financial institutions that rip them off accountable.
The target this time is a rule issued this week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that is designed to restore the ability bank and credit card customers, as individuals or as a group, to take a financial dispute to court.
"Our new rule will restore the ability of groups of people to file or join group lawsuits. In some cases, not only will companies have to provide relief, they will also have to change their behavior moving forward," said a statement issued by the agency. "People who would otherwise have to go it alone or give up, will be able to join with others to pursue justice and some remedy for their harm."
However, unsurprisingly, it took less than a day for the guardians of Wall Street profiteering to attack the rule. They are the same people - like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in the Senate and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, in the House - who are working to either get rid of the CFPB entirely or render it toothless.
That's why People's Action is launching a petition asking Congress to keep the CFPB arbitration rule and protect the ability of ordinary people to go to court against corporate wrongdoers.
Cotton announced Tuesday that he would be introducing legislation to undo the rule under the execrable Congressional Review Act, the same tool Republicans have been using since President Trump took office to undo a host of Obama-era regulations.
Quoted in The Washington Examiner, "Cotton accused the bureau of "going rogue again" and said that the rule "ignores the consumer benefits of arbitration and treats Arkansans like helpless children, incapable of making business decisions in their own best interests."
Reuters reported that "the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is contemplating a legal challenge and Trump administration officials are also looking at ways to kill the rule."
Many customers don't realize that right now, if they believe their bank or credit card customer has ripped them off or otherwise harmed them, they can't take the matter to court.
That's because buried in the fine print of more than 50 percent of the nation's credit card account agreements and more than 40 percent of the bank account agreements, accoording to a 2015 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report, there's language that says if you want to challenge wrong or unfair charges to your account, you are required to go into a binding arbitration process, rather than take the dispute to a court.
The arbitration process is rigged to favor the financial institution. When The New York Times looked at this process in 2015, it found that few customers used the arbitration process, and when they did, consumers lost roughly two-thirds of the time. The process is also explicitly designed to keep consumers with similar complaints from banding together to confront patterns of bad behavior.
Among other things, arbitration clauses shielded Wells Fargo from a class action lawsuit when its employees were creating thousands of bogus consumer accounts in order to meet sales quotas.
It's only fair: If you steal from a bank, you'll be brought before a judge. The same should happen if a bank steals from you - and thousands of others. That's what the CFPB rule says.
The use of the Congressional Review Act is particularly pernicious because ff these Republicans succeed this won't be a temporary setback. This fundamentally unfair and undemocratic practice that keeps Wall Street from being held legally accountable for its actions would be permanently locked in, because the act not only invalidates the rule but prohibits an agency from writing a similar rule in the future.
Sign this petition so Congress hears you loud and clear: Keep the CFPB arbitration rule and protect our right to challenge corporate wrongdoers in court.
Republican leaders in Congress are hell-bent on neutering the CFPB or eliminating it altogether, precisely because it takes actions like this to even the playing field for consumers going up against the financial giants.
Isaiah J. Poole
Isaiah J. Poole is the editorial director of The Next System Project, a project of the Democracy Collaborative. He was previously communications director for People's Action and for the Campaign for America's Future, where his responsibilities included serving as editor for the organization's website and blog, OurFuture.org. Poole has more than 30 years of experience in journalism, both as a reporter covering Washington D.C.-area and national politics and as a news and features editor. He also was a founding member of both the Washington Association of Black Journalists and the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association.
Wall Street, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and right-wing Republicans are ganging up again this week against consumers who want to hold financial institutions that rip them off accountable.
The target this time is a rule issued this week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that is designed to restore the ability bank and credit card customers, as individuals or as a group, to take a financial dispute to court.
"Our new rule will restore the ability of groups of people to file or join group lawsuits. In some cases, not only will companies have to provide relief, they will also have to change their behavior moving forward," said a statement issued by the agency. "People who would otherwise have to go it alone or give up, will be able to join with others to pursue justice and some remedy for their harm."
However, unsurprisingly, it took less than a day for the guardians of Wall Street profiteering to attack the rule. They are the same people - like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in the Senate and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, in the House - who are working to either get rid of the CFPB entirely or render it toothless.
That's why People's Action is launching a petition asking Congress to keep the CFPB arbitration rule and protect the ability of ordinary people to go to court against corporate wrongdoers.
Cotton announced Tuesday that he would be introducing legislation to undo the rule under the execrable Congressional Review Act, the same tool Republicans have been using since President Trump took office to undo a host of Obama-era regulations.
Quoted in The Washington Examiner, "Cotton accused the bureau of "going rogue again" and said that the rule "ignores the consumer benefits of arbitration and treats Arkansans like helpless children, incapable of making business decisions in their own best interests."
Reuters reported that "the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is contemplating a legal challenge and Trump administration officials are also looking at ways to kill the rule."
Many customers don't realize that right now, if they believe their bank or credit card customer has ripped them off or otherwise harmed them, they can't take the matter to court.
That's because buried in the fine print of more than 50 percent of the nation's credit card account agreements and more than 40 percent of the bank account agreements, accoording to a 2015 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report, there's language that says if you want to challenge wrong or unfair charges to your account, you are required to go into a binding arbitration process, rather than take the dispute to a court.
The arbitration process is rigged to favor the financial institution. When The New York Times looked at this process in 2015, it found that few customers used the arbitration process, and when they did, consumers lost roughly two-thirds of the time. The process is also explicitly designed to keep consumers with similar complaints from banding together to confront patterns of bad behavior.
Among other things, arbitration clauses shielded Wells Fargo from a class action lawsuit when its employees were creating thousands of bogus consumer accounts in order to meet sales quotas.
It's only fair: If you steal from a bank, you'll be brought before a judge. The same should happen if a bank steals from you - and thousands of others. That's what the CFPB rule says.
The use of the Congressional Review Act is particularly pernicious because ff these Republicans succeed this won't be a temporary setback. This fundamentally unfair and undemocratic practice that keeps Wall Street from being held legally accountable for its actions would be permanently locked in, because the act not only invalidates the rule but prohibits an agency from writing a similar rule in the future.
Sign this petition so Congress hears you loud and clear: Keep the CFPB arbitration rule and protect our right to challenge corporate wrongdoers in court.
Republican leaders in Congress are hell-bent on neutering the CFPB or eliminating it altogether, precisely because it takes actions like this to even the playing field for consumers going up against the financial giants.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.