Category Archives: Arbitration

Senate Could Vote on CFPB Arb Rule This Week, Even Today

by Jeff Sovern Why this week?  Deepak Gupta speculated on Twitter: Why is GOP pushing this vote now? Possibly to get ahead of hearings next week at which Equifax and Wells Fargo execs will have to testify. But if that's true, that means that arbitration supporters expect that those hearings will generate opposition to arbitration. […]

More Than 400 Professors From All 50 States Support CFPB Arb Rule; Oppose Blocking It

The letter is here.  Marketwatch has a report headlined 400 college professors say you should be able to sue Equifax and other financial institutions. Excerpt from the report: The professors are sending the letter Monday because it is Sept. 25, the anniversary of when Congress passed the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1791, which states: […]

We need regulators—but they are not a substitute for class actions

by Jeff Sovern A frequent claim by class action critics is that we don’t need class actions because we have regulators.  For example. Alan Kaplinsky recently tweeted that class actions were not needed in the wake of the Equifax scandal because the CFPB is expected to act.  But the truth is we need both regulators […]

Senate Banking Committee To Hold Equifax Hearing; Equifax CEO Only Witness

by Jeff Sovern More here.  We can expect that the senators will attempt to outdo each other in attacking Mr. Smith, but that some will still try to protect Equifax when the cameras are off, by weakening regulators (as some members of Congress are attempting to do in the House-passed Financial Choice Act, by eliminating […]

More and More Republicans Support the CFPB Arbitration Rule

by Jeff Sovern The latest example is an op-ed by Dean Clancy, a former senior Republican official in Congress and the White House, in the American Banker, CFPB arbitration rule is an undeniable win for consumers.  Clancy takes issue, as I did, with a recent American Banker piece by Joseph Cioffi.  Clancy explains: [Cioffi assumes] Individual arbitrations […]

Will Equifax Change the Prospects for Congress Blocking the CFPB Arbitration Rule?

by Jeff Sovern That's the question discussed in Ian McKendry's article in the American Banker, GOP undeterred by Wells, Equifax in seeking arbitration rule repeal. Arbitration advocates hope and predict it won't, as this except shows: "I don't necessarily want to conflate" the Equifax breach "with the arbitration rule," said [Senator Thom] Tillis [R-SC]. The financial […]

Have the Arbitration Sharks Jumped the Shark?

by Jeff Sovern On Saturday, I posted an entry, Kaplinsky & Levin Concede "Consumers rarely pursue individual arbitration" But Miss Mark on Why. Maybe it irritated Alan and Mark, because they then posted Professor Sovern Disagrees with Senator Warren and Concedes that Consumers Do Well in Arbitration But Raises Another Red Herring. I guess I […]

Kaplinsky & Levin Concede “Consumers rarely pursue individual arbitration” But Miss Mark on Why

by Jeff Sovern Earlier this week, Senator Elizabeth Warren issued a press release about the responses she had received from Bank CEOs to her questions about the CFPB's arbitration rule, Responses from Bank CEOs Demonstrate Positive Impact of CFPB Arbitration Rule, Undermine Industry Case for Reversal.  The press release contains a lot of interesting information, […]

Some Comments on Recent Op-Eds Opposing the CFPB Arbitration Rule

by Jeff Sovern I wanted to comment on a couple of op-eds opposing the CFPB arbitration rule.  One is Joseph Cioffi's piece in the American Banker, headlined CFPB arbitration rule will still pose costs to consumers.  Though Cioffi (Chair of the Insolvency, Creditors’ Rights & Financial Products Practice Group at Davis & Gilbert) sees the arbitration rule as […]

Why I’m Not Signing Up For Equifax’s Free Credit Monitoring Service: The Arbitration Clause Still Worries Me

by Jeff Sovern I'm still trying to make sense of the arbitration situation in connection with the Equifax breach.  Here is how I see it at the moment. Comments welcome. Our story so far: after hackers invaded the Equifax database, Equifax set up a web site (that is the current version of the web site; […]