Category Archives: Class Actions

House Reported to Vote to Consider Blocking CFPB Arb Rule on Party Line Vote

by Jeff Sovern This is based on Fred O. Williams's story at CreditCards.com.  The vote was 229 to 184, though he seems to indicate that this was the final vote. I think it was just on the vote to consider the bill.  Williams's article, titled DIY credit card arbitration: You may be able to opt out, […]

Compass Point Estimates 60% Chance of Congress Using CRA to Block CFPB Arb Rule

From Politico's Morning Money newsletter: Compass Point analyst Isaac Boltansky on what’s next — "We now peg the odds of the mandatory arbitration rule being reversed through the [Congressional Review Act] at 60 percent. The House will easily clear the measure, but the whip count in the Senate is still fluid at this juncture and […]

House Vote on CRA Resolution on CFPB Arbitration Rule Could Come Tuesday

by Jeff Sovern The House Rules Committee is meeting today at 5:00 to consider granting a rule for the House to take up H. J. Res. 111, under which the House would vote to block the CFPB arbitration rule from taking effect.  I hear the House could vote on the resolution itself tomorrow.

Chamber of Commerce Threatens to Use CRA Vote on CFPB Arbitration in Grading Legislators

by Jeff Sovern The Chamber's letter to House members is here. Here is the relevant text (bolding in original):  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ("Chamber") urges you to support H.J. Res. 111, which would undo a rule left over by the Obama Administration and recently finalized by an out of control Consumer Financial Protection Bureau […]

Arbitration Expert & Professor Jean Sternlight: Consumer bureau’s new rule will better protect consumers from the abusive financial companies

Here.  Excerpt: Focusing, for example, on cases involving unlawful check bouncing charges, the bureau [study] found that class actions brought on this issue alone allowed millions of financial consumers to recover nearly $1 billion of damages as well as important non-monetary relief, all of which deters future legal violations. By contrast, the bureau learned that […]

New York Law’s Center for Justice & Democracy: 9 Examples of Class Actions that Helped Consumers

The report is titled How Consumer Financial Class Actions Help and Protect Americans. Here is an excerpt from the press release: This report illustrates how anytime, anywhere, an unscrupulous bank or lender could steal money from you, your family, or your small business. … If, say, a bank opens a fraudulent bank account in your […]

American Banker: GOP efforts to repeal CFPB arbitration rule off to rocky start

by Jeff Sovern Here. The article points out that one Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee, John Kennedy of Louisiana, did not agree to cosponsor the Senate CRA resolution to rescind the CFPB rule (he was said to be reviewing the resolution); that Senator McCain's unfortunate health issues may prevent him from voting on […]

Who Are the “leading scholars” Who Senator Crapo Said Have Criticized the CFPB Arbitration Study “as biased and inadequate”?

by Jeff Sovern Yesterday, the Senate Banking Committee released a press release that said in part: Today, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Republican colleagues will file a Congressional Review Act (CRA) Joint Resolution of Disapproval in the Senate against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) arbitration […]

Conservative Commentator Argues Against CRA Challenge to CFPB Arbitration Rule

Dean Clancy in US News has written The GOP's Foolish Decision. Excerpt: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged Congress to kill not only [the arbitration] regulation, but every CFPB rule, on grounds the agency is unconstitutional and therefore all of its actions are invalid. The GOP would be terribly foolish to go down this road, […]