Tens of millions of Americans bilked by financial companies unknowingly give away their right to ask a judge to grant them relief, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found, in a report set to be released Tuesday—an investigation that increases the likelihood new proposed rules on banks could be imminent.
Three-out-of-four credit card and bank account holders are unaware that their contracts with financial institutions include so-called “forced arbitration clauses”–fine print on contracts that prevents consumers from banding together to claw back extortionate charges in class-action lawsuits.
The bureau’s director, Richard Cordray, said Americans lose out on millions of dollars in redress every year as a result of this legalese.
“Now that our study has been completed, we will consider what next steps are appropriate,” Cordray added.
Users of financial products have, in recent years, been increasingly offered contracts that include “pre-dispute arbitration clauses,” the CFPB found. Those terms hamper account holders’ ability to band together to resolve disputes through the judicial branch.
The CFPB also found that more than one in ten Americans are eligible for cash payments through class action lawsuits worth a total of $1.1 billion—roughly $32 per claimant.
It also found, however, that only 7 percent of Americans with binding arbitration clauses knew that they were waiving their right to address grievances in court.
The intersection of class action litigation and forced arbitration clauses has gained prominence outside the financial industry in recent years. In 2011, AT&T used the legal trick to deny consumers their right to sue over deceptive advertising. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld AT&T’s anti-arbitration clauses.
UPDATE (10:51 a.m.): Read the entire CFPB study here.
