Consumers Likely to Regain Access to Courts

Clauses in credit card and bank account fine print that forbid consumers from joining class actions to remedy disputes are headed for a ban. That new prohibition looks certain to be promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog agency set up in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank banking act. Corporations blocking consumers from the justice system and subjecting them to their own biased arbitrators for decisions has been a recurring topic here — three years ago in Think You Can Take It To Court? Think Again, a year ago in Maybe You'll Have Your Day in Court Again when the CFPB indicated it was examining corporate appropriation of civilian rights, and last November in Corporations Appoint Themselves Judge and Jury — It's in the Fine Print, coincident with the The New York Times finally awakening to the injustice in a lengthy three-part series.