Andy Barr: “Make no mistake: the anti-arbitration rule recently finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not…”

“Make no mistake: the anti-arbitration rule recently finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not consumer protection. It is a giveaway to special interest trial lawyers that will expose financial firms to ruinous liability; limit consumer access to affordable, high-quality financial services and products; and undermine consumers' ability to resolve disputes more quickly and more cost-effectively than class action lawsuits. The Bureau's own study found that, while trial lawyers earn millions of dollars in fees, in 90 percent of class action lawsuits, consumers were awarded absolutely nothing--nothing. Of the remaining 10 percent, the average payout to consumers was a mere $32. That same CFPB study found that the average arbitration payout was almost $5,400, or over 150 times more than the average class action recovery. Even more troubling, the Bureau's unilateral decision to ban alternative dispute resolution will result in increased litigation costs for financial services firms, undermining their safety and soundness, forcing consumers to pay higher prices and making it more difficult to obtain credit cards and other financial services and products. That is not pro-consumer. For these reasons, I am a proud cosponsor of Congressman Rothfus' bill that would disapprove this misguided resolution to the Congressional Review Act.…”