WASHINGTON–The question hanging over the CFPB’s arbitration rule—a proposal that drew tens of thousands of comments from consumer and business advocates—is less now about the finer points of the final rule than about whether the regulations will ever see the light of day at all, according to an analysis by Law.com.
Noting that several big card companies have been actively lobbying the CFPB to kill or roll back a rule that would ban forced arbitration agreements on credit cards, the likelihood the CFPB’s arbitration rule will be enacted is further complicated by the Trump Administrations call for the elimination of a number of rules using the Congressional Review Act.
“If the rule is voided by the Congressional Review Act, the CFPB would be prevented from enacting a ‘substantially similar’ regulation unless it is supported by a new statute,” Law.com reported. “Such a setback would indefinitely handcuff the agency, stymieing its ability to limit forced-arbitration agreements—often found in the fine print of consumer contracts—that the Bureau has described as ‘contract gotchas’.”
But supporters of the rule, including Public Citizen and Americans for Financial Reform, have also lined up to lobby Congress and the Administration to enact the rule.