Arbitrator Hid Ties to Debt Collectors, New Report Says

[jayfish]

Source: Boston.com

NEW YORK - A congressional staff investigation into the biggest US consumer debt-collection arbitrator found “deeply disturbing’’ abuses, US Representative Dennis Kucinich said yesterday.

A report released yesterday claims the National Arbitration Forum, a Minnesota company that handled most consumer debt-collection arbitrations in the United States, misled consumers and hid ties to debt-collection firms.

Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, summarized the findings at a hearing into the use of mandatory arbitration clauses by credit card, mobile phone, and other companies to collect consumer debts. “The debt collection industry and the alternative legal system that has been created around it can no longer be ignored by the federal government,’’ Kucinich said.

Bills to crack down on abuses of mandatory arbitration are being considered by Congress. Hearings before a House subcommittee chaired by Kucinich began yesterday.

Read more: Arbitrator hid ties to debt collectors, new report says

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I heard this story on the way to work this morning and it just about made me sick. The deck is always stacked against the common citizen.

Jay

[dgibby]

1. Good for Dennis.

It's getting to the point that about the only 2 congresscritters I take at face value are Dennis and Bernie Saunders. Everyone else, I take with a grain of salt.

[Zorra]

11. Yeah, nobody owns Dennis and Bernie, they just always try to do the

right thing because they are genuinely decent people that care about their country and their people.

[xchrom]

2. ...

:grr:

[Bluenorthwest]

3. Kucinich for the people

the rest for the Corporations.

[Arctic Dave]

4. It's just debt collection, most large corporations will make you go

to arbitration if you have greivance against them. Doing so gives away your right to sue for wrongs against you.

[Octafish]

5. That's how the game is played.

It's rigged. And if you're tied in, you win. If you're not, you lose.

Ain't secret government grand?

[mbperrin]

6. Cheating by the finance industry to defraud you! Gosh,

who'da thunk?

[Hepburn]

7. NAF and Mann Bracken are FUCKING EVIL! Let me tell you about a lawsuit:

I drafted a lawsuit a few months ago for an atty friend of mine to file for a mutual client of ours against these two asshole organizations and Chase. They are the worst vultures I have ever seen.

What I found in my research about the NAF is that they supplied the supposedly "neutral" arbitrators with forms to be filled in and the arbitration which were ALWAYS in favor of the credit card company and with the amount of the monetary finding already filled in.

I turned over one Calif atty who worked for the NAF to the State Bar for his conduct in these arbitrations and I am now getting the articles about the NAF, printing them and sending them to the Bar. IMO this POS atty NEEDS to be disciplined for walking all over Cal consumers. He made the mistake of picking on a guy who has as his very close pals two attys. Apparently someone using our friend's info got a Chase card and ran it up to the max and he denied the debt ~~ they sued and claimed he had waived his right to a trial...and they REFUSED to produce a copy of his signed waiver. Assholes...and then they gave Chase an award for a HUGE amount of money ~~ all of which was disputed and found to be fraudulent charges by law enforcement.

We filed suit a few months ago ~~ and IMO with the findings by Congress and the settlement with Minn AG, the value of the suit we filed has about tripled...at least. We are sure that that Mann Bracken who sent the Chase lawsuit to the NAF and Chase itself were and are well aware of the conduct of the NAF.

I have a copy of the suit filed by the San Francisco DA's office against the NAF...and it is a real eye opener.

Gawd I am glad these POS got theirs ~~ it was MORE than deserved!

[Robbien]

8. Credit card binding arbitration system crumbling

Two more supporting beams have crumbled and now, with astonishing speed, the entire edifice of the mandatory credit card arbitration system is collapsing.

A second major arbitration firm -- the American Arbitration Association -- said Tuesday that it has suspended all consumer arbitration activities. And JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation's largest credit card issuers, announced Wednesday that it would stop filing such claims against consumers.

These moves came just days after a forced and full retreat staged by the National Arbitration Forum, the nation's largest credit card arbitration firm. It surrendered in response to pending action in Congress and several lawsuits, including a sharply worded action filed last week by Minnesota's attorney general.

binding arbitration That lawsuit echoed complaints long lodged by consumers and their advocates. They say that mandatory arbitration has been quietly slipped into the fine print of millions of credit card, cell phone and other consumer contracts, to the detriment of consumers.

Defenders of the system say arbitration provides quicker, cheaper resolution of billing and other disputes; critics say it stacks the deck against consumers and forces them to waive their rights, often unknowingly, to sue in court.

'The beginning of the end'
"This is the beginning of the end for forced arbitration in all consumer contracts," Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a federation of consumer interest organizations around the nation, said Thursday.

"It will lead to a fairer marketplace," he said. "Forced arbitration has allowed firms to ignore consumer complaints and perpetuate unfair practices, knowing that the consumer had no recourse other than a stacked kangaroo court."

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-binding-arbitration-system-crumbling-1282.php


Forced arbitration is a license to steal for credit card companies, etc. From your post, it sounds as that is exactly what they have been doing.

[ArcticFox]

10. Not just Credit Cards

Yes it is great to hear about AAA and NAF taking a hit, but does anybody realize that arbitration agreements have pretty much become standard in all consumer contracts? The culprit, as is often the case is the United States Congress. A little piece of law called the Federal Arbitration Act does its best to etch in stone any arbitration provision in any contract anywhere.

The only light for consumers is that these are usually adhesion contracts and unenforceable if you get a decent judge, but I'm not so sure there are a lot of those out there.

[strategery blunder]

9. Good!

Mandatory arbitration needs to die. Not only do consumers forfeit their right to sue (i.e. their right to JUSTICE), but they don't even get any say in who the arbitrator is! Arbitrators are pretty much directly appointed by the credit card companies (in the form of said credit card companies buying off the entire organization).

Even more disturbing, arbitrators are not bound to the law. They can literally make up whatever bs "decision" they want, and there is little the consumer can do. Even if a consumer can manage to get a court to overturn the arbitrator and void the arbitration clause, by then said consumer racked up well more in atty fees than the disputed balance.