Problem with Your Bank Account? Tell it to the . . . Arbitrator?

An increasing number of consumer financial products have begun to come pre-packaged with binding individual arbitration agreements. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule forbidding these agreements sought to ensure that consumers damaged by their banks’ actions could have their day in court. When Congress chose to repeal the so called “Arbitration Rule” in 2017, it dealt a serious blow to consumers’ rights. Consumers are nearly universally precluded from joining class action claims against large financial institutions due to the widespread and largely unfettered use of class-action waivers in arbitration agreements. This Note argues that class-action waivers should be regulated to ensure that individuals with inferior bargaining power and legal resources are not subjected to poor treatment at the hands of their banks.