State bankers associations from all 50 states and Puerto Rico have sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer urging them to support efforts to override the CFPB’s final arbitration rule under the Congressional Review Act.

The associations state that the rule “would create a windfall for unscrupulous class-action attorneys, provide little or no relief to harmed consumers, and effectively eliminate an accessible alternative to the often-daunting judicial system.”  They assert that because most consumer disputes are unique and not appropriate for class actions, “shutting down arbitration will leave this vast majority of consumers with only one option: the expense and frustration of courtroom litigation.”  They also state that the CFPB ignored data showing that the average award to consumers in arbitration is substantially greater than the average amount received by consumers in class actions and effectively eliminated arbitration “without proposing a reasonable alternative process for timely, low-cost resolution of consumer disputes.”