In the past decade, more and more evidence has come out to show that forced arbitration clauses in consumer contracts are unfair. They strip consumers of their ability to make meaningful choices about where to take their claims when they are harmed and block them from taking disputes to a judge and jury.

In other words, these contracts strip consumers of the constitutional right to their day in court and insulate themselves from accountability by sending all claims into the rigged private arbitration system.

These restrictive forced arbitration clauses are virtually inescapable because they’re in the fine print of contracts for just about everything, including necessities like checking accounts and credit cards.

Most people don’t even know they have agreed. Corporations stick the clause into lengthy take-it-or-leave-it boilerplate contracts consumers are forced to sign to access even basic financial services.

Consumers have little choice over the terms and conditions for contracts like this in the first place. Even if we did, most people do not realize that these forced arbitration clauses take away the right to go to court when they need it. Opening a simple checking account shouldn’t require the advice of a lawyer.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has the power to rein in or even completely ban the inclusion of forced arbitration in consumer contracts.

Join us in calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to write a new rule to rein in forced arbitration in the financial services marketplace by adding your name now.