House Pushes Ahead on Financial-Rules Overhaul
The House of Representatives will consider sweeping legislation rewriting the financial sector's rule book in November, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), said Tuesday, boosting the chances that Congress will complete a regulatory overhaul this year.  Mr. Hoyer said the House Financial Services Committee would complete its work on legislation this month, and a wider debate on the House floor would occur next month. Many observers have increasingly said that it was unlikely the broad rewrite of financial regulations would be completed this year, in part because health-care legislation has taken longer to work through Congress than the Democratic majority had anticipated.

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111^th Congress - 1^st Session
To prohibit the use of funds for any Federal contract with Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., any of their subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other contracting party if such contractor or a subcontractor at any tier under such contract requires that employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses regarding certain claims..This would  prohibit mandatory arbitration clauses such as the Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., contract that was so devastating to Jamie Leigh Jones who was gang raped by the company employees. See bill...

State Regulators to Congress: End Mandatory Arbitration
Congress should prohibit mandatory, industry-run securities arbitration, and instead “offer a meaningful choice between binding arbitration and civil litigation,” a leading state regulator told a Congressional panel today. Speaking at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on capital markets regulatory reform, Texas Securities Commissioner Denise V. Crawford, president of the North American Securities Administrators Assn. (NASAA), said that NASAA, a group of state regulators, believes the take-it-or-leave-it clause in brokerage contracts is “inherently unfair to investors,” and that Congress “should prohibit the mandatory natures of securities arbitration.” Instead, she said, the choice between binding arbitration and civil litigation “should be solely that of the investor.”

Consumer Advocates Push for Forced Arbitration Ban
On Monday, one day before a congressional hearing on forced arbitration scheduled for today, Public Citizen released a report alleging that the practice is pervasive in banking, home construction, cable companies and automotive sales, leaving consumers with no choice but to sign these agreements to conduct necessary activities of everyday life.

WARRENTY, WHAT WARRANTY: Money Pit? Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson take battle with upscale contractor to Idaho Supreme Court
The latest act in a nine-year battle between Tom Hanks, his wife Rita Wilson and a high-end contractor played out before the Idaho Supreme Court on Friday. The case revolves around the couple's sprawling Sun Valley-area home, built by Storey Construction starting in 2000. Hanks and Wilson say the company's shoddy workmanship left them out more than $2 million. The company, meanwhile, contends the couple is just out for revenge because they lost an earlier arbitration over the work.

Credit Card Companies Continue To Be Protected From Lawsuits
Starting Thursday, credit card consumers will receive new protections against unscrupulous credit card practices... As these new guidelines are meant to offer protections for consumers, an important protection will still be unavailable – the right to take your credit card company to court... On an uninhabitable $369,000 home, the Fogels won $40,000, but most of the money went back to the home builder because the arbitrator determined the Fogels violated contracts. Arbitration left the Fogels with a $10,000 reward. Recent actions are showing that some businesses and the government are looking differently at arbitration. A Congressional proposal, backed by President Obama, would prohibit mandatory arbitration for bank and credit card consumers, which would instate consumers’ right to the courts. Consumer advocates want the proposal expanded to all sectors of the economy – homes, cars, cell phones, nursing homes, and the workplace.

Coalition Encouraged by Bank of America's Decision to Stop Using Forced Arbitration; Now Congress Must Act   
Consumers have stated loud and clear that forced arbitration clauses are a denial of justice, and Bank of America finally listened.  Bank of America, however, is just one corporation among the thousands of banks, private employers, nursing homes, auto dealers, and deposit institutions are still using forced arbitration every day to deny consumers and employees a fair shake.               

Bank of America Ends Arbitration Practice
The move, which comes amid a shakeout in the use of mandatory arbitration by big U.S. banks, means consumers will now be permitted to file lawsuits against Bank of America to resolve such disputes. Last month, two major organizations that preside over mandatory arbitrations said that they were pulling back from the business of using the process for collection matters......"We think arbitration is a very fair way to resolve the issue. A lot of our customers did not feel the same way, so we decided to make a change," said a Bank of America spokeswoman.

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.  See Related FOX Report: Credit Card Arbitration Facing Charges -  See NPR Report

Big Arbitration Firm Pulls Out of Credit Card Business
After coming under increasing fire for bias towards major credit-card companies, the nation’s largest arbitration firm involved in adjudicating delinquent credit-card debt has agreed to pull out of the business, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson disclosed on Sunday, July 19. The settlement with the National Arbitration Forum comes after the Minnesota AG sued the firm on July 14 for consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, and false advertising. Under the terms of the consent decree, dated July 17 and signed by the AG and NAF officials, the arbitration firm by the end of this week will stop accepting new consumer arbitrations of any sort. The Minnesota suit said that Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Discover Card, and American Express use NAF, which is based in St. Louis Park, Minn.