Forced Arbitration is Bad for Consumers

From the Economic Policy Institute (http://www.epi.org/):

In a new brief (http://www.epi.org/publication/forced-arbitration-is-bad-for-consumers/), EPI’s Heidi Shierholz describes how the use of forced arbitration benefits companies at the expense of consumers—and the extent to which Wells Fargo cashed in on those benefits at the same time it was opening 3.5 million fraudulent accounts in customers’ names. Shierholz explains that customers almost never win when they bring arbitration claims against companies (only 9 percent of the time), while companies almost always win when they bring claims against customers (93 percent of the time). And Wells Fargo is winning even bigger than most companies. While the average consumer who enters into arbitration is required to pay $7,725, Shierholz finds that the average consumer who enters into arbitration with Wells Fargo is ordered to pay the bank nearly $11,000.