CFPB to Host Public Field Hearing on Arbitration

Next Tuesday, March 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will convene a public field hearing in Newark, N.J., to discuss arbitration. The field event will feature remarks by CFPB Director Richard Cordray, followed by a panel discussion with consumer groups and industry representatives.

The hearing will begin at 11am eastern in the J. Harry Smith Lecture Hall at Essex County College in Newark.

The CFPB did not go into further detail regarding the meeting. But it did previously hold a field hearing in December 2013 on arbitration clauses in credit contracts. At that hearing, Cordray expressed the CFPB’s desire to further study those clauses beyond an initial study it conducted on the issue. The Bureau also released the preliminary results of the arbitration study at the hearing.

It is anticipated that the Bureau will use next week’s field hearing to present a final study or even proposals for new rules concerning arbitration clauses in credit contracts.