Each Company is different, but most generally try to avoid arbitration if possible. Also when you sign on the terms and conditions you typically sign away a lot of your rights and the arbitration is generally agreed upon on how it will work.

May find the arbitration process in the card terms & conditions.

I can honestly say that I've never heard of anyone that has had to go through this with a credit card company. I'm not even sure that most people know about it. Are there steps that the company will take before you end up going through arbitration?

Hard to say ... consumers can be very creative.

I don't really see how most consumers would stand a chance at arbitration if they incurred the debt. What exactly would the average consumer dispute with a credit card company?

A follow on this discussion, the reports show that lenders that go to arbitration win over 90+% of the time. As a consumer, you may want to find a solution before heading to arbitration with the belief you have a chance. The history of this process is against the person owing the debt.

This is interesting. I guess I've never read the fine print because I didn't know this. I don't like the idea of losing options as a consumer but like others have said, we aren't forced to use their cards.

alpha wrote: I think there are a number of companies, including these credit card ones I guess, who put in their contracts that you have to go to arbitration instead of directly to court. Since they're not forcing you to take their card, it seems like something you're agreeing to when you sign up.

Conversely, there are no laws stating that credit card companies have to give you no option other than arbitration. Just like we are not forced to take the card, they are not forced to put that stipulation in the contract.

I haven't paid close attention to this, but that is probably what the lawsuit centered on. At least I would think that was the case.

I think there are a number of companies, including these credit card ones I guess, who put in their contracts that you have to go to arbitration instead of directly to court. Since they're not forcing you to take their card, it seems like something you're agreeing to when you sign up. The question is whether there are any cards that don't require arbitration, or whether you can go to court later if arbitration doesn't work.
I think there are way too many people going to court for one thing or another, so some other avenue to settle disputes might be better.

A class action lawsuit was given another chance today by the US Appeals Courts which was challenging the way some banks make their credit card customers settle complaints against them via arbitration and do not allow the option of the courts.

Named in the case are Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorganChase, CitiGroup, Discover, HSBC and more. American Express and Wells Fargo are also cited as having the same kind of practices.

You can read more in a Forbes article. (I did try to link it but it wouldn't work, but it's there at forbes.com). Does not being able to take them to the courts make them above the law or is it a benefit of living in the land of the free?

What'd you think, should they be able to do that or not?