By Elena Gurevich and Russ Bleemer

Last night in a narrow 51-50 vote, Senate Republicans overturned the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would have allowed the consumers to file class action suits against financial institutions and prohibited waivers of such processes accompanied by mandatory predispute arbitration.

Vice President Mike Pence cast the deciding vote.  See our blog post from earlier today here.

According to the New York Times, “By defeating the rule, Republicans are dismantling a major effort of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog created by Congress in the aftermath of the mortgage mess.” See Jessica Silver-Greenberg, “Consumer Bureau Loses Fight to Allow More Class-Action Suits,” N.Y. Times (Oct. 24)(available at http://nyti.ms/2yL9eHn)

Reuters, noting that the House already passed the resolution repealing the rule soon after it was released in July, observed that the resolution under the Congressional Review Act “also bars regulators from instituting a similar ban in the future.” Lisa Lambert, “Republicans, Wall Street score victory in dismantling class-action rule,” Reuters (Oct. 24)(available at http://cnb.cx/2yQd8B2).

Moments after the vote, the White House issued a statement applauding Congress for passing the resolution and stating that a recent Treasury Department report was clear evidence that “the CFPB’s rule would neither protect consumers nor serve the public interest.” The White House statement is available at http://bit.ly/2yLFOew.

President Trump is expected to sign the resolution the moment it hits his desk. This, according to Reuters, will “abruptly end a years-long fight that has included multiple federal regulators, consumer advocacy groups, and financial lobbyists.”

In its blog that closely monitors the CFPB, consumerfinancemonitor.com, Ballard Spahr, a Philadelphia-based law firm, congratulated the Senate for “its courageous action and for recognizing . . . that arbitration benefits consumers, while class action litigation benefits only the plaintiffs’ bar.”

Keith A. Noreika, the acting Comptroller of the Currency, issued a statement praising the vote and calling it “a victory for consumers and small banks across the country.” Noreika stressed the crucial role of the OCC that “identified the rule’s likely significant effect on consumers.” The OCC statement is available at http://bit.ly/2gJ1rFC.

Late Tuesday night, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D. Mass., who was among those who defended the rule this week wrote on Twitter, “Tonight @VP Pence & the @SenateGOP gave a giant wet kiss to Wall Street. No wonder Americans think the system is rigged against them. It is.”

CNN reported that “Consumer advocates said the vote was a tremendous setback for Americans, and that it offered companies like Wells Fargo and Equifax ‘a get-out-of-jail-free card.’” Donna Borak & Ted Barrett, “Senate kills rule that made it easier to sue banks,” CNN (Oct. 25)(available at http://cnn.it/2zCxJFN).

CNN also quoted Karl Frisch, executive director of Washington’s Allied Progress, a consumer watchdog group, who said that “This repeal will hurt millions of consumers across the country by denying them their rightful day in court when they get screwed over by financial predators.”

Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit consumer advocacy group echoed this sentiment, tweeting that the “#RipoffClause enables bad actor banks like @WellsFargo to steal billions from the very consumers they defraud and get off scot free.”

***

Gurevich is a CPR Institute 2017 Fall Intern. Bleemer edits Alternatives for the CPR Institute.