II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 630 

To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 with respect 

to arbitration. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2019 

Mr. BROWN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 

with respect to arbitration. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arbitration Fairness 

5 for Consumers Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are to— 

8 (1) prohibit predispute arbitration agreements 

9 that force arbitration of future consumer financial 

10 product or service dispute; and 


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1 (2) prohibit agreements and practices that 

2 interfere with the right of individuals and small 

3 businesses to participate in a joint, class, or collec4 tive action related to a consumer financial product 

5 or service dispute. 

6 SEC. 3. NO VALIDITY OR ENFORCEABILITY OF PREDISPUTE 

7 ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS OR JOINT-AC8 TION WAIVERS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of the Consumer Fi10 nancial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5531 et seq.) 

11 is amended by inserting after section 1036 (15 U.S.C. 

12 5536) the following: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 1036A. NO VALIDITY OR ENFORCEABILITY OF 

14 PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS OR 

15 JOINT-ACTION WAIVERS. 

16 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 ‘‘(1) CLASS ACTION.—The term ‘class action’ 

18 means a lawsuit in which 1 or more parties seek or 

19 obtain class treatment pursuant to rule 23 of the 

20 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or comparable rule 

21 or provision of State law. 

22 ‘‘(2) CONSUMER DISPUTE.—The term ‘con23 sumer dispute’ means a dispute between— 

24 ‘‘(A) an individual, including an individual 

25 who seeks certification as a class under rule 23 


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1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or a 

2 comparable rule or provision of State law, who 

3 for personal, family, or household purposes, 

4 seeks or acquires— 

5 ‘‘(i) real or personal property; 

6 ‘‘(ii) services, including services re7 lated to digital technology; 

8 ‘‘(iii) securities or other investments; 

9 ‘‘(iv) money; or 

10 ‘‘(v) credit; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the seller or provider of such prop12 erty, services, securities or other investments, 

13 money, or credit, including a third party in14 volved in the selling, providing of, payment for, 

15 receipt or use of information about, or other re16 lationship to any such property, services, securi17 ties or other investments, money, or credit. 

18 ‘‘(3) PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT.— 

19 The term ‘predispute arbitration agreement’ means 

20 an agreement to arbitrate a dispute that has not yet 

21 arisen at the time of the making of the agreement. 

22 ‘‘(4) PRE-DISPUTE JOINT-ACTION WAIVER.— 

23 The term ‘pre-dispute joint-action waiver’ means an 

24 agreement, whether or not part of a predispute arbi25 tration agreement, that would prohibit, or waive the 


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1 right of, one of the parties to the agreement to par2 ticipate in a joint, class, or collective action in a ju3 dicial, arbitral, administrative, or other forum, con4 cerning a dispute that has not yet arisen at the time 

5 of the making of the agreement. 

6 ‘‘(b) NO VALIDITY OR ENFORCEABILITY OF

7 PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS OR JOINT-AC8 TION WAIVERS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

10 provision of law, no predispute arbitration agree11 ment or predispute joint-action waiver shall be valid 

12 or enforceable with respect to a consumer dispute 

13 between a covered person and a consumer that re14 lates to a consumer financial product or service. 

15 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—An issue as to whether 

16 this section applies with respect to a dispute shall be 

17 determined under Federal law. The applicability of 

18 this chapter to an agreement to arbitrate and the 

19 validity and enforceability of an agreement to which 

20 this section applies shall be determined by a court, 

21 rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the 

22 party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration 

23 agreement specifically or in conjunction with other 

24 terms of the contract containing the agreement, and 


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1 irrespective of whether the agreement purports to 

2 delegate such determinations to an arbitrator.’’. 

3 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

4 The table of contents for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Re5 form and Consumer Protection Act is amended by insert6 ing after the item relating to section 1036 the following: 

‘‘1036A. No validity or enforceability of predispute arbitration agreements or 

joint-action waivers.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY. 

8 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 

9 shall apply with respect to any dispute or claim that arises 

10 or accrues on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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