Page 2 The Skanner December 14, 2016
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Opinion
Bill Seeks Financial Justice for Wells Fargo Victims
A
series of developments
following the Wells
Fargo scandal has now
led to the introduction
of legislation designed to
bring financial justice to the
millions of consumers affect-
ed by fees and fraudulent ac-
counts they never authorized,
nor opened.
On Dec. 1, Ohio U.S. Senator
Sherrod Brown, introduced
a bill that would grant Wells
Fargo victims their own
day in court — even if they
signed contracts that includ-
ed arbitration for legitimate-
ly-opened accounts with the
bank.
Entitled the “Justice for Vic-
tims of Fraud Act of 2016,”
the bill would work hand-in-
hand with provisions of the
Consumer Financial Protec-
tion Bureau’s proposed over-
sight rule. While CFPB’s rule
would apply to credit con-
tracts signed after the rule
took effect, Brown’s legisla-
tion would apply only to cases
of fraud like those affected by
the Wells Fargo scandal that
preceded the record $185 mil-
lion CFPB fine.
A companion bill was also
filed in the House of Repre-
sentatives by California Con-
gressman Brad Sherman.
“I want to thank Senate
Banking Committee Ranking
Member Sherrod Brown for
working with me to intro-
duce the “Justice for Victims
of Fraud Act of 2016.” This
bill will give defrauded Wells
Charlene
Crowell
NNPA
Columnist
Fargo customers the oppor-
tunity for their day in court,”
said Sherman. “If customers
never authorized the open-
ing of a phony credit card or
checking account, there is no
reason they should be bound
by the arbitration agreement
they were forced to sign when
“
former CEO of Wells Fargo
who said that the bank would
continue its practice of forced
arbitration, despite Sen.
Brown pressing for clear an-
swers as to how cheated cus-
tomers with damaged credit
scores would be treated.
The nation’s third largest
bank by assets, Wells Fargo
fraudulently created an esti-
mated two million credit card
and deposit accounts.
Forced arbitration autho-
rizes an arbitrator selected
and paid by the bank to settle
customer disputes. It is also
an approach that is usually
‘[The ‘Justice for Victims of Fraud
Act of 2016’] will give defrauded
Wells Fargo customers the oppor-
tunity for their day in court’
they set up their legitimate
account.”
“Forced
arbitration
is
shielding Wells Fargo from
being held accountable for
tanking customers’ credit
scores and charging them
fraudulent fines,” said Sen.
Brown. “Wells Fargo’s cus-
tomers never intended to sign
away their right to fight back
against fraud and deceit. We
need to give customers back
their ability to seek justice
in court so they can be made
whole again.”
The legislative initiative
follows earlier congressional
testimony by John Stumpf, the
hidden in the fine printed
details of consumer credit
agreements. If a consumer is
dissatisfied with the decision
of the arbitrator, he/she is
denied the right to sue or fur-
ther question the decision.
Already,
Brown’s
bill
has support of 14 Senate
co-sponsors
representing
Connecticut, Hawaii, Illi-
nois, Massachusetts, Minne-
sota, Montana, New Jersey,
North Dakota, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Vermont and
Virginia.
Additionally, the measure
is supported by a growing list
of organizations that include
the NAACP, California Rein-
vestment Coalition, Public
Justice, the Franciscan Action
Network, the Economic Policy
Institute, National Consumer
Law Center, and Americans
for Financial Reform.
Speaking on behalf of the
Center for Responsible Lend-
ing, another organizational
supporter, Melissa Stegman,
a Senior Policy Counsel said,
“This legislation gives these
defrauded customers the op-
portunity to seek justice in
court and is a step in the right
direction in bringing fairness
to consumer finance…Open-
ing fraudulent accounts is not
the only abusive tactic Wells
Fargo has committed – they
are also notorious for manip-
ulating transactions in order
to charge excessive overdraft
fees to their customers.”
Defrauded consumers do
not deserved to be financial-
ly victimized a second time.
Instead of trying to minimize
the costs Wells Fargo will
accrue, both the bank’s long-
term interests and its custom-
ers would be better served
by fully acknowledging its
actions, providing fair resti-
tution, and enacting reforms
to ensure that these kinds of
illegal actions will not hap-
pen again.
Charlene Crowell is commu-
nications deputy director with
the Center for Responsible
Lending. She can be reached
at charlene.crowell@responsi-
blelending.org.
If Donald Trump Is Serious about Fighting Terrorism,
He Should Try Registering White Nationalists First
I have been trying to figure
out how there can be any dis-
cussion of registering Mus-
lims due to alleged national
security concerns, when it
is documented that the ma-
jor source of terrorism in
the United States since 9/11
has been White suprema-
cists groups. The Southern
Poverty Law Center has been
a major source of informa-
tion documenting myriad
right-wing terrorist attacks,
though little mainstream at-
tention has gone to this phe-
nomenon. Just recently sev-
eral right-wingers in Oregon
were acquitted of an ARMED
occupation of federal proper-
ty. This was not civil disobedi-
ence or standard protest, but
an armed action.
In the late 1960s/early 1970s,
there were many Black activ-
ists who worried that, in the
face of some alleged crisis
proclaimed by the U.S. gov-
ernment, African Americans
would be placed into con-
centration camps. The main-
Bill
Fletcher Jr.
The Global
African
stream political establish-
ment declared that we were
paranoid. While it was true,
they would say, that Japanese
immigrants and Japanese
Americans had been impris-
“
cans had been locked up on
reservations was convenient-
ly ignored.
Fast forward to the 2016
Presidential elections. Repub-
lican candidates, including,
but not limited to, now Presi-
dent-elect Trump, began mak-
ing suggestions regarding the
registering and possible in-
terning of Muslims in the U.S.
The rationale: alleged nation-
al security concerns.
This threat of registration,
if not detention, has not disap-
If there is a registry of Muslims,
then all people of conscience
should sign up as an act of protest
to debunk the registry
oned in 1942 as an alleged
security threat during World
War II, we were subjected to
repeated arguments that this
would never happen again;
what happened to the Japa-
nese had been an aberration.
The fact that Native Ameri-
peared. Despite the fact that
White supremacists are the
main source of terrorism in
the U.S., there has been no call
to register White national-
ists, let alone any other White
people. Using the Trump
rationale, there should be a
massive registering of White
nationalists since history
demonstrates their propen-
sity for violence. Yet any
time the issue of right-wing/
White supremacist terrorism
is raised, it is brushed under
the rug and the act(s) of vio-
lence is pinned on an alleged-
ly disturbed White person
,who committed the horrible
act, solely due to some sort of
inexplicable compulsion.
If there is a registry of
Muslims, then all people of
conscience should sign up as
an act of protest. We should
ensure that the registry is
debunked and that any dis-
cussion of terrorism in the
U.S. begins with a current and
historical examination of the
main danger of terrorism we
face, terrorism perpetrated
by the homegrown right-
wing.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a talk show
host, writer and activist. Follow
him on Twitter @BillFletcher-
Jr, Facebook and at www.billf-
letcherjr.com.