Arbitration

[tenderrni]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

I signed an arbitration agreement with an auto dealership/finance company and I was wondering does that stop me from suing the establishment against the fair debt collections act?

[cosine]

Originally Posted by tenderrni

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

I signed an arbitration agreement with an auto dealership/finance company and I was wondering does that stop me from suing the establishment against the fair debt collections act?

The FDCPA (is that the act you are referring to?) applies to 3rd party debt collectors, not the original creditor.

I don't know what the terms of the agreement you signed actually say, but in general, businesses use binding arbitration as a means to avoid the courts. So in all likelihood, the answer is "yes". Of course you can still sue. But they would have a very strong argument to have it thrown out and make you pay for the court costs and their costs.

You can download a copy of the FDCPA from [url=http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.shtm]here[/url].

[JETX]

Originally Posted by cosine

The FDCPA (is that the act you are referring to?) applies to 3rd party debt collectors, not the original creditor.

I don't know what the terms of the agreement you signed actually say, but in general, businesses use binding arbitration as a means to avoid the courts. So in all likelihood, the answer is "yes". Of course you can still sue. But they would have a very strong argument to have it thrown out and make you pay for the court costs and their costs.

You can download a copy of the FDCPA from [url=http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.shtm]here[/url].

At best, 'cosine' is only PARTLY correct.

First, the 'arbitration agreement' you signed likely refers ONLY to the specifics of the transaction.
Second, even if the FDCPA did apply (from your post, it doesn't), the 'arbitration agreement' cannot waive your the federal protections set in the FDCPA.

Bottom line, the statements "So in all likelihood, the answer is "yes" and "But they would have a very strong argument to have it thrown out and make you pay for the court costs and their costs." are 110% crap!

[cosine]

Originally Posted by JETX

At best, 'cosine' is only PARTLY correct.

First, the 'arbitration agreement' you signed likely refers ONLY to the specifics of the transaction.

I wasn't going to guess that based on not knowing the terms of his contract. I know that in many of mine (the ones I bothered to read), it's broader, covering all dispute issues.

Originally Posted by JETX

Second, even if the FDCPA did apply (from your post, it doesn't), the 'arbitration agreement' cannot waive your the federal protections set in the FDCPA.

And in theory (I've never used it) the arbitration process follows the law. So of course the protections are still there. The OP just needs to take any issue that does apply through the arbitration process. Of course there are a lot of people who claim the arbitration process is heavily biased in the favor of big business (I'm inclined to believe that based on what has been said, but have no personal experience with such an issue).

Originally Posted by JETX

Bottom line, the statements "So in all likelihood, the answer is "yes" and "But they would have a very strong argument to have it thrown out and make you pay for the court costs and their costs." are 110% crap!

Since everything you said before this part is not contrary to what I said, and this part doesn't spell out what you think is crap, it's clear all you are doing at this part is making another personal attack.

[Chien]

cosine – JETX is perfectly capable of defending his own position, but the quoted portion was wrong. This is the Nth post that you’ve predicated on what you’ve heard or what you assume to be fact and is another good example of why you might occasionally try to rely on direct knowledge and/or experience before objecting to “personal attacks”.

The original post is poorly framed, confusing and omits information essential for an adequate response. It doesn’t even say that it’s binding arbitration; you assumed that. It didn’t get a quick response. You chose to respond based on assumptions and a dearth of personal knowledge. Except to the extent that the FDCPA doesn’t apply to original creditors (a fact adding to the problems with the post), the response wasn’t accurate.

The vast majority of arbitration clauses are confined to the specifics of the agreement that embodies them. I’ve never seen one that wasn’t (and, unlike you, I both read them and arbitrate them). It’s not even likely that a court would uphold a clause that encompasses everything that has or might arise between parties now and forever. If you really believe that an arbitration clause in an auto financing agreement would also apply to the negligence case that you filed when you slipped in a puddle of oil while walking out of the dealership, you’re deluding yourself. (If that sounds like a personal attack, it’s not; you’re also misleading readers.)

An increasing number of state and federal courts are finding the mandatory arbitration clauses used by credit card issuers, phone service providers etc. to be unconscionable (and no, I won’t provide cites because they’re not relevant). The clause in the auto financing agreement is going to be pursuant to AAA rules and, before you conclude how that will be handled by the court, you might want to inform yourself by reviewing the options that the rules provide:
[url]http://www.adr.org/[/url]