,,ii #aaeth ,,congress #ast ,session ,s4 #eeb ,,in ,,the ,,senate ,,of ,,the ,,united ,,states ,march #g1 #bjag,mr4 ,brown 7for himself1 ,mr4 ,leahy1 ,mrs4 ,murray1 ,mr4 ,wyden1 ,mr4 ,durbin1 ,mr4 ,reed1 ,mr4 ,menendez1 ,mr4 ,sanders1 ,mr4 ,casey1 ,mr4 ,whitehouse1 ,mr4 ,warner1 ,mr4 ,merkley1 ,mr4 ,franken1 ,mr4 ,blumenthal1 ,mr4 ,schatz1 ,ms4 ,hirono1 ,ms4 ,warren1 ,ms4 ,heitkamp1 and ,mr4 ,van ,hollen7 introduced the following bill2 which was read twice and referred to the ,committee on ,banking1 ,housing1 and ,urban ,affairs ,a ,,bill ,to amend the ,truth in ,lending ,act and the ,electronic ,fund ,transfer ,act to provide justice to victims of fraud4 #a4 ,short title ,this ,act may be cited as the ,justice for ,victims of ,fraud ,act of #bjag4 #b4 ,findings ,congress finds that-- 7#a7 the ,bureau of ,consumer ,financial ,protection found that ,wells ,fargo management implemented sales incentives1 including an incentive compensation program1 in part to increase the number of banking products and services that its employees sold to its customers2 7#b7 the ,bureau of ,consumer ,financial ,protection found that ,wells ,fargo employees engaged in improper sales practices to satisfy sales goals under an incentive compensation program of ,wells ,fargo1 including opening as many as #a1ecd1bhj checking accounts and #efe1ddc credit card accounts using information of consumers without their knowledge or consent between ,may #bjaa and ,july #bjae2 7#c7 ,wells ,fargo successfully claimed in ,jabbari v4 ,wells ,fargo ,co41 ,no4 #ae-;cv-#jbaei-,,vc 7,n4,d4 ,cal4 ,sept4 #bc1 #bjae7 that customers had signed away their rights to hold ,wells ,fargo accountable in court for claims of fraud because those customers were bound to a forced arbitration clause for their legitimate accounts2 7#d7 after ,wells ,fargo publicly entered a settlement with ,federal regulators for the opening of thousands of unauthorized customer accounts1 ,wells ,fargo claimed in ,mitchell v4 ,wells ,fargo ,bank ,n4,a41 ,no4 #af-jjiff 7,d4 ,utah complaint filed ,sept4 #af1 #bjaf7 that the fraud claims of customers must continue to be forced into arbitration2 7#e7 several courts have determined that despite claims of fraud over unauthorized accounts opened without customer knowledge or consent1 those customers are still bound by contracts forcing those claims into arbitration based on the interpretation of courts of title #i1 ,united ,states ,code2 7#f7 the ,united ,states ,arbitration ,act 7#dc ,stat4 #hhc1 ch4 #bac7 7codified at title #i1 ,united ,states ,code7 was intended to apply to disputes between commercial entities of generally similar sophistication and bargaining power1 but a series of decisions by the ,supreme ,court of the ,united ,states has interpreted title #i1 ,united ,states ,code1 to apply to claims of fraud2 and 7#g7 consumers have no meaningful choice whether to submit their claims to arbitration and are typically unaware that they have given up their rights to file claims in court4 #c4 ,arbitration of consumer disputes related to credit card accounts ,chapter #b of the ,truth in ,lending ,act 7#ae ,u4,s4,c4 #afca et seq47 is amended by adding at the end the following3 #adj;,b4 ,validity and enforceability 7a7 ,definitions ,in this section-- 7#a7 the term covered dispute means a dispute that is not subject to a final judgment by a court2 and 7#b7 the term predispute arbitration agreement means any agreement between a person and a consumer providing for arbitration of any future dispute between the parties4 7b7 ,validity and enforceability ,no predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable in a covered dispute that is related to a credit card that was not issued in response to a request or application for that credit card account4 7c7 ,applicability ,the applicability of this section to a predispute arbitration agreement shall be determined by a ,state or ,federal court of competent jurisdiction4 4 #d4 ,arbitration of consumer disputes related to covered accounts ,the ,electronic ,fund ,transfer ,act 7#ae ,u4,s4,c4 #afic et seq47 is amended by inserting after section #ibj 7#ae ,u4,s4,c4 #afico-#b7 the following3 #ibj;,a4 ,validity and enforceability 7a7 ,definitions ,in this section-- 7#a7 the term covered account-- 7,a7 means a demand deposit1 savings deposit1 or other asset account 7other than an occasional or incidental credit balance in an open end credit plan as defined in section #ajc7;i771 as described in regulations of the ,bureau1 established primarily for personal1 family1 or household purposes1 including demand accounts1 time accounts1 negotiable order of withdrawal accounts1 and share draft accounts2 and 7,b7 does not include an account held by a financial institution pursuant to a bona fide trust agreement2 7#b7 the term covered dispute means a dispute that is not subject to a final judgment by a court2 and 7#c7 the term predispute arbitration agreement means any agreement between a financial institution and a consumer providing for arbitration of any future dispute between the parties4 7b7 ,validity and enforceability ,no predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable in a covered dispute that is related to a covered account that was not issued in response to a request or application for that covered account4 7c7 ,applicability ,the applicability of this section to a predispute arbitration agreement shall be determined by a ,state or ,federal court of competent jurisdiction4 4 #e4 ,rule of construction ,nothing in the amendments made by this ,act shall be construed-- 7#a7 to authorize the imposition of a requirement to submit a dispute to arbitration2 or 7#b7 to restrict any court from ruling that a requirement to submit a dispute to arbitration is invalid or unenforceable4