Many of us do not realize that the vast majority of credit card agreements contain an arbitration clause which waives one's rights to have their dispute heard in a court of law. Unscrupulous debt collectors often use this provision to entitle their clients to judgments without the consumer ever having their day in court. It does not matter whether your debt is time-barred or if you ever in fact had an agreement to arbitrate. If you do not respond right away, the so-called "neutral" arbitrator will more or less take the debt collector at their word. At the supposedly "neutral" arbitration, the arguments of both sides are ultimately decided by a third party, an independent arbitrator whose decisions are subsequently binding upon a court of law. But how neutral is this third party? Some studies show that the arbitrator, such as those working for the National Arbitration Forum, decide in favor of the credit card companies a whopping 97% percent of the time! Could this have something to do with the fact that his fees are paid by the debt collector and/or credit card company? Many consumer advocates suspect that this is in fact the case. As the saying goes, arbitration is often the best justice money can buy. Don't believe me? Check out the following study done by Public Citizen of a so-called "neutral arbitrator" for the National Arbitration Forum:

If you have received a letter or other notice from an arbitrator or the National Arbitration Forum, please contact attorney Scott D. Owens immediately.