It seems EFCU is just the latest credit union to change their terms to now REQUIRE arbitration -- WITHOUT ANY Opt-Out provision. Accept arbitration or close out your account. Arbitration has become more common, but for a while, credit unions usually had an opt-out provision, as long as it was done within XX days of opening your account. No longer. Just over the last couple months I've seen more and more CUs with Forced Arbitration with NO Opt-Out, and EFCU is now the latest (slated to take effect March 2023.)
Interestingly, here's a recent article on how a court in NY found against a bank for trying to enforce their arbitration agreement by using the loophole of how you must "opt out within XX days of opening your account" -- but the bank didn't institute the Arbitration agreement until well after the one suing joined them (the old connundrum that has been talked about a lot here on DA):
However, now FIs are not even giving the consumer ANY way to Opt-Out.
If you want to stay when them, you MUST use Arbitration. This of course absolutely flies in the face of every American's right to a trial by jury, but money talks. With the banking industry lobby $$ it wasn't stopped even with the democrats in control of congress, and with republicans in control of the house now, you can absolutely forget it. The hurdles one had to go thru just to do Opt-Outs were put there to make it hard on purpose -- but now, even that isn't allowed. Waive your right to a trial by jury or close your account and keep your money under your mattress. Lovely.
