Consumer agency to review mandatory arbitration in financial services
Finally, a spotlight will be shone on a widespread business practice that forces unhappy customers to settle disputes through binding arbitration — rather than by telling their story in court. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau now is seeking public input about mandatory arbitration clauses in the contracts of financial products and services. More important, the board has the power to limit or even eliminate the clauses if they hurt consumers.

Got a Credit Card or Bank Account? Scrutiny of Forced Arbitration Is Good News
We expect that any fair examination of forced arbitration will conclude that the practice is devastatingly harmful to consumers. The most critical step, then, will be for the CFPB to ban forced arbitration, ensuring that arbitration is always voluntary for consumers – not a kangaroo court or a tool for law-breaking corporations to insulate themselves from accountability.

CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU LAUNCHES PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO ARBITRATION CLAUSES
Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) launched a public inquiry into how consumers and financial services companies are affected by arbitration and arbitration clauses.

Pulte Homes Reschedules Official City Council Meeting
Pulte made a last minute request to change the date of the schedule meeting before the Clermont City Council.  Pulte took matters into their own hands and placed their own signs with their own dates.  See Pulte Sign Notice.

Angry Schertz homeowners decry lack of progress
In the Fairhaven subdivision in Schertz, the faults are readily apparent in this Pulte-built community: cracking walls, sidewalks, driveways and more."We have let them in our house multiple times to fix our problems and now ... my foundation is patched,” Hollestelle said. “They call it fixed."... Janet Ahmad, of Homeowners for Better Building, said builders are not held accountable for mistakes. "They get nothing when they build a bad house,” Ahmad said. “They don't get a ticket, they don't lose their license.

Buyer Had Adequate ‘Clickthrough' Notice of Terms
An AT&T customer will have to arbitrate claims individually, rather than pursue class claims in court, after a federal court decided March 26 that an online “clickthrough” process provided adequate notice of an arbitration agreement.  The plaintiff, Richard Sherman, sought to litigate an overcharge claim against AT&T Inc. in federal district court on behalf of a class...The online registration notice to the plaintiff did not explicitly mention the arbitration clause, the court acknowledged. But it did say, “other conditions and restrictions apply,”

Americans brace for next foreclosure wave
Half a decade into the deepest U.S. housing crisis since the 1930s, many Americans are hoping the crisis is finally nearing its end. House sales are picking up across most of the country, the plunge in prices is slowing and attempts by lenders to claim back properties from struggling borrowers dropped by more than a third in 2011, hitting a four-year low.

KB Home: Why This Homebuilder Will Never Be Great Again
The sorry mess that KB Home reported Wall Street sees...  KB Home posted a larger quarterly deficit than analysts were expecting. New orders fell by 8%, and the percentage of contracts that were canceled spiked to 36%.  ... KB frazzled. KB's report was bad enough to send the stock plunging nearly 20% last week. Don't wait up for KB Home to be invited to the open-house parties being thrown by its profitable and growing peers. KB Home posting another hefty loss this year. The profit that analysts were targeting for KB Home for 2013 just three months ago has been more than slashed in half.

What Is Behind the Recent Stock Moves in KB Home
KB Home reported a loss of $45.8 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $114.5 million,...Net orders fell 8.1% to 1,197 homes, with a strong decline seen on the West Coast. The cancellation rate also rose from 29% to 36% over a year ago, indicating that more deals were being unravelled before closing. Given the poor results, the company had to spend much of its midday conference call soothing investors.... While the outlook for the US housing market has been gradually improving, last week’s data raised concerns about the start of the critical spring selling season. KB Home’s poor results also led to an across-the-board price drops for other homebuilders.

U.S. Battles Home Builder Over Pay Probe
The Labor Department has stepped up pressure on PulteGroup Inc. in what has become a nasty battle between the Michigan-based home builder and the Obama administration over an investigation into the housing industry's pay practices. The department filed a petition in federal district court in Michigan on Feb. 28 seeking to compel Pulte to produce thousands of records related to its employees and subcontractors, as requested in a subpoena it sent the company last year. ...Federal officials issued the subpoena as part of a broader investigation into pay practices of at least five national home-building companies. Related article: U.S. Hits Builders With Pay Probe       Pulte Homes Under U.S. Labor Dept. Investigation
The Boston Global: Pulte Homes contractors fined for failing to pay workers and taxes    

New Homeowners Website: KB Home Problems.com - Warning About the Potential Nightmare Experience Buying a New KB Home Our New KB Home has felt like an Old Fixer-Upper with all the problems we've had. ...cracks, big cracks, cracks everywhere

Forced Binding or Non-Binding Arbitration Undermines Builder Warranty Responsibility
A leak in the ceiling of the family room within weeks of moving in filled large kitchen trash cans used to catch the water.  During the first three years KB Home refused to make the vast majority of warranty repairs including the leaks, saying that they were not warranty repair issues.  Simons then filed a mandatory non-binding arbitration claim that would last another 4½ years for a total of 7½ years from the time they moved in...“A new home warranty should be basic to the rights of consumers to assure that if something goes wrong the builder is obligated to make repairs timely, not make homeowners run the obstacles of a legal marathon.” 

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Stablewood Farms residents say builder never told about old sewer plant
Several homeowners in a southwest San Antonio neighborhood say they were not told their homes were built over an old sewer treatment plant and are demanding the builder buy back the homes. Residents in Stablewood Farms, some wearing radiation suits and gas masks, were waving signs in protest on Monday outside the D.R. Horton corporate officers.

Class Action Certified In North Carolina Against KB Homes
On Monday, Judge Jolly certified a class action making claims against KB Home... There's no telling whether HardiePlank will prove to be as large a problem as synthetic stucco was. The plaintiffs' lawyers estimate the cost of repair for each home to be $30,000. Although KB Home disputes that figure, that puts the full exposure for nearly 300 homes at almost $9 million. For a public company like KB, whose last 10-K filing shows that it hasn't turned a profit between 2009 and 2011, that's a pretty daunting potential liability.