JP Morgan’s Struggle To Reap Crypto Profit Continues

One of the biggest banks of America, JP Morgan Chase has been hit with a lawsuit for charging its customers with surprise fees and high-interest rates for cryptocurrency purchases in Manhattan federal court.

JP Morgan Chase sued over extra fees & high-interest rates for crypto purchases

JP Morgan Chase has been hit with a class action lawsuit on Tuesday. The allegations put on the bank says JP Morgan Chase charged extra fees as well as extremely higher interest rates on the cash advances. When customers complained of the same, the bank refused to refund the charges.

The Manhattan federal court accused the bank of implementing unauthorized fees on cryptocurrency purchases with credit cards without first warning its customers. JP Morgan charged those purchases as cash advances without its customer’s knowledge.

The spokeswoman of Chase, Mary Jane Rogers declined to comment anything on the lawsuit. However, she did mention that due to the risks involved the bank already stopped processing the credit card purchases of cryptocurrencies in February. She further explained that customers can use their bank debit cards to buy cryptos from their checking accounts without subjecting to the cash advance charges.

Earlier this year, the bitcoin prices took a great fall losing more than half of its value from its all-time high of $20,000 in December. This led several banks around the world like Virgin Money, Citigroup, Lloyd Banking Group Plc, Bank of America, and Discover Financial Services to ban the purchase of cryptocurrencies from their credit cards.

Also, read: Opinion: With Effects Of CME And CBOE Still Unclear, Is Cryptocurrency Market Ready For Big Boyz?

Plaintiff seeking damages of $1 million, claims hundreds of customers affected

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff Brady Tucker, an Idaho resident was hit with a fee of $143.30 and another $20.61 as surprise interest charges by the Chase for about five of his crypto transaction which was just a few days before the bank implemented the ban.

The plaintiff further claims that about hundreds or “possibly thousands” of other customers of Chase were similarly charged. He tried to dispute the charges through the bank’s customer line but the bank refused to remove them.

The lawsuit further says that without any advance warning the bank “stuck the plaintiff with the bill, after the fact of his transactions, and insisted that he pay it.”

The lawsuit is seeking actual and statutory damages of $1 million that accuses the bank of violating the US Truth in Lending Act which basically requires that the credit card issuers notify its customers of any changes in terms and conditions in writing well in advance.

Well, looks like Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase that once called bitcoin a fraud is experiencing an irony of sorts which doesn’t look good for him at all!