JPMorgan Chase & Co has been the subject of a lawsuit in the federal court of Manhattan which accused it of charging surprise charges when it stopped allowing customers to buy cryptocurrency with credit cards at the end of January and began to process purchases like cash advances. Report Reuters
According to Chase (JPM.N), it charged both extra commissions and substantially higher interest rates on cash advances and credit cards and refused to reimburse expenses when customers complained.
Chase’s spokeswoman, Mary Jane Rogers, refused to comment on the case, but said the bank stopped processing cryptocurrencies with a credit card on February 3 because of credit risk. Customers can use their Chase debit cards to buy cryptocurrency from their current accounts without resorting to cash, he said.
Several banks in Britain and the United States, including Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY.L), Virgin Money (VM.L) and Citigroup (CN), have banned the use of credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies at the beginning of this year after a dramatic decline in the value of bitcoin, the most popular virtual currency.
The plaintiff named in the lawsuit, Brady Tucker, resident in Idaho, was hit with $ 143.30 in taxes and $ 20.61 in Surse’s surprise interest charges for five cryptocurrency transactions between January 27 and February 2 , said his cause. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of other Chase customers have been hit by the charges, Tucker said.
Tucker called Chase’s customer service to challenge the charges, but the bank refused to remove them, according to the lawsuit.
Without warning, Chase “blocked the plaintiff with the bill, after the fact of his transactions, and insisted that he pay it,” the lawsuit said. A lawyer for Tucker could not be reached by Reuters for comment.
The lawsuit accuses Chase of violating the US law on the loan law, which requires credit card issuers to notify customers in writing of any significant change in rates or terms. The cause is the claim for real damages and legal damages of $ 1 million.
