The 2018 JP Morgan crypto credit card lawsuit was recently settled by banking giants with $2.5 million in total payouts. The lawsuit filed two years ago claimed that JP Morgan Chase overcharged its customers for buying digital currencies using the bank’s credit card, categorizing purchases as cash advances.
JP Morgan Chase has opted to classify crypto purchases as “cash advances,” which are generally charged more than usual. As a result, some of the bank’s clients filed a class action suit back in 2018, which was settled back in March of this year. As part of the agreement, the banking giants will not admit any misdemeanor.
JP Morgan crypto credit card lawsuit was filed in 2018
However, according to a report by Reuters on May 28, the bank accepted to resolve the class action lawsuit by paying $2.5 million. According to one of the plaintiffs, Brady Tucker, JP Morgan breached the Truth in Lending Act; as it did not notify its clients that buying crypto using a credit card is being treated as “cash advances.” The report highlights:
“In a motion filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, plaintiffs said the settlement would result in class members getting about 95% of the fees they said they were unlawfully charged.”
This classification resulted in customers being charged higher fees than usual. In his case, Tucker argues that JP Morgan declined to refund him for excessively charging him; after using his credit card to purchase digital currencies from Coinbase.
JP Morgan changes stance towards crypto
In reality, two years ago, when the lawsuit was filed, JP Morgan was unfriendly to digital currencies. The CEO of the bank, Jamie Dimon, also went on to label Bitcoin as a fraud. However, he later confessed to CNBC that he was mistaken to label Bitcoin as a fraud.
Nevertheless, it has recently been reported that JP Morgan offers banking services to two cryptocurrency exchanges, namely Coinbase and Gemini. This shows that the bank has changed its stance towards cryptocurrencies in recent times.