JPMorgan Chase was sued by customers who accused the largest US bank of unfairly charging fees when they deposit checks that, through no fault of their own, bounce.
In a proposed class action filed on Tuesday night, five customers said New York-based Chase docked $12 “deposited item returned fees” from their accounts when checks they tried to deposit were returned unpaid.
Checks can bounce for many reasons, including when writers do not have enough money in their accounts or issue stop payment orders, or when the checks contain errors.
The Chase customers called the bank’s “junk fees” for returned checks “unconscionable” and “predatory,” citing an October 2022 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau bulletin that said indiscriminately charging such fees was likely illegal.
They also said Chase “all but acknowledged” that its fees were unfair in March 2023 when its deposit agreements and fee schedules stopped disclosing them.
“Chase unfairly targeted its customers with financial penalties for faulty checks the customers had no hand in issuing,” the complaint said. “They did nothing wrong, yet were penalized.”
The bank had no immediate comment on Wednesday, having yet to review the complaint.
Lisa Considine, a lawyer for the customers, called the fees “a pervasive and unfair industry practice that penalizes consumers for circumstances that are outside of their control.”
The complaint seeks at least $5 million of damages for Chase customers nationwide, alleging violations of New York, California, Illinois and New Jersey consumer protection laws. It was filed in the White Plains, NY, federal court.
In October, the Biden administration called for a crackdown on hidden and surprise fees in banking and other sectors including car rentals, hotels and concert tickets, saying the fees cost Americans tens of billions of dollars a year.
The case is Maslowski et al v JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-01277.
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