JPMorgan Chase has settled in military class action suit for $60.4 million

Written by Biloxi


JP Morgan Chase agreed to the settlement with U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jonathon Rowles and his wife, a plaintiff in the case. In an investigative report by NBC News in February, JP Morgan Chase was found to be overcharging thousands of soldiers' mortgages and foreclosing on their homes and violating Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the law that shields deployed military soldiers from financial stress. The bank dispersed $2 million to those soldiers who were overcharged. Rowles and his wife filed a class action lawsuit against the bank.

According to MSNBC:

Under terms of the settlement, JPMorgan Chase will pay $12 million to plaintiffs in the case, pay another $27 million to its military customers, and set aside $15 million for additional damages on a case-by-case basis as determined by a special master. The bank will also pay $6.4 million to borrowers who may have been subjected to wrongful foreclosures.


In addition, according to the court filing, there are more settlements by Chase:

1. Bank will cut interest rates on all mortgages held by deployed troops to 4 percent for one year.


2. Bank will pay $8 million in legal fees for Capt. Rowles and his wife and other affected military soldiers who had sued over the mishandled mortgages


3. Bank has agreed to return houses that had been improperly foreclosed upon and not yet sold and to pay fair market value for those homes that were already auctioned off.


4. Bank will forgive any remaining mortgage debt of military borrowers who were protected by the military law and mistakenly foreclosed upon.

Judge still has to approve the class-action settlement before it becomes final. This settlement by Chase follows the recent announcement of several new bank programs to help military and veteran customers such as a new program that went into effect on April 1 to amend for its treatment of military soldiers on mortgage loans according the Chase's website and a military and veterans affairs advisory council to design mortgage programs and products for service members and their families. Here is the reaction of the settlement from Chase and Capt. Rowles:

Frank Bisignano, Chief Administrative Officer of JPMorgan Chase:"We hold ourselves accountable and responsible for these mistakes, and fixing them is just the beginning of a new way forward with the military and veteran community as we make serving them a core part of how we operate our business every day. JPMorgan Chase has a proud history of honoring the military and veterans and we want to move forward from this experience to be an outstanding partner to the military across all of our businesses."

Capt. Rowles: "It is our hope that this settlement will result in greater attention by the entire financial services industry to the nation's laws that protect our military families. We also hope others follow Chase's lead in creating additional programs for job creation, home ownership, and other financial assistance for veterans and members of the military. I look forward to working with Chase on these initiatives as an advisor to its Veteran's Advisory Council."

JP Morgan Chase may have settled with Capt. Rowles and the military families civil but the bank's nightmare is not far over because there are other investigations into the violations of the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act by Chase. Keller Rohrback LLP law firm is investigating JPMorgan Chase and the bank's subsidiaries, regarding alleged abuses of military soldiers and Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is investigating JPMorgan Chase and other lenders for alleged violations of the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act.