JPMorgan Settles Claims Of Using High-Pressure Tactics On Customers

(AP) WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase Bank has agreed to pay $2 million to settle federal regulators' civil claims that it used high-pressure tactics and false statements to get auto loan customers to buy contracts that would suspend or cancel loan payments in case they lost their job.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Treasury Department agency that oversees national banks, announced the fine Wednesday for how the credit protection product was marketed in 2008 and 2009 by its Chase Auto Finance division.

The bank neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing under the settlement agreement.

In 2009, JPMorgan Chase Bank stopped selling the credit protection contracts, which carried a monthly fee, as well as a similar product for home mortgage borrowers. JPMorgan previously reimbursed affected customers for about $25 million.