Rush Card Owner Russell Simmons Will Pay At Least $19 Million To Rush Card Users

Rush Card Owner Russell Simmons Will Pay At
 Least $19 Million To Rush Card Users 

BHR Hollywood Reports............RushCard, which is owned by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, has agreed to pay at least $19 million to compensate the users who were affected. A technical glitch related to RushCard switching payment processors prevented tens of thousands of RushCard customers from accessing their money for as long as two weeks.

Rush Card 

The problem first began in October 2015, when RushCard customers began flooding social media with complaints about being unable to withdraw and deposit money.

 The prepaid card is often marketed to and used by low-income minorities, many of whom don’t have access to bank accounts and often live from paycheck to paycheck.

Without access to their money, these RushCard customers were unable to buy food, pay bills, and pay for gas to get to their jobs.

Russell Simmons 

The preliminary settlement, which still needs court approval, includes about $19 million to reimburse customers for fees and other costs they faced after they lost access to their accounts for days. The
remaining $1.5 million will go toward attorney fees.

“The company recognized that their service had caused frustration and unhappiness and damages [to cardholders],” said John Yanchunis, the lead attorney representing the plaintiffs in the class-action suit.

The card’s parent company, UniRush, is not out of hot water yet. It is currently under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; representatives were ordered to provide documents about the cause of the glitch. A spokesperson for the Bureau declined to comment on any potential ramifications.

Simmons has repeatedly apologized that his company left so many account holders in a financial lurch. He eventually said that he would create a fund to help those customers most affected.

In the agreement, filed as part of a class-action lawsuit in New York, RushCard is agreeing to pay each user that couldn’t access their funds $100, with the amount increasing to $500 if they can prove they experienced a loss as a result of the outage.

It remains to be seen whether account holders will be satisfied with the settlement.