Banks want amendment of the legislative Act regarding consumer credit

The Union of Polish Banks has been appealing to the Ministry of Finance that it consider amendments to the legislative Act regarding consumer credit. As the sectoral organisation sees it, the law as it now is excludes commissions from among the costs subject to return to a consumer repaying her loan ahead of the scheduled repayment date.

Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, president of the Union of Polish Banks, has been highlighting in his letters to the Civil Rights Ombudsman the need for amendment of the legislative Act regarding consumer credit in the wake of the Court of Justice of the European Union judgment in case C-383/18 (Lexitor) from 11 September 2019.

The root of the problem

Ruling on case C-383/18, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that, where a loan is repaid in its entirety ahead of the final repayment deadline stipulated in the credit agreement, the duty of reducing the aggregate credit cost in accordance with art. 49 of the legislative Act regarding consumer credit applies to all the costs, commissions included – not only to costs spread out in time, such as interest or insurance. This is the essence of art. 16.1 of the consumer credit Directive from which the Polish statue derives. Subsequent to the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling, however, it transpired that some lenders are refusing full refunds. The Civil Rights Ombudsman has stepped in to assist consumers in such cases; in reply to his communications, the Union of Polish Banks has raised, among other points, that the Polish laws contravene the EU ones.

The full text of this article is available (in Polish) on www.prawo.pl