There is constant activity surrounding Swiss franc loans. Banks are now trying to minimize their losses by demanding that borrowers repay the principal of the loan and more. Over the past month, several banks have begun sending such demands to borrowers. This is a result of court rulings, according to which if a loan agreement is invalid, borrowers are entitled to a refund of the money paid to the banks, but the banks, in turn, are entitled to a refund of the loan amount granted to the borrowers. As a result, even though banks continue to deny in the so-called “franc cases” that the loan agreements are defective and invalid, they are simultaneously sending letters to borrowers in which they claim that, since the loan agreement is invalid, they are entitled to a refund of the money they lent. This creates a dangerous situation for borrowers. They are still waiting for a final resolution of their cases in court and to recover their money, yet they are already required to repay the full loan amount to the banks. If they fail to do so, the banks have the right to sue them in court and charge statutory interest for late payment—which currently exceeds 11%—as well as litigation costs amounting to at least several thousand zlotys.
Fortunately, there are ways to protect borrowers from such drastic consequences; however, as is often the case in life, not all borrowers will be able to take advantage of these options.
Banks, on the other hand, are consistently preparing to file lawsuits against borrowers in court, entering into agreements with law firms for this purpose.
Interestingly, in their demands, banks require borrowers to pay additional amounts—in addition to repaying the principal amount of the loan—as “compensation” for the use of the loan capital, “indexation” of the loan, “adjustment” of the loan, or some other form of compensation for the loss of purchasing power of the loan amount granted many years ago.
It therefore looks like there will be another flood of cases in the courts, which are already overwhelmed with lawsuits filed by borrowers with Swiss-franc loans.
The images are from the website www.freepik.com
