ZAGREB, April 2, 2019 - The Franak association of holders of loans previously denominated in Swiss francs said on Tuesday that the Supreme Court had ruled that people who had converted their CHF-denominated loans into euro loans under the Consumer Credit Act were entitled to sue banks and seek a refund of money that banks had taken from them illegally.
The Supreme Court has found that the fact that consumers signed an annex to their loan agreements and converted their CHF loans into euro-denominated loans does not mean that they automatically lost interest in determining that some of the provisions of the loan agreement were null and void, Franak said.
Opposition MP Goran Aleksić told Hina that claimants would certainly seek the difference between the exchange rate and interest, adding that banks would have to pay back all overpaid amounts plus default interest. He said that the Supreme Court ruling applied to all converted loans.
About 125,000 people concluded CHF-denominated loan agreements, of whom 70,000 had previously become entitled to sue, while the remaining 55,000 have now received legal security that they can sue for a refund of overpaid interest. If they all go to court, banks will eventually have to pay more than 10 billion kuna (1.35 billion euro) in overpaid amounts, Aleksić said.
Franak said that the statute of limitations on overpaid interest runs out on 13 June 2019.
More news on Swiss franc loans can be found in the Business section.
