ZAGREB, March 29, 2019 – SNAGA party member of parliament Goran Aleksić said on Thursday that the Supreme Court’s decision whereby decisions by banks on the variable interest rate on loans pegged to the Swiss franc in the period from 1 January 2013 to 1 January 2014 were declared unlawful, was good but that loan holders were still waiting for a crucial decision, the one on their right to claim back overpaid interest.
“We are waiting for the Supreme Court to deliver a ruling on whether, after conversion, we have the right to claim back overpaid interest. The current decision does not speak about that because the bank that was sued called only when it appealed for the lawsuit to be dropped due to conversion, however, under the litigation law, it was too late for that,” Aleksić told Hina.
The Supreme Court has decided on what it could decide on. It could not decide on loan conversion because that could not be discussed and that is why a decision on converted loans is still being awaited, said Aleksić.
“What is good about this decision is the fact that the Supreme Court has confirmed what we have been saying all along, and that is that banks did not have the right to unilaterally set the parameters to change interest rates but rather that they had to agree on that with their clients,” said Aleksić.
The Supreme Court said earlier in the day that decisions by banks on the variable interest rate on loans pegged to the Swiss franc in the period from 1 January 2013 to 1 January 2014 were unlawful because banks had not adjusted their operations concerning variable interest rates to the amended Consumer Credit Act.
Two decisions that are important for loan conversion have been submitted for a review and only the second decision by the Supreme Court is expected to bring a solution to the issue of converted loans, said Aleksić.
“Both decisions refer to converted loans and the second one that we are still waiting for refers to a review of a ruling that was unfavourable for the consumer and only when the Supreme Court rules on that, will we know our status,” said Aleksić.
The Franak association, which brings together holders of loans previously pegged to the Swiss franc and converted to euro loans, and the SNAGA party in January called on the Supreme Court to deliver a ruling as soon as possible on reviews related to loan holders’ right to compensation following loan conversion, considering the fact that the statute of limitations on their claims for overpaid interest expires in June this year.
More news about Swiss franc loans can be found in the Business section.
