What is a free credit sanction?
According to the daily, the Swiss franc saga that has been going on for many years is not over yet, and another threat to banks has appeared on the horizon. There are approximately 10,000 cases pending in courts concerning the sanction of free credit (SKD). This results from the Consumer Credit Act of May 2011 – if the lender breaches the obligations specified therein, the borrower has the right to return the loan without accrued interest and other costs.
According to the newspaper, as a result of the enormous activity of compensation companies which, in order to maximize profits, instrumentally use – in the opinion of the Polish Bank Association (ZBP) – the legal structure of consumer credit agreements, the number of new lawsuits is growing rapidly.
“Some law firms are trying to switch from the WIBOR issue – this is what one of the largest compensation law firms in Poland did – which, due to the previous court rulings, does not bode well in the case of sanctions for a free loan. In the opinion of the SKD law firm, it gives greater possibilities for action due to the significantly larger number of agreements,” Tadeusz Białek, president of the Polish Bank Association, told “PB”.
Increase in the Scale of Lawsuits in SKD Cases
Considering that there are over 170 thousand cases pending in Swiss franc cases, the number of around 10 thousand lawsuits in the SKD case is not very impressive. However, the problem is growing, because in 2021 there were only 100-200 such cases, and currently there are around 18 million consumer loans in the Polish banking system.
“Compensation offices want to create another vehicle for mass questioning of credit agreements,” said Tadeusz Białek, quoted by the daily. (PAP)
