Consumer Credit and the New Wave of Claims
For years, the regulations have provided for the sanction of a free credit (SKD) in a situation where the credit agreement does not contain all the required information. Recently, these regulations have become more widely used. Law firms specializing in disputes with banks tempt those in debt in złoty and promise them repayment of the capital alone, without any additional fees or interest. The Votum group, which includes Swiss franc law firms, boasts that in May 2024, over 400 new clients contacted it for help in winning SKD claims, which is an increase of as much as 23 percent compared to the previous month. A growing wave of claims This can also be seen in the banks themselves – PKO BP Bank in its report for Q1 2024 indicates that over 1.5 thousand cases were filed against it on this account for a total amount of over PLN 29 million.
The first provisions on securing claims that are favourable to borrowers have already appeared, which mean that until the case is finally resolved, the borrower must return only the capital to the bank.
– If this practice becomes widespread, it may turn out that, similarly to other cases brought against banks on a mass scale, we will be dealing with an effect of scale that the banking sector has never seen before – predicts Izabela Kałużyńska, an attorney representing borrowers.
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