On Thursday 23 November, the Court of Justice of the EU handed down a judgment in which it ruled that the obligation for a consumer to pay excessive credit costs – excluding interest – may constitute an unfair contractual term (Case C-321/22).
The CJEU looked into the matter after a Polish court had referred questions to it. The case was brought before the court by three Polish citizens who felt that the interest-free cost of the consumer loans they had taken out was too high. These costs corresponded to several tens of percentage points of the amounts lent.
In addition, two of the contracts in question stipulated that loan repayments had to be made exclusively in cash to an agent of the lender and at the borrower’s home. On this point, the Polish court wanted to know whether the contracts could survive despite the potential annulment of this clause.
In its ruling, the Court points out that a contractual term is considered ‘unfair’ when it creates a significant imbalance between the rights and obligations of the contracting parties, to the detriment of the consumer.
However, it points out that “the unfairness of the terms can only be assessed if they are not intended to define the main purpose of the contract or to relate to the adequacy of the price or remuneration in relation to the services provided in return”.
It is therefore for the national court to decide this question and, if not, to examine whether the national legislation allows such an assessment to be made.
Finally, the Court points out, the contract may be unenforceable in its entirety if the competent national court considers that repayment at the consumer’s home enables the creditor to exert unlawful pressure. However, if this element is detachable from the contract, its removal may be sufficient to restore the balance between the parties.
See the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/9pl (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)