A consumer can recover part of the commission linked to the granting of credit if he or she has not been informed that this commission is not dependent of the duration of the contract, ruled the Court of Justice of the European Union in a judgment handed down on Thursday 17 October (case C-76/22).
In Poland, a consumer took her bank to court for refusing to refund part of the flat-rate commission she had paid when a 360-month mortgage was granted, but which she repaid in full in 19 months. She had not been informed by the bank that the commission at issue did not depend on the term of the contract.
Referred to the Court for a preliminary ruling, the Court recalls that creditor in a mortgage agreement must provide the consumer, through the ESIS sheet, with pre-contractual information on the breakdown of the charges, on the basis of whether they are regular payments or not, in accordance with the directive (2014/17) governing the granting of home loans for residential use.
In the absence of information making it possible to determine whether or not the charges in question depend on the duration of the contract, the European court ruled that they must be considered as such, and may be subject to a reduction in the event of early repayment. If the bank has not provided the consumer with such information, the national court must find that the commission is covered by the consumer’s right to a reduction in the total cost of credit, adds the Court of Justice.
The Court also states that, in the absence of a calculation method harmonised by EU law, it is for the national court to decide using a method that ensures a high level of consumer protection.
To see the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/dxn (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)