Thursday 4th July 2024
Judgment in Case C-450/22 Caixabank and Others (Monitoring transparency in collective action)
(Consumer protection)
‘Floor clauses’ are standard terms contained in variable rate mortgage loan agreements concluded between consumers and a significant number of financial institutions in Spain. These types of clauses set a threshold (or ‘floor’) below which the variable interest rate could not fall, even if the reference rate (generally the Euribor) fell below it.
When the reference rates fell significantly below that threshold, the consumers realised they could not benefit from that decrease and still had to pay the minimum interest rate (usually between two and five percent), despite having a variable rate mortgage. Individual consumers and consumer associations have filed several thousands of lawsuits in Spain claiming the illegality of ‘floor clauses’ in light of the Directive on unfair terms in consumer contracts, as well as the restitution of the overpaid interest (see Judgment joined casesC-154/15, C-307/15 and C-308/15 and Press Release No 144/16).
The Spanish Association of Users of Banks, Savings Banks and Insurance (ADICAE) brought a collective action against 101 financial institutions operating in Spain. ADICAE aims at stopping the use of ‘the floor clauses’ (‘action for an injunction’) by those institutions and at obtaining the reimbursement of the payments made under them (‘action for recovery’). Following calls in the national media, 820 consumers supported the collective action.
Having lost the case twice, the banks appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court. That court has doubts about the suitability of the collective proceedings to carry out a review of the transparency of the ‘floor clauses’ in order to ascertain whether they are unfair, especially given the large number of consumers and financial institutions involved.
The Spanish High Court asked the Court of Justice for guidance on the interpretation of the Directive on unfair terms in consumer contracts and its compatibility with the Spanish system of collective actions brought by a consumers’ association against floor clauses in mortgage loan contracts concluded with consumers, which are used by all the defendant banks.
Donnerstag, 4. Juli 2024
Verbandsklage gegen Mindestzinssatzklausel in Hypothekendarlehensverträgen
In Spanien enthielten Hypothekendarlehensverträge mit variablem Zinssatz häufig eine sog. Mindestzinssatzklausel. Damit wurde ein Mindestsatz festgelegt, unter den der variable Zinssatz nicht absinken konnte, selbst wenn der Referenzsatz (in der Regel der Euribor) ihn unterschritt.
Der Spanische Verband der Nutzer von Banken, Sparkassen und Versicherungen (ADICAE) hat eine Verbandsklage gegen 101 in Spanien tätige Finanzinstitute erhoben. Diesen soll die Verwendung von Mindestzinssatzklauseln untersagt werden und aufgegeben werden, die gemäß diesen Klauseln gezahlten Beträge zurückzuzahlen. Nach Aufrufen in den nationalen Medien haben sich 820 Verbraucher der Verbandsklage angeschlossen.
Nachdem die Banken in zwei Rechtszügen unterlagen, haben sie ein Rechtsmittel beim spanischen Obersten Gerichtshof eingelegt. Dieser hegt insbesondere in Anbetracht der großen Zahl beteiligter Verbraucher und Finanzinstitute Zweifel, dass sich eine Verbandsklage dafür eignet, die Mindestzinssatzklauseln auf ihre Transparenz hin zu überprüfen, um festzustellen, ob sie missbräuchlich sind.
Generalanwältin Medina hat sich in ihren Schlussanträgen vom 18. Januar 2024 dafür ausgesprochen, dass die Transparenz von Mindestzinssatzklauseln in Hypothekendarlehensverträgen im Rahmen einer Verbandsklage überprüft werden könne. Dies sei auch dann der Fall, wenn sich die Klage gegen über 100 spanische Finanzinstitute richte (siehe Pressemitteilung Nr. 12/24).
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