The Court of Justice of the European Union, with sentence of 17 October 2024 (Pres. K. Jürimäe, Rel. N. Jääskinen) pronounced during the preliminary ruling, clarified the scope of theart. 25 of Directive 2014/17/EU in the matter of early termination of the real estate loan contract (ie consumer credit relating to residential real estate), sanctioning that, in the absence of information provided by the financing partythe commissions taken at the time of conclusion of a contractI am covered by the right to reduce the total cost of credit.
More precisely, the first paragraph of the art. 25 of Directive 2014/17/EU, relating toearly termination of loans in the field of consumer credit, commits Member States to ensuring that «the consumer has the right to fulfill in whole or in part the obligations deriving from a credit agreement before expiry of this contract».
In this case, the provision in question continues, «the consumer has right to one reduction in the total cost of credit to the consumer, which concerns the interest and costs due for the remaining duration of the contract».
Well, according to the Court of Justice, the cited provision must be interpreted in the sense that, «in the absence of information provided by the creditor that allow a national judge to verify whether a commission taken when concluding a mortgage credit agreement falls into the category of costs that are independent of the duration of that contract, that judge must consider that this commission is covered by the right to reduction of the total cost of the credit referred to in this provision». Furthermore, again according to the Court, «from this provision no specific calculation method is derived that allows the amount of the reduction to be determined of the total cost of the credit referred to in that provision».
The sentence in question was pronounced in the context of a dispute initiated by a Polish consumer relating to theearly repayment of a mortgage credit contract.
In particular, the consumer contested the financing bank’s obligation to reimburse him one commission connected to the granting of the loan in a manner proportionate to the residual duration of the contract; the bank, however, maintained that this commission consisted of a payment only one and was therefore excluded from the obligation to repay.
The Polish judge, therefore, asked the EU Court of Justice whether, pursuant to Directive 2014/17/EU, the right of the consumer to obtain a reduction in the total cost of the credit repaid early, also includes one commission connected to the granting of the credit itselfand if, again the aforementioned directive, identifies a specific calculation method to determine the amount of the reduction.
