The President of the NBP sent an opinion to the Supreme Court on the solution to the problem of foreign currency housing loans. Although the document states several times that this is a “strictly economic” assessment, it is not the best from the point of view of borrowers. The President of the National Bank of Poland points out that in the event of cancellation of the contract, banks should be able to claim remuneration for non-contractual use of capital, but at the same time proposes a different solution.
- The President of the NBP sent to the Supreme Court his opinion on the problem of the franc
- The opinion is described as “strictly economic”
- For this reason, the head of the NBP rejects the possibility of converting the loan into PLN and maintaining the interest rate on the foreign currency. The president of the central bank also points out that banks should have the right to pursue their claims for using capital
- However, in order to avoid negative social consequences, prof. Glapiński proposes compromise solutions
- More such information can be found on the main page of Onet.pl
“From the strictly economic point of view, it can be assessed as a proportional solution with regard to contracts in the case of which the so-called conversion clauses have been found to be abusive, consisting in replacing the rate specified in the contract with another rate determined in a manner resulting from the provisions of law or customs“- this is the key fragment of the position paper sent by the NBP to the Supreme Court.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the CJEU has already answered a question in a similar case regarding remove only a part of the abusive clause from the contract.
Currency conversion and LIBOR? NBP on them
In the position of the NBP president there was also criticism of the idea of converting loans indexed to foreign currencies, but keeping the interest rate for this currency (option PLN loan on LIBOR). Prof. Adam Glapiński also pointed to the economic problem of the expiry of the bank’s claims – Fr. the limitation period has already been partially ruled by the Supreme Court.
However, what is most interesting about the position of the NBP president, it concerns hanging like an ax over some franchisees of the bank’s threat of a possible remuneration for using the capital and return of paid capital.
NBP o wynagrodzeniu
On the one hand, prof. Glapiński points out that “cancellation of the loan agreement without awarding the remuneration for capital would mean that the borrower would receive an interest-free loan for the purchase of a flat, which would not take place under market conditions“, but on the other hand, it emphasizes that in the event of annulment of the loan agreement and establishing mutual claims, the immediate fulfillment by the borrower of the bank’s claim for the return of the paid capital and possible remuneration for using it means the necessity to repay a significant amount.
“In many cases, such a customer will have to incur a new liability. At the same time, for the bank, the receivable (resulting from the borrower’s inability to repay the benefit) would involve credit risk and, unlike the original foreign currency housing loan, it would be unsecured. In such a case, it seems that a consensual solution would be worth considering, i.e. that a possible new legal relationship between the parties should be a PLN housing loan secured by a mortgage on the real estate, which is the original collateral for a foreign currency housing loan.“- indicated in the position.
Do not favor anyone and avoid the crisis
In the summary of the NBP position, it was also emphasized that the final decision may not promote any group of borrowers.
Some variants of decisions could generate costs that would lead to the exhaustion of banks’ capital and lead to a crisis in the financial system in Poland or could pose a significant threat to it. At the same time, from the point of view of shaping economic relations for the future, the economic assessment of individual options for decisions should take into account a wider aspect, including in particular the impact on the situation of foreign currency borrowers in relation to the situation of other borrowers who took out loans in PLN and people who did not take out a loan for real estate.
– reads an excerpt from the summary of the NBP position. The scenarios assuming no possibility of pursuing the bank’s claims or converting the loan into zlotys while maintaining the interest rate for the foreign currency were mentioned as the most disturbing of the relations between borrowers.
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