In preliminary ruling proceedings referred by the Regional Court of Ravensburg, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on the interpretation of Directive 2008\/48\/EC of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers and repealing Council Directive 87\/102\/EEC (judgment of 9 September 2021, C-33\/20; C-155\/20; C-187\/20).
\nThe proceedings before the Regional Court concerned car loan agreements between consumers and VW Bank, BMW Bank and Skoda Bank. Some of the consumers revoked the agreements after several years. The CJEU has now ruled largely in their favour. The information contained in the credit agreements largely does not comply with applicable EU law, and the agreements may therefore be revoked.<\/p>\n
The decisive issue for the valid exercise of the right of withdrawal was whether the 14-day withdrawal period under Article 14(1) of Directive 2008\/48\/EC had begun. For this to be the case, the consumer must have received all contractual terms and information required under Article 10 of the Consumer Credit Directive.
\nEssential elements<\/p>\n
According to the CJEU, this information includes, under Article 10(2)(a), (c) and (e) of Directive 2008\/48\/EC, a clear and concise indication that the agreement is a \u201clinked credit agreement\u201d and its duration.
\nUnder Article 10(2)(l) of Directive 2008\/48\/EC, the credit agreement must state the default interest rate applicable at the time the agreement is concluded as a specific percentage and describe the mechanism for adjusting the default interest rate in concrete terms. The calculation method must be easily understandable for an average consumer and must enable the consumer to calculate the default interest rate on the basis of the information contained in the credit agreement.<\/p>\n
Under Article 10(2)(r) of Directive 2008\/48\/EC, an average consumer must be able to determine any early repayment compensation by means of a calculation method stated in a concrete and comprehensible manner.
\nPursuant to Article 10(2)(t) of Directive 2008\/48\/EC, the agreement must also set out all essential information concerning out-of-court complaint and redress procedures and, where applicable, their costs.
\nNon-essential elements<\/p>\n
By contrast, Article 10(2) of Directive 2008\/48\/EC does not require, in the case of a linked credit agreement within the meaning of Article 3(n), information to be provided on the specific features of such an agreement, such as the fact that, to the extent of the credit amount paid to the creditor, the consumer is released from his or her obligation to pay the purchase price.<\/p>\n
Article 10(2) of Directive 2008\/48\/EC likewise does not require information to be provided on national rules on termination which do not also apply under EU law.
\nConsequences<\/p>\n
The CJEU judgment means that a large number of consumer credit agreements may be revoked. The 14-day withdrawal period begins only once the information required under Article 10(2) of Directive 2008\/48\/EC has been received. If credit agreements lack essential elements, including in particular the information referred to above, the CJEU held that neither forfeiture nor an abuse of rights may be invoked.
\nAccordingly, in some cases agreements may still be revoked years after they were concluded.
\nMany contractual arrangements used in practice do not meet the requirements set out in the CJEU judgment. Since the Directive applies to all consumer credit agreements, with the exception of loans secured by mortgages, numerous other consumer credit agreements are affected in addition to car loans.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In preliminary ruling proceedings referred by the Regional Court of Ravensburg, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on the interpretation of Directive 2008\/48\/EC of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers and repealing Council Directive 87\/102\/EEC (judgment of 9 September 2021, C-33\/20; C-155\/20; C-187\/20). The proceedings before the Regional Court concerned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":55523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t