2023-08-13 17:37:32
Courts and arbitration boards have been dealing with them for many years – premium savings contracts, which savings banks in particular, but also cooperative banks, sold briskly in the 1990s and around the turn of the millennium. Customers wanted to make provisions for old age. The main point of contention is the calculation of interest, it is also about the terms and the termination of contracts. There are several model declaratory actions by the consumer advice centers.
The repayment claims are now in the billions. Most recently, the Federal Court of Justice continued the saver-friendly case law in January. After that, customers are entitled to additional payments because interest rates were not adjusted correctly. However, there is still no clarity about the height. According to consumer advocates, a decision on which reference interest rate should be used as a basis is not expected until the beginning of next year.
look closely at the contracts
According to Michael Hummel, legal officer at the consumer advice center in Saxony, which offers a review of the interest calculation for a fee of 130 euros for all premium savers in Germany, it is about interest amounts of 2500 euros on average that were wrongly not paid. “But we also have cases with 40,000 euros.”
It can therefore be worthwhile for savers to take a closer look at contracts – and not simply accept terminations of contracts. According to consumer advocates, many institutes have been trying to do this for some time because the contracts, which were not well calculated at the time, have now developed into an expensive problem product for the banks. This is in the nature of premium savings, which is a mixture of savings book and savings plan. Interest is not only paid on the amount saved, but also a previously determined premium interest on additional payments. The premium interest is graduated and usually increases every year until the highest level is reached. But there is not just one premium contract, but many different versions, as Finanztip.de states. The consumer portal has put together an extensive dossier on the subject.
Deception or oversight?
The lawyers at the Hesse consumer advice center recently dealt with complaints from customers of the Kreissparkasse Schwalm-Eder and successfully warned them off in one case. Then it was about the unlimited premium savings contract that a customer had concluded in 1998 with variable basic interest rates and bonus payments on the savings installments to be paid in. According to the contract, a one hundred percent premium should be realized with “45 times the annual savings”, as the consumer advice center describes. Although this had not yet been achieved, the customer received a letter from the district savings bank last year with an invitation to a personal meeting about individual offers for other investments. “The contract period for your installment savings contract will end shortly,” the letter said.
Christian Siedenbiedel Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 18 A comment by Hanno Mußler Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 6 Published/Updated:
According to the consumer center, it went to several customers with contracts from 1998. Kerstin Wolf, head of the legal enforcement section of the consumer center in Hesse, accuses the district savings bank of deception. “Indefinite installment savings contracts with agreed premium scales provide a bonus incentive that consumers can trust. The Kreissparkasse cannot unilaterally terminate these contracts before the 100 percent premium has been reached.”
After the warning by the consumer advice center, the Kreissparkasse Schwalm-Eder undertook by declaration of omission not to inform the holders of the premium contracts that the contracts ended automatically. “Obviously the text was misleading,” said the district savings bank on request, but defended itself against the accusation of deception. As an argument, the district savings bank refers to old brochures in which the savings contracts were advertised at the time. According to this, the contract period was initially set at 25 years with a maximum premium of 250 percent. There were no further promises of bonus payments. Therefore, there are no agreements “under which conditions the contract could be continued”. In order to explain the facts “correctly” to customers, you address them personally and make individual offers for investing the amounts saved.
Help from the consumer center
For lawyer Wolf, however, the advertising brochure has no relevance. “The advertising flyer has not become part of the contract.” In addition, the maximum premium has not yet been reached in most cases that are known to the consumer advice center.
The consumer center Hessen advises bank customers with premium savings contracts for a fee of 40 euros. Appointments can be made at 069-972010900 or Online be agreed. In any case, savers should object to termination and have the matter checked. You have at least three years after notification of the termination date by the bank. After that, the statute of limitations begins.
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