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During the Oktoberfest, the Munich actually have other things in mind than their premium savings. And yet Stadtsparkasse München has a special treat for its Oktoberfest customers ... well, let's call it a gift. The fifth largest German savings bank has decided to terminate 28,000 customers this week, for which they have to pay high premiums.
The Munich try in this way to get rid of expensive contracts that they have completed in the nineties and early nineties with customers. The volume of the savings contracts amounts to nearly one billion euros, according to the Stadtsparkasse.
The behavior of the Stadtsparkasse München is not an isolated case, only last month the Sparkasse Nürnberg had terminated 21,000 premium savings contracts. The savings banks have the premiums for these contracts in times of low interest rates have simply become too expensive, or as the head of Stadtsparkasse Munich, Ralf Fleischer, compared to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" formulated: "The returns are no longer up to date."
Not always such dismissals are lawful, say the consumer advice centers. In many cases, savings banks have also incorrectly calculated the interest rates of the savings contracts to the detriment of the customers. Therefore, terminated customers have a good reason to check, have recalculated and possibly demand a lot of money.
For many of these contracts, there were more bonuses for the savers in each year, with all terminated Munich contracts, according to the savings bank was last paid a premium of 50 percent on the annual savings: So who saved 2018 even 1200 euros, got from the bank 600 euros on top. The Federal High Court had allowed ordinary termination of such savings contracts in a ruling from the May, if
- the contracts were indefinite,
- the highest premium was paid at least once
- and no other time restrictions were agreed.
Many customers are upset about the termination. Even the Sparkasse boss understands that. They had been looking forward to the promised bonuses in the years to come. Interest rates often no longer play a major role in customers' contracts. They were variable and the savings banks paid so little now that the premium dominated the savings. And since the contracts usually did not provide a term end, the customers also assumed that the contract could continue to run so.
If you too are affected by such a termination - whether in Munich or elsewhere - you should take a closer look at your premium savings contract. There are chances for a good lookup.
The savings banks have often set too low interest payments. That's because the contracts were signed at a time when banks and savings banks still thought they could fix interest rates in such lessee-type contracts. Interest rates were high and as they fell, product managers were quick to cut interest rates for customers quickly and significantly.
Are the interests of the court?
In the years 2004 (Az: XI ZR 140/03) to 2010 (Az. XI ZR 197/09) the Federal High Court (BGH) has conceded this practice in several judgments. Actually, the contracts would have had to be retrofitted with a new interest adjustment clause, which complied with the requirements of the Federal Court. Among other things, the BGH demanded an external rate of interest, for example from the Bundesbank, on which variable interest rates should be based in the treaties. Such a reference interest rate for the savings contract would have had to be legally binding with the customer.
In the Munich case, the Sparkasse declares that the interest rate adjustment has been "designed according to the highest court rules" according to the BGH judgments. However, the bank did not want to answer us from which year the interest adjustment clauses for the contracts came from. Even recent interest rate adjustment clauses of other savings banks did not withstand a judicial review.
If you now belong to the terminated savings bank customers in Munich or Nuremberg, then you should necessarily check their interest rates. Such examinations are offered by consumer centers, especially the consumer center Baden-Württemberg, which also looks after Bavarian savings banks, as well as the consumer center Saxony, which wants to force the savings bank Leipzig in a pattern determination procedure, to pay compensation for too low calculated interest. They could then probably demand customers in similar cases from other savings banks in court. And even for contracts that were terminated a few years ago.
Consumer centers help with the complaint
Before you start marching, here's a test to see if your contract is likely to be affected. The Federal Court of Justice has set four clear criteria for legally binding interest rates for such contracts:
- The variable interest rates must be based on a suitable (ie long-term) reference interest rate. Of course, if the savings contract is for 15 years, the chosen reference interest rate can not refer to savings products for five years.
- The amount of the savings interest must have been checked regularly, for example on a monthly basis.
- Even small changes in the reference interest rate must be passed on to the customers.
- Savings rates should not simply be an absolute value below the reference rate, for example one percentage point. They have to change relative to the reference interest rate. If the reference rate falls from 4 percent to 2 percent, it has halved. The interest rate for the customer may then be halved from 3 percent to 1.5 percent, but not also drop by 2 percent.
If you now have doubts about the lawfulness of the interest calculation in your contract, you first demand from the savings bank the recalculation of your interest according to the rulings of the BGH. The consumer center Baden-Wuerttemberg has even formulated a model letter. The people of Baden-Wuerttemberg have experience since their struggle for the savings savings plans of Sparkasse Ulm.
If you do not satisfy the answer, you have to argue. You can first contact the arbitration board of the savings banks. The process costs nothing and also ensures that your claims are not time-barred.
You can also recalculate the interest rates at the consumer center Saxony and thus first to the mediator and then possibly go to court.
Only one thing you should not do: If the interest is calculated incorrectly, leave the matter to itself. For this you have worked too long for your savings.
