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Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
The Stuttgart Regional Court has announced a judgment that could have consequences for hundreds of thousands of bank customers in Germany.
The court ruled that the Volksbank in the small town of Welzheim in the Rems-Murr district could threaten a customer with terminating their checking account because they had reclaimed past account management fees.
The court thus smashed a lawsuit from the consumer advice center.
However, the legal dispute is likely to continue: the consumer advice center announced that it would appeal.
The case is important for the entire banking system in Germany.
Because the core issue is how banks and customers deal with a judgment of the Federal Court of Justice from last April.
At that time, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) shocked Germany's banks: In a lawsuit against Postbank, the judges ruled that it was not legal to simply enforce fee increases if the customer remained silent.
Since then it has been in the room that the institutes have to pay back fees retrospectively.
Since then, bank customers across Germany have been demanding money back from their institutions.
The Stiftung Warentest has set up a sample letter for this.
This puts the banks under enormous pressure.
Because it's a lot of money when customers retrospectively demand back fees for - at least - three years.
Thorsten Pötzsch, Bafin executive director for processing, even pointed out in June that individual institutes could become insolvent because of the judgement.
Cancellation or Refund?
Many banks therefore reacted to the verdict with a trick: They threatened to terminate customers' accounts.
Previously, they made an offer and called an account maintenance fee at which they would be willing to continue the account if the customer waived the reclaim of previous fees.
Failure to do so would result in dismissal.
This is how it went in Welzheim: The Volksbank suggested to around 7,000 customers that they waive the reimbursement of fees already paid and instead be able to continue their current account at the previous price of five euros per month.
Otherwise, the account may be terminated.
A customer did not want to accept the threat of termination and turned to consumer protection.
Many bank customers who insist on a refund of the fees have to live with a cancellation and look for a new bank.
hey/dpa
