About 20 members of the Franak association, which brings together holders of loans previously pegged to the Swiss franc and converted to Euro loans, on Saturday again called on the Supreme Court to urgently adopt the necessary decisions regarding the converted loans and bank audits as the statute of limitations on their claims would soon expire.
Addressing reporters outside the Supreme Court, Franak representatives said that four months before the expiry of the statute of limitations on their claims from banks, there was still no legal security for 55,000 indebted households who had converted their CHF-pegged loans to euro loans under the Conversion Act.
The association’s members, who also gathered outside county courts in several other towns, said they expected the Supreme Court to make its decision in line with EU law.
Franak member Elvis Sudar said that their class action had been launched eight years ago and that there was still no final decision based on which 125,000 debtors could individually sue banks to claim back the loan interest they had overpaid.
There is still no legal security for 55,000 families even though EU law clearly says that banks convicted for signing unfair loan contracts have to pay back the money earned in such an unfair way, said Sudar.
“Nothing was paid back following loan conversion and there has been no restitution in line with EU law,” he added.
Sudar recalled that the statute of limitations on overpaid loan interest would expire on June 14 and that there was no more time to wait.
Presenting a survey done by Franak, its activist Maja Gavran said that CHF-pegged loans had mostly been taken by physical persons aged 30-35 for the purchase of a flat or car.
The target group for CHF-pegged loans were creditworthy people who wanted their own roof over their heads, mostly families with two children, but they were unaware that the initial interest rate on their loan of 4.5% would grow to as much as 6.5%, with the value of the Swiss franc simultaneously rising against the kuna, she said.
