• President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection Tomasz Chróstny has imposed a fine in the amount of PLN 5.7 million for a practice that violates collective consumer interests.
• The Bank unilaterally amended the provisions concerning the level of fees for statements on the record of repayment of credit facilities or mortgage loans, despite the fact that the aforementioned provisions were of abusive nature.
• Entrepreneurs are not allowed to unilaterally amend prohibited provisions.
• Consumers are entitled to the reimbursement for the fees charged by the bank based on the amended price list.

It is inadmissible to unilaterally amend abusive provisions in the agreements performed – in a nutshell, this is the practice for which Deutsche Bank was fined with more than PLN 5.7 million (PLN 5,750,370) under the decision of President of UOKIK. Consumers were misled in connection with the dissemination by the bank of the false information on changing the level of the fees charged for the issuance of statements related to FX-denominated credit facilities or mortgage loans, including in Swiss franc. 

The abusiveness of the amended clauses was confirmed by virtue of the decisions of President of UOKiK in August 2020. As early as before the issuance of the final decision, in the course of the administrative proceedings, the bank, instead of ceasing to apply them, in September 2019 distributed among its consumers the information about a unilateral amendment to those clauses. This is what the bank was fined for and now it must notify its consumers of their right to compensation.

The documents relating to, inter alia, the debt repayment record or accrued interest are required by those who intend to seek, for example, the annulment of the agreement or the reimbursement of unduly charged instalments in court. On their basis it is possible to determine the amount claimed from the bank. it is of special importance for consumers who have concluded Swiss franc-denominated (CHF) mortgage loan agreements. Following the imposition, by Deutsche Bank Polska, of the new provisions instead of the abusive ones, numerous complaints were sent to UOKIK about the fees for issuing statements. in line with them, the bank charged approximately PLN 795-905 for a set of documents most frequently requested by consumers. in maximum terms, if a consumer needed all the statements for more than 10 years of the lending period, they would have to pay even PLN 1845 for the bank. Meanwhile, in accordance with the effective principle of non-binding nature of abusive clauses, the bank should not charge any fees for them; additionally, it may not introduce unilaterally imposed new provisions in the place of the previous ones, including a new level of fees.

- Consumers might have not been aware that the bank was not entitled to unilaterally amend the provisions which were of abusive nature in themselves. As a result, they might have not known that the prohibited clause or its amendment were not binding for them. Deutsche Bank Polska was disseminating false information among its consumers by which it affected their decisions on repayment of the fees imposed groundlessly by the bank for the issuance of statements on mortgage loans - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

One of the methods for introducing in a continued agreement of some new clauses instead of the abusive ones is to sing an annex by both parties in the form of a voluntary understanding and involving the awareness of the consequences of its conclusion.

As soon as the decision becomes legally valid, Deutsche Bank Polska will be obliged to pay more than PLN 5.7 million fine; additionally, it will need to notify its consumers about a capacity to be reimbursed for the costs related to the issuance of bank statements on FX-denominated credit facilities or mortgage loans. Download the decision of President of UOKIK and check how to apply for compensation.

The decision is not final, and the entrepreneur has the right to appeal against this decision to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.

Consumer Support:

Phone: +48 801 440 220 or +48 222 66 76 76 – consumer helpline
E-mail: porady@dlakonsumentow.pl
Consumer advocates – in your town or district
Financial Ombudsman - when a complaint has been rejected by a financial institution

Additional information for the media:

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Phone: 22 55 60 246
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