The Higher Court in Podgorica rejected the appeal of the defendant CKB Bank and upheld the judgment of the Basic Court from January 14 this year, which prohibits the bank from agreeing in the credit agreements it offers to consumers a fee for early repayment of the loan in percentages depending on the amount of the loan, i.e. on the amount of a loan that is repaid early, but this fee must represent the actual costs of the bank due to early repayment.
Lawyer Miloš Vukčević, who represented the Center for Consumer Protection and a group of clients in this case, states that this is the first verdict in Montenegro issued following the first lawsuit filed for the protection of collective rights of consumers, which established a violation of the collective rights of consumers by a trader. - banks.
"The aforementioned verdict is of exceptional importance for the protection of consumer rights in Montenegro. It will contribute to the development and affirmation of consumer law as a separate branch of law, as well as to the strengthening of the collective awareness of consumers who are the weaker party compared to the powerful trader. Also, CKB Bank is prohibited from such or similar behavior in the future. At the same time, the judgment establishes that the defendant bank violated Art. 23 st. 2 of the Law on Consumer Credits, determining the fee for early repayment of the loan in the amount of 1%, or 0,5% of the amount of the loan that is repaid early, which also violated the collective rights of consumers. The bank is obliged to act on the verdict within 15 days of its finality", said Vukčević.
According to this verdict, which became final after being confirmed by the Higher Court in Podgorica, CKB banka will, as stated by Vukčević, be obliged to change its list of conditions for loans for natural persons in such a way that no more in the loan agreements will they be allowed to contract compensation for early repayment of the loan in percentages, depending on the amount of the loan that is being repaid, he will have to determine this compensation in the sense that it must be a fair and objective compensation of the justified costs that the bank has directly related to the early repayment of the loan.
"Therefore, the bank will no longer be allowed to charge a fee for early repayment of the loan as a percentage depending on the amount of the loan, that is, on the amount of the loan that is charged early. That compensation for early repayment of the loan must be fair and objective in accordance with the justified costs that the bank has directly related to early repayment and it must not be determined relatively in percentage of the amount of the loan that is repaid early, but must necessarily be determined absolutely in a fixed nominal monetary amount. The aforementioned fee must not be compensation for the lost profit that the bank would have achieved if the loan agreement had been fulfilled within the time period as initially agreed, but those costs to which the bank is entitled must be determined fairly and objectively, i.e. they must maintain the objective value of the added work that the bank performs due to the early repayment of the loan. In any case, the bank makes a profit through the interest, and it must not make a profit through this fee, which can serve as a cover for the real and justified costs it incurs in connection with the early repayment of the loan", said Vukčević.
CBCG to control how all banks act
Although the verdict directly binds CKB banka as the defendant bank, according to Vukčević, it also binds all other banks, as well as other financial institutions (microcredit organizations, etc.) that operate in Montenegro, and which in the same or similar way contract compensation for early payment loan repayment.
"This means that the other banks are also obliged to act on this judgment and adjust the fee for early repayment of the loan from Art. 23 st. 2 of the Law on consumer loans, so that it is an objective and fair compensation of the justified costs incurred by banks in connection with the early repayment of loans. I especially draw attention to para. 3 sentence of the judgment, which prohibits the defendant CKB bank, but also other banks, from such or similar actions in the future. For this reason, we (CEZAP) addressed the Governor of the Central Bank, dr Radoje Žugić to undertake all actions and measures within the competence of the Central Bank so that this judgment is fully applied not only by the defendant CKB banka, but also by all other banks operating in Montenegro and so that the same fee they charge in the case of early loan repayment is brought into line with by the Law on Consumer Credit. We must not allow banks to violate the rights of consumers, especially not now when such a violation has been established by a final court ruling. In particular, we draw attention to the fact that the court prohibited the defendant bank from not only such, but also similar behavior in the future, which means that it is necessary for the Central Bank, which supervises the operations of banks, to check with particular attention that banks and other financial institutions, in any case, their behavior so far, when are in question these fees, do not replace them with some similar behavior that will continue to violate the collective rights of consumers", said Vukčević.
The domestic judiciary applied the acquis of the EU
Lawyer Vukčević states that this judgment is significant because it also affirms the legal principle of "harmonized interpretation", which actually means that domestic legislation is interpreted by the Montenegrin judiciary in accordance with the acquis of the EU and judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU.
"In this way, a message is sent about the readiness of Montenegro that, even though it is not a member state of the EU, its judicial bodies take into account EU law when interpreting domestic regulations that were created as a result of harmonization/harmonization with EU regulations. In this way, it also contributes to the process of temporarily closing negotiation chapter 28: Consumer and health protection. Montenegro shows that it has a good legislative framework for consumer protection, but also that it is successfully applied in practice precisely through these examples. In the end, this judgment will contribute to the development and affirmation of consumer law, which becomes a separate branch of law, as well as to the strengthening of the collective consciousness of consumers who are definitely the weaker side compared to a powerful trader. The mechanism of legal protection of consumers exists in Montenegro and should be used in order to protect the rights of all of us who are consumers in the best way", said Vukčević.
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