2024-01-01 19:51:49
The bank proposed an agreement to the consumer association CLCV which was leading a group action in court. It accused its subsidiary Personal Finance of having minimized the risks of Swiss franc loans that its clients had taken out.
This is undoubtedly the epilogue of an affair which dates back several years. According to information from Parisian, BNP Paribas signed an agreement with the consumer association CLCV to compensate 4,655 customers who had attacked Personal Finance, a bank subsidiary, after having taken out real estate loans in Swiss francs but whose repayment was made in euros. And for good reason, variations between currencies had caused their monthly payments to explode.
In total, the plaintiffs should receive between 400 and 600 million euros. In the columns of Le Parisien, the general director of the CLCV, François Carlier, welcomes an agreement which “will make it possible to provide a very satisfactory solution for consumers, within a favorable timetable”. For its part, BNP evokes an “agreement which is part of the continuity of the actions carried out by Personal Finance to offer solutions adapted to each situation”.
A capital to be repaid which is soaring
In 2015, the consumer association CLCV joined the complainants who had subscribed to the “Helvet Immo” real estate loan put on the market in 2008-2009. At the time, she denounced a loan that had “become highly toxic” and criticized the BNP subsidiary for having “chosen a marketing method likely to deceive consumers”.
This loan could seem attractive at first glance because it allowed you to benefit from the advantageous interest rates of the Swiss currency. But with the euro crisis, the capital to be repaid soared as the single currency depreciated against the Swiss franc. For example, a couple who had borrowed 150,000 euros in June 2008 still owed 195,000 euros to the bank in 2014, even though they paid a monthly payment of around 900 euros each month.
In November, the Paris Court of Appeal, considering that the bank had concealed the risks of its loan in Swiss francs, condemned Personal Finance for “deceptive commercial practice”. The bank was fined 187,500 euros and 200 million euros in damages.
Cancellation of loans
In parallel with this criminal aspect, thousands of borrowers have initiated civil proceedings in courts throughout France in order to have Helvet Immo contracts canceled, in particular by requesting recognition of “abusive clauses”. To avoid them, the agreement proposed by BNP Paribas provides, according to Le Parisien, for the cancellation of the loan for an average amount of 130,000 euros and the reimbursement of interest.
In July 2013, a law banned loans in foreign currencies for consumers who do not receive income or have assets in the same currency.
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