BGH confirms standard for interest rate adjustment
In dispute over overdue payments due to ineffective interest clauses in savings contracts, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has for the first time confirmed a reference interest rate for the calculation of interest. Specifically, this concerned two judgments of the Higher Regional Courts in Naumburg and Dresden, which had set the interest calculation based on the yield rate of listed federal securities with a residual term of 8 to 15 years. This reference interest rate withstood a review by the BGH, according to the Senate.
In savings contracts, savers receive additional to the variable interest a usually tiered premium. The longer regular savings contributions are made, the higher the premium falls. Many of these contracts contain clauses that grant banks the unilateral right to change the guaranteed interest at will. The BGH had declared this unlawful already 20 years ago. However, it was previously unclear from a supreme court perspective how to calculate the interest for these products.
The Consumer Centers of Saxony and the Federal Consumer Association filed appeals against the judgments of the Higher Regional Courts and had taken action against two savings banks with which they had concluded savings contracts with customers. They wanted to establish at the BGH that the interest should be calculated based on the yield of the last ten years of domestic mortgage-backed securities with a guaranteed residual term of 10 years. They also demanded sliding average values. The BGH rejected this, as did the lower instances before.
In relation to the ongoing dispute over interest calculations in Mastab premium savings contracts, the BGH upheld the use of a reference interest rate for interest rate adjustments, set by the Higher Regional Courts in Naumburg and Dresden. Despite the appeals from Consumer Centers of Saxony and the Federal Consumer Association, the BGH rejected the proposition to calculate interest based on the yield of domestic mortgage-backed securities.
