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Assistance for borrowers in Swiss franc mortgage cases

What we do

Since 2016, our Law Firm has been dealing with disputes with banks regarding Swiss franc loans, commonly known as assistance to Frankowicze.

The term “Frankowicze” refers to individuals who, between 2006 and 2010, took out loans to purchase real estate in the foreign currency of CHF, which was presented to future borrowers as an extremely advantageous option. Banks pointed out the benefits of taking out loans in CHF – their low interest rates and easier accessibility, often downplaying the currency risk, i.e., the fact that the capital to be repaid could significantly increase with the appreciation of the currency. Such a situation occurred in 2010 when the CHF exchange rate began to rise sharply, along with the amount of loan installments and the borrower’s indebtedness to the bank. To this day, our clients struggle with the consequences of decisions made during the conclusion of mortgage loan agreements, resulting in 3 or 4 times higher loan installments and repayment amounts.

Disputes related to Swiss franc loans include cases in which we represent clients who sue the bank seeking to “de-Swiss” the loan and obtain a refund of the funds paid, or when the client themselves has been sued for payment for the use of the capital.

In the first of the described cases, depending on the client’s preference, after analyzing the content of the agreement, we propose a solution allowing for “de-Swissing” the loan or establishing in court that the concluded agreement is invalid.

The analysis of the CHF loan agreement with the bank involves determining whether the agreement contains abusive clauses that invalidate the entire agreement or its part responsible for the currency (franc) content. Furthermore, the analysis of the agreement involves determining whether, for example, despite the absence of so-called abusive clauses, there are other grounds for declaring the agreement invalid.

Since 2016, we have represented clients in disputes with almost all popular banks providing CHF loans, including PKO BP, ING, Millennium, mBank, Credit Agricole (Kredyt Bank), BPH S.A. (formerly Getin Bank), Alior Bank, achieving significant success in this field. By assisting our clients, we ensure that they are awarded all funds paid to the banks – loan installments, interest, commission fees, insurance premiums – and that the loan agreement is declared invalid.

When filing a lawsuit against the bank to establish the invalidity of the agreement and for payment, we simultaneously submit a request for securing the claim, aiming to suspend loan installment payments from the first months of the dispute.

Benefits of cooperation

Properly conducted dispute with the bank aims to lead to a situation where the Court recognizes that the loan agreement entered into by the Client for a loan in CHF (or other currency) is invalid, and therefore the parties should reimburse each other for what they mutually provided. Therefore, the bank should refund the client the sum of all installments, interest, fees, commissions, insurance costs, etc., paid by the client, and the client should refund the amount (net capital) obtained from the bank when entering into the loan agreement. It is usually assumed that after about 11 years, the client repays the bank the entire capital borrowed.

Current case law allows the bank to seek reimbursement from the client for the capital received by the client, but without compensation for the so-called use of capital, i.e., interest.

What we offer

Free analysis of the existing loan agreement and indication of whether there are grounds for legal action against the Bank.As part of our cooperation with clients, we analyze the loan agreement concluded with the bank to determine its invalidity and the client’s potential to recover all funds paid, including all loan installments, interest, fees, commissions, and insurance amounts.
Assistance in gathering the necessary documents to initiate legal proceedings.It often happens that after many years since the conclusion of the loan agreement, clients do not have access to the content of the agreement or subsequent annexes, or payment confirmations. Therefore, we assist clients in preparing appropriate requests to the bank to obtain the missing documentation and thus initiate legal proceedings.
Determination of the amount the client can claim in a dispute with the bank.Changes in bank accounts, bank mergers, and acquisitions do not facilitate the retention of the entire payment history and payment of other bank obligations by clients. Moreover, bank clients rarely can specify how much of their payments constitute the “capital” and how much are interest payments. Therefore, clients often do not know the exact amount they can claim from the bank. In this regard, our firm helps obtain information from the bank regarding the amount paid by the client and how it was allocated.
Preparation of a lawsuit, along with an application for security and legal representation throughout all instances.The mere collection of documents and determination of the amount the client can claim from the bank does not guarantee winning the case. To achieve this, it is necessary to enter into a legal dispute – prepare initiating documents – a lawsuit with the relevant evidentiary motions, and then, after serving the lawsuit to the bank, which becomes the opposing party, conduct substantive litigation with the bank before the Court.

What sets us apart

We have years of experience in handling disputes with banks. The law firm is led by specialists in their field, possessing appropriate professional qualifications – either as lawyers or legal advisors. By entrusting the conduct of the case to our firm registered in the National Court Register (KRS), the client can be sure that the matter will be handled by individuals with the necessary qualifications and professional responsibility for their actions.

We collaborate with court-appointed experts in accounting, whose opinions issued at the pre-trial stage allow us to save time needed to conduct the case in court.

Adopting the appropriate tactics in this regard allows clients to save both the time required to conclude the dispute in the first instance (usually about a year) and financial resources – commissioning the preparation of an opinion by a court-appointed expert at the pre-trial stage is significantly cheaper than conducting evidence from an expert opinion only at the court stage.

How to start the cooperation

If you are involved with a foreign currency loan from a bank (most commonly CHF, but also euro or dollar) and want to find out if there is a chance to invalidate your contract before the Court or establish that it is, in fact, a złoty loan, please send us a scan of your loan agreement to: sekretaria@kancelariakrs.pl. Please provide your contact information – your name, surname, and phone number.

In response, you will receive information from our law firm regarding whether your agreement contains abusive clauses or other defects that render it invalid, as well as information about the possibility of initiating legal proceedings and a proposal for a meeting.

During the scheduled meeting at our law firm, we will discuss the stages of conducting the dispute and outline the chances of winning it in court, as well as provide information about the law firm’s fees and the costs of conducting the case in court. The costs of conducting the case in court include a filing fee of 1000 PLN, a power of attorney fee of 17 PLN, and the costs of preparing an opinion by a court-appointed expert. In the event that the client decides to entrust the case to our law firm, we will prepare the appropriate mandate agreement and accept a power of attorney to conduct the case in court.

Contact person

Karolina Szmit

lawyer-partner