On 16 April 2026 the CJEU ruled on three cases concerning the limitation period for banks’ claims. The judgments are favourable to the banks.
The Court confirmed that:
1️⃣ The termination of a loan agreement cannot result in a ‘free house’ penalty.
2️⃣ The consumer must be prepared to repay the borrowed capital.
3️⃣ The court may uphold the bank’s time-barred claim for repayment of capital if the delay in pursuing the claim resulted, for example, from a change in case law.
4️⃣ A bank’s claim for repayment of the principal may interrupt the limitation period, even if the case concerning the validity of the agreement has not yet been concluded.
5️⃣ A statement by the consumer confirming that they are aware that, in the event of the loan agreement being terminated, they will have to repay the principal to the bank, interrupts the limitation period.
In practice, this means that the risk of courts ruling en masse that banks’ claims for repayment of principal are time-barred is eliminated.
This could be a strong argument for settling CHF loan cases amicably.
Our team advised PKO BP in Case C-753/24 (Rzepacz): Michał Romanowski, Piotr Haiduk, Monika Woźniak, Aleksandra Cyniak, Julia Budzarek. In the mBank cases C-752/24 (Jangielak) and C-901/24 (Falucka), advice was provided by the CMS Poland team: Anna Cudna-Wagner, Bartosz Miąskiewicz.