Yesterday, Germany’s high court ruled that bank charges (Bearbeitungsgebühren) for consumer credits are illegal and may be claimed back from banks if not older than ten years (since 2004). So if you had arranged such a consumer credit (e.g. to purchase a car or an apartment) between 2004 and now, please check your credit contract and if the bank charged you a handling fee/service fee. If so, you may claim it back.
For consumer credits dated 2004, the deadline is by the end of 2014.
In May of this year, a similar ruling determined that banks had to pay back three billion euro in now illegally charged fees. With yesterdays ruling, detailing the beginning time of the credit, when the bank charge was applied, and many other details, the additional payback amounts to another seven billion euro.
The website test.de https://www.test.de/Kreditbearbeitungsgebuehren-Erstattung-auch-nach-Jahren-noch-4444333-0/ has much information about the latest ruling, including a sample letter to be sent to the bank and various possible excuses from banks why they try to refuse to pay it back.
Ausrede der Banken https://www.test.de/Kreditbearbeitungsgebuehren-Erstattung-auch-nach-Jahren-noch-4444333-4488122/
Sample letter:
Musterbrief – Bank
Check your contract carefully to see if the charge was applied at the beginning (one-time payment), distributed over the monthly payments, or charged as a one-time payment at the end. If the time of your credit payment fee matches the new court ruling time frame, send your letter to the bank.
I’ve got one to check myself for the loan we took out in 2007.