News on the subject of the revocation joker

The ECJ has just handed down a very important ruling on the revocation joker at just the right time.

On March 26, 2020, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) significantly strengthened the rights of German consumers when revoking loans. Consumers who, from today's perspective, took out „expensive“ loans between June 2010 and March 2016 can refinance at the current favorable interest rate and thus significantly reduce their monthly financial burden. Why? Because the highest European court has ruled that the revocation instructions used in almost all loan agreements are incorrect.

The background to this is a formulation in the banks' model withdrawal instructions. For further information on the start of the withdrawal period, this simply refers to the law, more precisely to Section 492 of the German Civil Code (BGB). However, according to the ECJ ruling, the consumer does not get any clearer there either, as Section 492 of the German Civil Code refers to other paragraphs and these in turn refer to other laws. According to the ECJ, these references do not constitute a simple and comprehensible regulation. The instructions therefore violate European law and are invalid.

In the case of car financing, for example - both loans and leasing contracts - revocation means that customers hand in their vehicle and get their money back.

However, things are not as simple as they seem. As can already be seen, the banks are initially blocking all revocations. In addition, the Federal Court of Justice has already relativized the ECJ ruling in two decisions. There is apparently a dispute here between the two courts The Federal Court of Justice says in essence: banks can invoke the statutory protection of designs. In this case, the clause criticized by the ECJ does not lead to the revocability of the loan.

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