On January 15, 2015, the Swiss Franc rate exceeded PLN 5. During this time, the halt Banking Association of Lawlessness was established, which in early 2025 in Warsaw organized a conference on the anniversary of the alleged black Thursday. Part of the gathering was besides devoted to another burning topics concerning loans specified as mortgage loans based on the WIBOR interest rate. There was besides talk about Free Credit Sanctions and unauthorized payment transactions, specified as those for which the payer did not give the required permission.
On January 15, 2015, the Swiss franc exchange rate strengthened against another currencies.
This was due to the decision of the Swiss National Bank (SBN), which decided to abandon the policy of defending the minimum exchange rate of euro for the Swiss franc.
Thomas Jordan, president of the SBN, justified this in his message that "the maintenance of a rigid rate was no longer justified due to the crucial weakening of the euro against the US dollar, which in turn translated into a weakening of the franc against the dollar, which SNB could no longer afford". This meant that the SBN would no longer intervene so as not to pay for 1 euro little than 1.2 Swiss franc.
This resulted in the snowball effect, panic and liquidity gap of borrowers – the cessation of exchange pair listings (one quoted and the another underlying price shows how much a base currency unit can be purchased in quoted currency) for respective minutes caused multimillion losses of many broker clients.
They besides lost borrowers, especially in the housing market, whose debt instalments went up.
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What was said at the conference about the French loans?
The main subject was a summary of 10 years of fight between the alleged Frankoviches and banks. The subject was introduced by the president of the halt Banking Association of Lawlessness, Arkadiusz Szcześniak. For a “black Thursday” in Poland, even PLN 5 had to be paid for 1 Swiss franc.
Credit balance increased by respective twelve percent. respective tens of thousands of people went out to protest on the streets, mainly in Warsaw, but besides in front of banks in another cities. The problem active nearly a million families.
In time, the number of franc loans granted decreased – at the end of 2024 there were 265 thousand, or 1 4th of what 10 years ago. In addition, a decade ago, 27 percent of the loans had a higher balance than at the time of their bank deposit into the account. It was decided to fight this problem and look for solutions.
In 2016, a parliamentary draft law on restructuring of loans denominated or indexed for a currency another than Polish was submitted in the Sejm. It was not passed.
At the same time respective draft laws were created, but were besides never adopted.
To this day, the problem of abroad exchange loans is inactive lacking. The only thing that worked was adopt a law on the support of borrowers with housing and financial difficulties. It is helpful to borrowers in Polish currency due to the fact that it grants the right to repay the debt back.
Even before 2009, the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection examined the way in which currency credits were created, which resulted in the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection rulings on their illegality in 2010 and 2011. The banks already knew that ‘franco loans’ agreements were illegal and were inactive granted and granted to them today.
After “black Thursday” the first appeared Report of the Financial Ombudsman on abroad exchange loans, and in 2018 was created report from the ultimate Chamber of Controlwhere it was found that they were allowed besides much to lend to banks.
Although in 2015, the Constitutional Tribunal found the agreements to be inconsistent with the constitution, the adverse situation for borrowers continued.
The then Prime Minister, Jarosław Kaczyński, said that Frankovists must assert their rights themselves, did not foresee a statutory solution. Until 2024 there were as many as 200 1000 cases in Polish courts concerning abroad exchange loans.
Breakthrough decision of the court
Before 2015, there were crucial decisions of the courts on the Frankovich case. 1 of the breakthroughs occurred in 2010 on the Dziubak State v. Raiffeisen.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (TEU) considered that specified credits with a clause converted into another currency may be cancelled.
At the conference, lawyer Dr. Isabella Pączek stated that this ruling opened the way for thousands of families to search their rights before courts. Polish courts began ruling in favour of borrowers. Currently, 98 percent of cases involving loans with abroad currency indexed or denominated are invalidated.
The banks responded with claims for remuneration for utilizing their capital. This was contested to the TEU, the organization was the president of halt Banking Lawlessness. The TEU stated in 2023 that banks should not be compensated. In December 2023 it was besides ruled that banks were not entitled to any valuation. It all made the borrowers no longer afraid to sue the banks.
The panelists besides talked about the bankruptcy of Getin Bank due to exceeding capital thresholds – there is simply a fear that the france will recover something from this bank.
Attorney Marcin Żurowski talked about what remains to be resolved on abroad currency loans. This is, among another things, a decision on the limitation of claims by banks against borrowers for return of capital, limitation of claims by borrowers for banks or a claim by banks for return of capital.
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Join us!What's a WIBOR?
On the occasion of the anniversary of “black Thursday” a number of burning topics for borrowers were raised. WIBOR stands for Warsaw Interbank Offered Rate – this means the interest rate at which banks lend to another banks. It is designated as the arithmetic average of the interest rates reported by the largest banks operating in Poland, participating in WIBOR, after rejection of utmost volumes. On working days, the Financial Supervision Commission shall appoint it all day at 11 a.m. This interest rate generates hidden costs for borrowers that increase debt instalments even twice.
But these are not the only non-frantic topics that have appeared at the conference. 1 of them was Free Credit Sanctions. It can be applied for by persons who meet certain conditions, specified as a debt of little than PLN 255 500, a contract with the bank contains errors or there is no clearly defined credit repayment schedule. Then you can make a message to benefit from free credit sanctions. The borrower then returns only the funds actually received, without having to pay interest or another charges.
