Erste Bank and the Sparkassen are refunding loan processing fees going back 30 years — the claim form is open until 31 July 2027
The Chamber of Labour has reached a settlement with Erste Bank, s Bausparkasse and 29 Sparkassen across every federal state on refunding loan processing fees. From today, anyone who was charged such a fee on a consumer loan or a housing loan can claim it back through an online form on their own bank's website. The courts had already found these one-off charges to be unlawful; what is new is that the money can now be reclaimed without going to court.
The settlement covers more than the headline fee. Bridging finance such as construction current accounts is included, as are s Bausparkasse loans, where a provision fee was normally charged when the contract was signed. Claims reach back thirty years, and it makes no difference whether the loan is still running or was paid off long ago. If your contract was finally settled before 1 January 2019 you will need to produce the contract itself — if you no longer have it, your bank must give you a copy free of charge.
How much comes back depends on what you paid. The fee must have been at least 0.5 percent of the loan sum for a claim to succeed. On consumer loans, 90 percent of the fee is refunded. On housing loans it is between 35 and 80 percent, depending on how high the fee was. If the loan was arranged through a broker, the refund is staggered between 225 and 750 euros. Charges for opening the loan, security checks, property valuation and land-register documents are settled at the same time. Fees for land-register deletion receipts have to be claimed separately.
The form runs in three short steps: your contact details and how many loans you are registering; the loan account number, which is optional, and whether the loan still exists; and finally the account the refund should be paid into. You can enter up to five loans at a time and simply repeat the process if you have more. The window closes on 31 July 2027, and if the online form gives you trouble, your bank is obliged to help.