• You have repaid a loan before the deadline? You are entitled to a refund of a portion of the commission and other fees.
• Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, obliged Provident Polska to change its method of settlement with former and current clients.

President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny has issued a binding decision concerning a lending company, Provident Polska, regarding its incorrect settlements with consumers who repaid loans before the agreed date. In such a situation, pursuant to Art. 49 of the Act on Consumer Credit, financial institutions are required to return a proportional part of all loan costs to consumers. This interpretation was validated in September 2019 by the Court of Justice of the EU. Meanwhile, Provident excluded the front-end fee and the commission from such cost reduction in the case of early repayment of the loan.

"A consumer who repays a consumer loan or credit early is entitled to recover a portion of all fees charged, proportionately to the shortened loan term. The refund amount should be calculated using the transparent and fair straight-line method. As the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, we are doing everything we can to organise these settlements and eliminate irregularities from the market. We have already succeeded in the case of most banks and a large part of loan companies," claims Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

Now the list will be expanded by Provident Polska, which in case of early repayment of a loan, will reimburse consumers a proportional part of all costs, including the commission and the front-end fee calculated according to the straight-line method. With regard to the early partial repayment of a loan, the amount of the net overpayment (after reducing it by the amount of underpayment, if any) will be the basis for settlement. In addition, Provident is to remedy the breach of consumer rights. This applies to persons who repaid their loans before the due date, between 16 May 2016 and the date the decision of the President of UOKiK became valid. The company will inform such individuals that they may request a refund of the proportionate share of fees they incurred and then provide them with reimbursement of such costs. It also undertook to review settlements and possible additional contributions in cases where customers had previously filed complaints and recovered only a portion of the amount due as a result. For more information, refer to the decision.

The President of UOKiK has already issued decisions concerning 22 loan companies that improperly billed consumers after their early repayment of loans. This year, in addition to Provident, he obliged Monedo Polska (formerly Kreditech Polska) to change its practices and remove the consequences of the company's breaches. The company must notify all of its customers who have repaid loans before the due date and have not been subject to the proper settlement of the commission about the possibility of filing a complaint and then reimburse their money. The details are contained in the final and binding decision.

Have you repaid a loan before the deadline? Find out what are your rights

• Any person who drew a consumer loan can repay it early. In such a situation, the creditor must reduce all costs of such a loan, e.g. fees, commissions, insurance costs, and return them to the consumer. This reimbursement should be proportional, i.e. cover the period from the actual loan repayment date to the final repayment date specified in the agreement. It cannot depend on the date the lender actually incurred those costs.
• The amount to be refunded should be calculated using the straight-line method. It consists in dividing all non-interest costs by the number of calendar days the agreement was to be in effect by the financial institution. The result should be multiplied by the number of days by which the loan term was shortened. The final result is the amount that should be returned to the consumer.
• UOKiK has prepared a loan calculator to help calculate the approximate amount to be repaid according to the straight-line method.
• You may apply for a refund of the unsettled portion of the fees for a consumer loan or a loan repaid before the due date if you concluded the agreement after the Act on Consumer Credit has entered into force, i.e. following 18 December 2011. The statute of limitations amounts to ten years for repayments made before 9 July 2018, and six years for repayments made after that date.
• To recover your money, file a complaint. You can use a ready-to-use form and send it to the financial institution that granted you the loan or consumer credit.

We also encourage you to read the statement of the President of UOKiK concerning the interpretation of Art. 49 of the Act on Consumer Credi, dated 2 March 2020, which is available at finanse.uokik.gov.pl.

Consumer assistance:

Tel. 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer helpline
E-mail: porady@dlakonsumentow.pl
Consumer right advisers – in your town or district

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL