LAWYER ADRIAN CUCULIŞ: "The first cases severed from the class action lawsuits, won by customers"

The first three lawsuits declined from a collective brief which was severed by the courts, concerning the abusive lending terms, have been won by the borrowers, against Volksbank, according to lawyer Adrian Cuculiş.

He told us: "These are the first cases won to the detriment of the bank in the briefs that have been severed and entrusted to me. I have several such ongoing lawsuits, but in those cases the court has not yet issued a ruling. What is important to emphasize is that in the three cases concerning Volksbank, the court has established that both the contractual interest rate clause, as well as the legal interest and risk commission clauses have been declared illegal".

Adrian Cuculiş told us that the cases in question have been severed from an 80-plaintiff class action lawsuit, with the individual cases being declined by the Bucharest County Court or the Court of the Second District of Bucharest.

The lawyer stresses that several of his class action lawsuits filed by borrowers against OTP Bank, Credit Europe Bank and Volksbank have been severed.

Mr. Cuculiş posts on his social network page: "Speaking of severed and then rejected cases. The ruling presented below comes from a huge class action lawsuit filed by dozens of people against Volksbank, which was subsequently severed and declined, but the ruling is crushing for Volksbank, which, by the way, lost everything it could lose - the contractual interest rate, the legal interest and the risk commission (...). I wonder if those who won on the count of the contractual interest rate as well as on the risk commission can be fooled by the offer made by Banca Transilvania?".

The ruling posted on the website of the Court of District 2 of Bucharest, in the case no. 23633/300/2015, states: "The court partially admits the petition filed by plaintiffs Niculita Irina Maria and Niculita Mihai, against defendant SC Volksbank Romania SA. Acknowledges the abusive nature of the clauses stipulated in the loan agreement (...). Hereby declares the aforementioned clauses absolutely null and void. Forces the defendant to repay to the plaintiffs all of the amounts paid on account of the risk commission of 0.1% under the loan agreement (...), from the date of the initial payment and up to the present day, as well as the legal interest calculated starting from the day of payment of every from the day of payment of every unowed amount, up until the day of the actual payment of the outstanding debt. Requires the defendant to repay to the plaintiffs all of the amounts paid as surplus interest above the interest rate of 4.25% per annum, that were unowed, based on the loan agreement (...), from the date the loan agreement was concluded and up to the present day, as well as the legal interest calculated from the date of payment of every unowed amount, until the date of actual payment of the outstanding debt. Acknowledges the abusive nature of the clauses stipulated in the loan agreement (...). Declares the absolute nullity of all the aforementioned clauses. Requires the defendant to refund to the plaintiffs all the amounts paid as 0.22% risk commission, based on the loan agreement (...), from the date of acquittal and up to date, supplemented by the legal interest calculated starting on the date of the acquittal of each unowed amount, up until the date of the actual payment of the outstanding debt. Denies the rest of the plaintiffs' request as unfounded".

The court has also rendered a ruling in case no. 23626/300/2015, as follows: "The court partly admits the petition filed by plaintiffs Guianu Dumitru and Guianu Ioana, against SC Volksbank Romania SA. Acknowledges the abusive nature of the clauses stipulated in the loan agreement (...).Declares the absolute nullity of all the aforementioned clauses. Requires the defendant to refund to the plaintiffs all the amounts paid as risk commission, based on the loan agreement (...), from the date of the payment and up until the present day, supplemented by the legal interest calculated on the date of the payment of each unowed amount, until the date of each unowed amount, until the date of the actual payment of the outstanding debt. Requires the defendant to refund to the plaintiffs all the amounts paid as supplemental interest compared to the interest rate of 9.9% a year, that were unowed, for the period between 10.01.2007 and 10.02.2010, based on the loan agreement (...), as well as the legal interest calculated from the date of the payment of each unowed amount, up until the day of the actual payment of the debt. Denies the rest of the plaintiffs' request as unfounded".

Both rulings were rendered on May 20th, current year, and the bank has the right to appeal within 30 days.

The representatives of Volksbank/Banca Transilvania told us last night that they would get back to us with their opinion on these cases.

Together with publishing the plan to convert the CHF loans granted by Volksbank, which stipulates a discount of the balance sheet, Banca Transilvania has also announced the fact that it would eliminate the risk/management fee from the loan agreements concluded by Volksbank, regardless of the currency that the loans were granted in.

At the end of 2014, Banca Transilvania acquired 100% of the shares of Volksbank Romania from Osterreichische Volksbanken, Groupe BPCE, DZ Bank and WGZ Bank.