Swiss franc loans – What are politicians promising before the elections?

It should be recalled that earlier ideas improved the claims process only minimally. The presidential bill was abandoned and the problem was left to the courts. It was only the CJEU, in its ruling in the Dziubak C-280/18 case, that helped Polish judges to adopt a relatively uniform approach to Swiss franc cases.

In the upcoming parliamentary elections, the main political parties addressing the issue of Swiss franc loans are Law and Justice and the Civic Coalition.

So what are politicians offering ‘Frankowicz’ in their election campaigns?

Law and Justice: a fast-track court procedure. The ruling party promises to simplify court proceedings and shift the burden of proof from citizens to banks. PiS points out that ‘it will be up to the bank to prove that it did not deceive its customers by offering them loans in a foreign currency.’ Unfortunately, the PiS programme ‘A Secure Future for Poles’ lacks specifics on what changes to the Civil Procedure Code it proposes in order to assess whether the proposal is realistic or merely an election slogan.

The Civic Coalition, on the other hand, does not comment in writing on Swiss franc loans in its programme ‘100 concrete measures for 100 days’. However, media reports suggest that it also wants to speed up court proceedings by, among other things, waiving the requirement for witness testimony. He is announcing a bill in this regard and also proposes that the first hearing should take place within four months of the date of filing the lawsuit. Additionally, if this does not happen, according to the proposal, the courts would have to suspend the repayment of loan instalments ex officio.

Like the proposals of the Law and Justice party, the idea of the Civic Coalition to speed up proceedings should be viewed positively. Currently, judgments in Swiss franc cases are still taking a very long time, up to 21 months.

What do the other parties propose in Swiss franc cases?

Polska 2050, Lewica and Konfederacja have not devoted any attention to Swiss franc borrowers in the current election campaign; there is no mention of any proposals for Swiss franc borrowers in their programmes.

Regardless of the ideas of politicians, however, ‘Frank borrowers’ should not wait for miraculous and quick solutions. The election campaign reminds us of the existing problem and indicates that borrowers must continue to deal with the issue of foreign currency loans on their own. Nevertheless, the idea of speeding up the proceedings only shows that no one can avoid the courts. It is important for borrowers to seek justice in court with the assistance of an experienced lawyer, because despite the high percentage of successful cases, each case is different and requires a detailed legal analysis of the loan agreement.
Author: lawyer Mateusz Kołodziejak – expert on Swiss franc loans at BBS Law Firm