Premium savings was a popular form of investment in the 1990s and 2000s for savers with staying power. For 15 years, they were able to watch the premiums grow through programs such as “provisional savings” or “bonus plan,” and on top of that they received interest – adjusted by the savings banks and cooperative banks depending on the market situation. That didn’t seem to be a problem in times of high interest rates, but with the approach of low interest rates, the banks lowered the interest rate – and did so at will, because the contracts only contained dry sentences such as “The savings deposit will bear variable interest.” That seemed to give the banks a free hand. And so long-term savers, or at least many of them, became more of persistent plaintiffs. It is 20 years since the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) first declared such an interest clause invalid. This Tuesday, the Federal Court of Justice has now put an end to this: thousands, probably tens of thousands of savers can demand money back from the credit institutions because of the illegal clauses.
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