The Court of Cassation considers that the period of only fifteen days left to the client by the real estate loan contract is not a reasonable period.
The bank, faced with a consumer who does not respect the repayment deadlines, must give him sufficient time, after his formal notice, before taking sanction measures. The period of only fifteen days, given to the customer by the real estate loan contract to make up for his arrears, and thus avoid the immediate payment of the amounts still due, is not a reasonable period and constitutes an abusive clause, ruled the Court of Cassation.
An individual who had borrowed 220,000 euros to be repaid over ten years had received, following missed deadlines, a formal notice which required him, according to the terms of the contract, to regularize his situation within fifteen days. Subsequently, the bank pronounced the “forfeiture of the term”, that is to say, it demanded immediate payment of the outstanding capital, the interest linked to this sum and penalties.
A clause provided for in the contract
The courts then rejected the consumer’s claims, emphasizing that all this was precisely provided for by the contract. However, observed the Court of Cassation, the Court of Justice of the European Union required that the national judge, in such a case, verify that the consumer really had effective means at his disposal to remedy the effects of this requirement. And the abusive nature of a clause must be assessed in the light of all the circumstances surrounding the conclusion of the contract and not by only applying predetermined criteria, added the European court.
Following these indications, this period of only fifteen days was not reasonable notice, ruled the Court of Cassation, and it created a significant imbalance to the consumer’s detriment, suddenly exposing him to a worsening of his reimbursement conditions.