Top EU court backs Polish consumers over Swiss Franc mortgages

The European Union's (EU) top court ruled on Thursday in favour of Polish consumers who took out mortgages in Swiss Francs, allowing them to ask Polish courts to convert their loans into the local currency. "In loan contracts concluded in Poland and indexed to a foreign currency, unfair terms relating to the difference in exchange rates cannot be replaced by general provisions of Polish civil law," the court said.

"If, after the removal of the unfair terms, the nature of the main subject matter of those contracts is likely to alter, in that they would no longer be indexed to a foreign currency while remaining subject to an interest rate based on that currency rate, EU law does not preclude that annulment of those contracts," it added.

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