Link: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2024-07/cp240109en.pdf

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PRESS RELEASE No 109/24

Luxembourg, 4 July 2024

Judgment of the Court in Case C-450/22 | Caixabank and Others (Review of Transparency in Collective Actions)

Mortgage loans: the transparency of ‘floor’ clauses may be reviewed in the context of a collective action concerning the entire banking system of a country

In its review, the court may take account of changes in the perception of the average consumer in relation to those clauses

‘Floor’ clauses are standard terms that were contained in variable-rate mortgage loan agreements concluded with consumers by a significant number of financial institutions in Spain. Those clauses set a threshold (or ‘floor’) below which the variable interest rate could not fall, even if the reference rate (generally the Euribor) fell below it. Several thousands of lawsuits were filed in Spain claiming the illegality of ‘floor’ clauses in the light of the Directive on unfair terms 1 2 .

The Spanish association of users of banks, savings banks and insurance (ADICAE) brought a collective action against 101 financial institutions operating in Spain. ADICAE aims at stopping the use by those institutions of the ‘floor’ clauses and at obtaining the reimbursement of the payments made under them. Following calls in the national media, 820 consumers supported the collective action.

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