Polsyr
7 Jun 2015
Real Estate / Poland: Swiss Franc loans come back to bite [37]
Keeping emotions aside, banks are not charities. They will eat you alive if you try to rip them off, and they have the power to do so because they are protected by several layers of law and have the money to fuel their legal battles.
That being said, so many laws would have to be broken for this to happen (i.e. for banks to charge exchange rate at time of mortgage signing). No single institution in the gov of Poland has the power to force banks to accept this. Not even the supreme court of Poland can force banks to accept this because there are additional layers of EU and even international law protecting banks as well.
However, PiS have been using this false promise as a part of their election campaign, which is something they already know they can't do. They are taking advantage of people's ignorance and desperation.
The comparison with automobiles is illogical. When you sign up for a loan in a currency that you don't earn, you are accepting the risk associated with changes in the exchange rate - and signing a paper that says you are aware of this risk and accept it. Unlike a broken automobile (new cars have a warranty don't they?) the change in exchange rate is not a fault in the product or service being sold, it is an integral part of the actual product in this case - which is a foreign currency loan.
Keeping emotions aside, banks are not charities. They will eat you alive if you try to rip them off, and they have the power to do so because they are protected by several layers of law and have the money to fuel their legal battles.
That being said, so many laws would have to be broken for this to happen (i.e. for banks to charge exchange rate at time of mortgage signing). No single institution in the gov of Poland has the power to force banks to accept this. Not even the supreme court of Poland can force banks to accept this because there are additional layers of EU and even international law protecting banks as well.
However, PiS have been using this false promise as a part of their election campaign, which is something they already know they can't do. They are taking advantage of people's ignorance and desperation.
The comparison with automobiles is illogical. When you sign up for a loan in a currency that you don't earn, you are accepting the risk associated with changes in the exchange rate - and signing a paper that says you are aware of this risk and accept it. Unlike a broken automobile (new cars have a warranty don't they?) the change in exchange rate is not a fault in the product or service being sold, it is an integral part of the actual product in this case - which is a foreign currency loan.