The 'revolving' jump out of the bank: admitted the first class action against Carrefour

• VÍCTOR MARTÍNEZ

  vmartinez_EM

Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - 01:38

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The legal battle for the 'revolving' jumps out of the banking field and already affects one of the largest distribution groups operating in Spain.

The commercial court number 14 of Madrid notified

few days ago

that it has admitted the collective lawsuit filed by the association of financial users Asufin against several of the clauses contained in the credit card contracts that the French giant markets.

The platform requests the cancellation, in particular, of four conditions, considering that they are abusive and there is a lack of transparency and proportionality in their application.

These provisions affect the penalties in the case of non-payments by the debtors, the resolution due to the early maturity of the loan, the imputation of payments to satisfy the debt and the forms of payment and the interest rate of the card.

The lawsuit opens a new judicial front for the 'revolving' cards after the Supreme Court ruling last March.

The High Court limited the cost of these cards, considering that "usury" occurs in cases where interest is more than double the index published by the Bank of Spain and strengthened consumer protection in the marketing of these instruments.

This is the second class action taken by Asufin after the lawsuit filed against

, also admitted for processing last June.

Asufin's objective is for these clauses to be declared void and withdrawn from the market, not only in the thousands of cards that Carrefour sells.

"The entity commercialized the credits and loans without adequately informing about the economic cost that the application of said clauses in the loan repayment system and the method of operation of the loan entails," argues the lawsuit.

The lawyers representing Asufin consider that Carrefour did not provide clients with sufficient information on the nature and economic impact of the clauses by not including an

with details and operating simulations.

This, in their opinion, made comparison with other products impossible and limited competition.

The demand not quantified the

since this will depend in any case on the number of affected people who can join the process.

All it asks is that the loans be recalculated by issuing a new amortization table for each affected party and if the affected clauses of the contracts are eliminated.

"Once the amortization tables have been recalculated, all the amounts paid so far by consumers must be charged to it and, in the event that said amount is higher than the debt contracted, the entity will have to return the excess to the consumer, updated with the corresponding legal interests, "he says.

Despite not being a bank, Carrefour is one of the companies with the highest number of cards issued through its financial company.

The group uses its broad dominance in the Spanish distribution market, with sales of

in the first half of the year.

This figure is 3.2% higher than that of the same semester of the previous year, driven by the massive supplies made by households during the months of confinement.

Spain is its third market by size, after France and Brazil.

However, the group of hypermarkets and supermarkets warned in its last semi-annual results report of a

it grants to its customers through the financial sector as a result of the health pandemic, with Spain at the fore.

"The increase mainly affects Brazil and Spain and, to a lesser extent, France," he warns.

The company had to readjust these portfolios due to the impossibility of initiating recovery processes due to the credit moratorium approved by the Government during the state of alarm.

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