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Credit card cancellation

April 24, 2015 | 30,00 EUR | answered by Jan Wilking

In 1996, a credit card framework agreement was concluded, which was terminated by the bank in 2010, but the claim has not yet been formally requested by the court.

In my opinion, the statute of limitations has expired.

In the bank's opinion, claims from credit card contracts are regulated according to consumer credit regulations, and therefore §497 BGB is applicable.

Which opinion is correct?

Jan Wilking

Dear inquirer,

I am happy to answer your inquiry considering the circumstances you have described and your efforts as follows:

The bank is likely invoking a suspension of the statute of limitations according to § 497 paragraph 3 sentence 3 of the German Civil Code (BGB). This requires that you have entered into a consumer loan agreement with the bank according to § 491 BGB and that there is a repayment claim arising from this contract.

I assume that you have concluded the contract for private purposes and thus as a consumer. However, it would also need to be examined whether there is actually a loan agreement. Simply entering into a contract referred to as a credit card framework agreement does not necessarily imply this. It is also possible that the credit card claim is based solely on a payment services agreement and the bank cannot rely on a suspension of the statute of limitations according to § 497 BGB.

For a final assessment, the contracts substantiating the bank's claim would therefore need to be reviewed. Therefore, I recommend engaging a lawyer locally to examine the relevant documents.

I hope to have provided you with a helpful initial orientation. If you have any uncertainties, please use the free follow-up function.

Kind regards,
Jan Wilking, Attorney at Law