Private law consequences of creditworthiness influenced by the terms of a credit contract

Abstract

The obligation to carry out a creditworthiness assessment set out in Article 70 § 1 of the Banking Law is usually considered a norm of public law significance which does not affect the private law sphere of a credit agreement. However, this view is based on an idealized assumption that loan agreements are neutral towards the borrower’s risk, which does not correspond to the conditions of the contemporary economy. Practical experience shows that creditworthiness, and consequently also creditworthiness assessment, may also  depend on the structure of an adhesive loan agreement. In such cases, the erroneous message about the existence of creditworthiness becomes a form of pre-contractual information, which implies not only the public law liability of the bank, but also judicial interference in the sphere of relations between the parties of the agreement. Change in the interpretation of Article 70 § 1 of the Banking Law, which allows its informative function and private law sanctions for violating its disposition, is justified by developments in European Law and has already been initiated in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal.