As of June, there was a loan volume of EUR 185.6 billion in private households in Austria in 2024. The lion’s share, around 70% of all loans to Austrian private households, is accounted for housing loans.[ 1] According to Statistics Austria, 39% of all Austrian households financed their residential property with loans in 2021. 2]

Fair fee for enabling your dreams

Austria’s banks enable the financing of your dreams in reliance on a reliable repayment of the agreed rates. And rightly so, as the statistics show, the number of loans that could not be served was only 2% in 2023.[ 3]

In return for enabling your desired financing, the banks charge a return on the capital granted, and on the other hand, fees and fees for their benefits, such as an account management fee.

In the course of the loan agreement, fees for bank benefits will be due. The lender in Austria has to take a variety of measures. In addition to compliance with regulatory requirements such as the KIM regulation, banks must check the creditability of borrowers: the probability of default or the value of collateral. In addition, there is the preparation of all documents, the correspondence with the trustee or the settlement with the land register.

Focus on credit processing fee

Under the loan agreement, a credit processing fee of 1 to 4% of the loan is also due in the vacant amount. This will be charged – as described above – for specificly describable services. The OGH has also expressly accepted the permissibility of offsetting a credit processing fee in 2016.

Since 2023, the credit processing fee has been repeatedly the subject of media reporting after some borrowers had filed a complaint against the settlement of this fee. In individual cases, courts have also granted these complaints and in January 2024 the Supreme Court (OGH) also confirmed such a judgment in a very specific case. He has justified this on the grounds that the combination of several fees in the specific case could lead to overlaps (and theoretically to a double-calcharge of services). Therefore, the combination of these fees with a handling fee in the specific case would be opaque.[ 4]

Individual case consideration necessary

But are all credit processing fees in Austria not permitted, as claimed by some lawyers or litigation financiers? And can you simply get the money back?

It is important to know that several proceedings are currently pending before Austrian courts on the subject of the credit processing fee. Anyone who wants to get back the money will not avoid lengthy trials.

The banks represent the position that the credit processing fee is charged for specific benefits, such as the audit of the financing project, the calculation of interest rate and maturity variants and the credit assessment. The loan processing fee is not shifted to the “small print”, but is located prominently in the contractual certificate. All offers are easy to compare thanks to an effective annual interest rate.

Some of the courts judge very differently and a blanket statement about the chances of success is therefore dubious.

Majority of decisions in the sense of banks

The overwhelming majority of the first-court decisions are currently coming out in the interests of the banks. An overview of the outcome of the legal debate shows a various picture:

Court decisions (1. instance)Number *
Claim dismissed against fee44
Suit granted4

*Status: 8.1.2025

No parallels to fitness centres or mobile contracts

Currently, lawyers and litigation financiers are around compulsory clients, referring in particular to a decision by the Supreme Court of November 2022, according to which service packages of fitness centres are not permitted as “car fees without a specific additional benefit”. Similar decisions on mobile contracts have also been cited repeatedly.

The banks are convinced that there are no legal parallels here. The credit processing fee cannot be compared with the service fee of fitness studios, because a specifically describable service is charged here with the credit assessment. In addition, the contract offered in the gym decisions as an “all-inclusive” contract has been eroded by the pricing of the services already included in the “all-inclusive fee”.

Clarification by the Supreme Court required

In the course of the instance, in 2024, occasionally higher regional courts (OLG) and the Supreme Court (OGH) dealt with these issues.

Consumer guards and lawyers argue in particular with a decision of the Supreme Court of January 2024, which was in the interests of the plaintiff party. The decision resulted in a special combination of several fees of the bank in question (processing fee plus. Survey fees, transfer fees and costs for postage and printed materials) are inadmissible because not transparent, declared. An overlap is not excluded from the customer’s point of view. [5]

This decision concerns a very specific case and does not apply to every credit agreement in Austria, but only to the fees of the bank affected by the dispute. This decision was made in a “association proceeding” (Section 28 KSchG), in which there are particularly strict rules for entrepreneurs. Specific circumstances of the individual case do not matter here.

From the point of view of the banks, this Supreme Court decision is therefore not a key decision, but only concerns an isolated case. The Supreme Court also writes in its reasoning: “The term of the credit processing fee is sufficiently transparent in itself, because the borrower already understands that he pays the fee for the activity and the expense of processing and provision of the loan.” [6] However, consumers would have to be able to verify that billed fees overlap.

Already in 2016, the Supreme Court had found the credit processing fee permitted. The banks have so far trusted in this judiciary. In order to establish legal certainty and legal clarity for both banks and consumers in this area, the bank representatives share the assessment of the Vienna Higher Regional Court that a jurisprudence of the Supreme Court on credit processing fees would be required. From the point of view of the banks, this is expected at the end of 2024 at the earliest, and more by 2025.

The credit industry is confident that the Supreme Court will assess credit processing charges as permissible in its established case law as before.

Beware of hasty promises

Increased marketing activities of lawyers and litigation financiers are currently being observed around the issue of credit processing charges. With advertising announcements such as “Paying banks back” and “zero risk” are advertised for complainant customers.

In view of the complex legal situation, the different judgments of 2024 and the not insignificant court costs (or the financial contribution of up to 30% of the cash revenue in litigation financiers), reality is often more complicated than advertising a rapid lawsuit. Anyone who makes room for details here makes it too easy.

Talk to your credit manager

Austria’s banks are a trusting relationship with their borrowers an important concern. The banks not only help you to fulfill your dreams, but also support you in challenging situations.

We therefore advise that if your living conditions have changed due to termination, maternity leave, accident, etc. and you have difficulties with the operation of your loan, talk to your credit manager. In the joint conversation, he will show you ways to successfully master this situation.