Overview

• The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that banks cannot retain fees charged without active customer consent, even if payments were made without objection for over three years.
• The ruling follows a 2021 decision declaring 'consent-by-silence' clauses invalid, which many banks used to justify fee increases without explicit customer approval.
• The court's decision overturns a lower court ruling that applied a three-year limitation, which is used in energy contracts, to bank fee disputes.
• The case involved a customer who was charged fees from 2018 without consent and sought a refund after objecting in 2021; the court awarded a full refund of €192.
• Despite the favorable ruling for consumers, a survey indicated that only 11% of affected customers have pursued refunds, allowing banks to retain most disputed fees.