Closing of accounts
In the case of current accounts , credit institutions are obliged to provide the account holder with a statement of accounts at regular intervals . This statement of accounts must not be confused with any bank statement that only contains a current item balance.
Legal bases
According to the General Terms and Conditions , current accounts are managed as current accounts within the meaning of § 355 HGB (analogously in Austria § 355 UGB applies ). This means that the current account regulations apply. A clear distinction must be made between a simple account statement, which only shows a current item balance, and an account statement. The closing of accounts is the period-end closing required in accordance with Section 355, Paragraph 2 of the German Commercial Code, which is of particular legal significance. Within the terms and conditions, a distinction is expressly made between financial statements and other bank statements.
content
The closing of accounts includes interest, fees and costs incurred since the last closing of the accounts. This also leads to interest capitalization. Up to this closing of accounts, credit institutions have the right to cancel incorrect credits from previous account statements . As a rule, the statement of accounts contains the provisions on balance recognition resulting from the General Terms and Conditions . The account statement, which shows a final invoice balance, contains a separate reference to the customer's obligation to notify and the consequences of failing to meet the deadline.
Frequency of closing of accounts
According to German commercial law ( § 355 HGB), the balance of the current account must be determined at least once a year. According to No. 7 (1) of the AGB-Banken, the accounts in Germany are issued at the end of each calendar quarter.
The quarterly conclusion for consumers results from the provision of Section 504 BGB in conjunction with Section 492 BGB, according to which contracts for an overdraft facility must be in writing if the conclusion is made more than once a quarter. In order to take advantage of the flexibility of a non-formal overdraft facility, quarterly billing is also common in banking.
Consequences of closing the accounts
After the account holder has received the statement of accounts, he is obliged to check its accuracy immediately . The purpose of the inspection obligation is to relieve the credit institutions. Due to the high volume of payment transactions, the customer is obliged to support the bank in fulfilling its tasks. Since it is the task of the credit institute to book correctly and to provide information about this properly, the customer has to check the account statements for correctness and completeness in order to prevent his own joint liability according to § 254 BGB.
According to No. 7, Paragraph 3, Clause 2 of the General Terms and Conditions of Savings Banks, accounts are considered approved if they are not contradicted within six weeks of receipt (so-called fictitious declaration). The customer will be informed of this legal consequence when the statement of account is issued. This provision leads to the conclusion of a balance acknowledgment contract. With him the current accountable mutual claims and services are lost, only the claim from the balance acknowledgment remains .
This effect should not be confused with a legal approval of all postings on which the closing of accounts is based. Debit entries that do not correspond to a claim by the bank holding the account are neither legally nor implicitly approved by the acknowledgment of debt .
This applies in particular to direct debits with a direct debit authorization procedure , for which there is an unlimited possibility of cancellation. Thereafter, the possibility of the account holder to object to debiting his account on the basis of direct debits is not limited and only ends with the approval of the account-holding bank. If the account holder then remains silent about the receipt of an incorrect statement of account, this does not constitute (implied) approval according to the terms and conditions. If incorrect debits are only recognized after the 6-week period has expired, the current account can no longer be offset; the claim can then only be asserted separately.
Individual evidence
- ↑ No. 7 para. 1 AGB-Sparkassen
- ↑ No. 11 para. 4 and 5 AGB-Banken as well as No. 20 para. 1 g AGB-Sparkassen
- ↑ No. 8 para. 1 AGB-Banken; but also afterwards, cf. No. 8 (2) General Terms and Conditions for banks
- ↑ the AGB-Sparkassen leave the billing period open, but refer to § 355 HGB and No. 7 Paragraph 1 AGB-Sparkassen
- ↑ No. 11, Paragraph 4 of the AGB banks
- ↑ The customer's obligation to pay compensation for positive breach of contract; BGH WM 1985, 905
- ↑ BGHZ 80, 172, 176
- ↑ BGH WM 1994, 2273, 2274
- ↑ BGH NJW 2000, 2667