Interest certificate
Interest certificates serve as proof of increased interest as ancillary claims to a main claim.
The statutory interest rate is 4% ( § 246 BGB ), in the case of a mutual commercial transaction 5% ( § 352 HGB ). Higher interest rates should the debtor in default ( § 288 BGB) or merchants from the due date ( § 353 HGB) pay. The interest rate is then 5 percentage points above the base rate ( § 247 BGB). In the process, regardless of the default, procedural interest is owed from the moment of pending litigation ( Section 291 BGB). That is also 5 percentage points above the base rate. The damage that goes beyond the statutory interest rates usually consists in the fact that the creditor has to take up a loan with a higher interest rate and cannot repay or redeem this loan due to a lack of payment (on investment damage when tying up equity, see BGH case law). The use of credit in the amount of the claim and the interest rate charged for it must be proven. For this you need an interest certificate from the house bank , according to which you have taken out bank credit in the amount of the outstanding claim from the beginning of the default and had to pay increased interest for it.
The fact that an overdraft was generally granted and even used in different amounts does not count as evidence due to the lack of determinability in the process. In accordance with the legal requirements, the date of the beginning of the delay and the amount of the (sued) claim as well as the continuously calculated interest rates must be stated. How high the actual credit drawdown was need not be disclosed, because only the use of credit for the claimed claim has to be proven. With the following wording, the interest certificate would meet the legal requirements:
"We hereby certify ( credit institution ) that ( company ) has been using credit with us since (date) in the amount of at least (sum) euros. We have calculated the following interest rates: (interest rate) percent since (date) , (Interest rate) percent since (date), etc. "
Liability of the bank for interest loss
There is neither a legal nor an actual difference in the requirements for the judicial and extrajudicial proof of interest. Issuing interest certificates is one of the normal activities of a bank. A fee is also regularly charged for interest certificates . As a result, the bank is liable for the consequences of an inadequate interest certificate on a contractual basis (usually based on the giro contract ). The customer can expect that a bank will be able to create an interest certificate that is sufficient in the process even without a proposed formulation. In contrast, the bank will not be able to plead that it is not liable because, as a bank, it has no influence on the conduct of the litigation. As a result, the bank owes compensation in the amount of the lost interest if, as a result of inadequate certification, the plaintiff / bank customer is only awarded the statutory interest.
Individual evidence
literature
- Palandt-Heinrichs, Commentary on the BGB, 66, 2007 edition, § 288, marginal no. 14,
- Baumbach-Hopt, Commentary on the HGB, 30th edition 2000, § 352, marginal no. 5
- [1] Lawyer and notary Dr. Thomas Doms in NJW 1999, 2649-2650
