You want to sell your house, but the fixed interest period (Sollzinsbindung) for the associated loan is still running. The bank statement shows, alongside the outstanding balance, a prepayment penalty (Vorfälligkeitsentschädigung). Before you calculate the available sale proceeds from this, the claim requires two separate checks: by which method will the loan be terminated, and is the requested compensation comprehensible on that basis?
The article concerns Germany and especially immovable consumer loans (Immobilien-Verbraucherdarlehen) with fixed interest concluded after 20 March 2016. Other loan types, commercial financings and older contracts must not simply be subsumed under the same examination scheme. There is no personal notice of termination or instruction of non-payment here.
Fix the legal framework before the first percentage calculation
Collect the contract and amendments, the complete disbursement history, the end of the fixed interest period, the repayment schedule and the agreed special rights. § 491 BGB describes the type of loan dealt with, including exceptions. The designation “house loan” alone does not determine its legal classification. [ART]
For contracts concluded before 21 March 2016, Article 229 § 38 EGBGB generally refers to the version in force at that time, subject to its exception. [ALTER] The current wording of § 502 therefore does not by itself prove exclusion in such an old contract. Also have clarified what significance later agreements actually have.
Which repayment route will be used at all?
For the bound immovable consumer loan discussed here, early performance during the fixed interest period according to § 500 paragraph 2 BGB requires a legitimate interest. If its prerequisites are met, § 490 paragraph 2 is expressly not to be applied. [RUECK] Therefore describe the actual sales plan to the bank and ask which basis will be used.
§ 490 paragraph 2 contains a different termination route with its own prerequisites, including receipt and deadline requirements as well as a legitimate realisation interest. [AUSSER] An unexamined mixture of both routes is not a reliable timetable. Likewise, an offered consensual rescission must be classified according to its actual conditions; the heading “Vorfälligkeit” does not declare this basis.
Also check whether the planned date already fits an ordinary termination. § 489 BGB names, among other things, ten years since full receipt and a six-month notice period; later agreements may replace the reference point. For effectiveness, actual repayment within the statutory requirement is also important. [ORD] In the appropriate ordinary termination route, compensation for early repayment is not automatically the correct cost basis. The concrete temporal classification precedes the damage calculation.
Ask about exclusion grounds first, then check the calculation figures
§ 502 paragraph 1 BGB permits, under its conditions, appropriate compensation for the damage directly resulting from early repayment. That does not make every amount named by the bank correct. Paragraph 2 excludes the claim if the repayment is made from an insurance contractually prescribed to secure the repayment, or if certain information on term, right of termination or calculation is insufficient. [ANSPRUCH]
Whether a specific information is insufficient can only be assessed on the basis of the complete contractual documents and the applicable law. A third-party judgment with a similarly phrased sentence or a reference to an allegedly missing formula does not replace this examination. There is no automatic finding here that your contract is defective.
The limit of one percent or one half percent in § 502 paragraph 3 explicitly applies to general consumer loans. It is not a general upper limit for the real-estate loan dealt with here. [ANSPRUCH] A multiplication of the outstanding balance by one percent is therefore not a reliable check of your claim.
Request an explainable statement
If you inform the bank of the intended early repayment of an immovable consumer loan, § 493 paragraph 5 BGB requires immediate information on a durable medium. They concern in particular the admissibility, in the case of admissible repayment, the amount and, where applicable, the compensation. Underlying assumptions must be comprehensible, factually justified and disclosed. [AUSKUNFT]
Our editorial recommendation: Request a statement in which outstanding debt, other balance-sheet-date items and compensation appear separately. Ask for the calculation date, method, term considered and the payment assumptions used. An early estimate should be labelled as such in your own sales plan. If the date shifts, have the information updated or its validity confirmed.
Compare the contractual rights used with your documents. Are there future special repayment rights, a permissible earlier termination or other agreements that are not recognisable in the calculation? A general bank brochure does not replace an actually agreed right.
Why unused special repayment rights can also be important
In the judgment XI ZR 388/14 of 19 January 2016 the BGH criticised a pre-formulated clause that generally excluded future contractual special repayment rights from the compensation calculation. Such rights limit the legally protected expectation of interest; in the decided constellation the bank was not permitted to benefit from their blanket non-consideration. [SONDER]
This is a concrete test criterion, not an automatic cancellation of every claim. Present the exact special repayment rule and its timing for independent calculation verification. The historical case concerned a clause and the then route via § 490 Absatz 2; your claim and your contractual wording must be assessed separately.
Planning the proceeds with an outstanding claim
In the invented example used here the sale price is 460.000 euros, outstanding debt 272.000 euros, initially 7.500 euros claimed as compensation and 10.500 euros other assumed costs. Arithmetically 170.000 euros remain. This figure is a model amount, not a confirmed net proceed; in particular taxes and further encumbrances have not been checked off as settled.
If a review actually changed the compensation to 5.200 euros, there would be 2.300 euros less in costs and a model remainder of 172.300 euros. However, an expected correction must not already be planned as certainly available money for the next purchase. Neither a typical error rate nor a usual compensation amount is asserted with this example.
A later redemption can also mean ongoing instalments and other interim costs. Therefore compare the entire period and not only the desired reduction of a single item. If you wish to continue the loan with another security, the actually confirmed arrangement belongs in a separate bank and execution plan; it is not presumed here as an existing alternative.
Distinguish a dispute from a secure completion of sale
Have the bank and notary coordinate the payment and release procedure. A self-initiated reduction can affect the planned execution; this article does not justify it. If the claim remains disputed and a payment is on the table for completion, seek legal advice on the concrete protection of your position before making a declaration or a waiver of claim.
Keep the information, calculation version, objections, responses and the actual completion together. A completed payment does not in itself prove the correctness of the claim nor an already secured recovery. The result of the preparation is a comprehensible basis for professional review and proceeds planning, not an approval announced by the article to terminate, pay or sue.