A PrivatBank client is seeking to have a loan declared invalid and to recover 28,000 hryvnias. Here’s the court's decision on the matter.

A client of PrivatBank repaid his loan but later discovered a withdrawal of 28 thousand hryvnias from his account. He requests that the loan agreement be declared invalid and that the specified amount of funds be returned. This is stated in the decision of the October District Court of Kryvyi Rih, published on June 2, 2023.

On October 1, 2014, the man entered into a loan agreement for the provision of credit in the form of a credit limit set at 35 thousand hryvnias with PrivatBank. According to the loan agreement, he repaid the principal amount and interest for its use. However, on November 3, 2021, he reported to the police that on October 26, 2021, a transaction (payment) of 28 thousand hryvnias was fraudulently made to an unknown individual. Nonetheless, based on this illegal amount of debt under the loan agreement dated October 1, 2014, JSC CB "PrivatBank" calculated interest for the use of funds and penalties, which the client considers unlawful due to the invalidity of the payment of 28 thousand hryvnias.

From October 26, 2021, to August 22, 2022, the man calculated 3% annual interest amounting to 692 hryvnias, inflation losses of 4,334 hryvnias, and penalties totaling 18,942 hryvnias owed to the bank. Based on the above, he requested the court to declare the loan agreement invalid and to compel the bank to return the ungrounded amount of 28 thousand hryvnias and to pay him inflation damages amounting to 4,334 hryvnias.

"An internal investigation by JSC CB 'PrivatBank' regarding the disputed transaction of transferring 28 thousand hryvnias revealed that it was conducted on the internet site through the service of 'ZETPayments' with the correct manual input of the card number, the card's CVV code, and the code for internet payments – '3-D Secure' using the client’s financial phone number, by the plaintiff himself. All logins to 'Privat-24' were under the client's account, including during the transfer operation to another bank card on October 26, 2021, which was recorded from a typical device for the client: SM-G991B|SAMSUNG, belonging to the client and from a typical IP address that such a client uses. Therefore, according to paragraph 1.24 of the Law of Ukraine 'On Payment Systems and Money Transfers in Ukraine,' on October 26, 2021, the defendant properly carried out bank transfers through the 'Privat-24' app in the amount of 28 thousand hryvnias, which were not erroneous and were not made due to the bank's fault, since at the time of the disputed transaction, there were no statements from the client to JSC CB 'PrivatBank' regarding blocking cards and legal grounds for not executing these payments by the client. The loan agreement was concluded between the parties based on the plaintiff's application forms, to whom credit cards were issued, and at the time of the disputed operation, a credit card with an established credit limit was active, which the plaintiff actively used. Moreover, in violation of paragraph 14.16 of Article 14 of the Law of Ukraine 'On Payment Systems and Money Transfers in Ukraine,' the plaintiff has not yet addressed JSC CB 'PrivatBank' with a demand to deny the transactions and block the card,” - stated PrivatBank.

What did the court decide?

The court denied the man's claim. The case materials do not contain evidence of his notification to JSC CB 'PrivatBank' regarding the unauthorized withdrawal of funds from his account on October 26, 2021, aimed at stopping the accrual of interest and penalties for his failure to meet obligations to the bank.

"Establishing that the plaintiff did not prove that he contacted the defendant regarding the ungrounded withdrawal of funds from his account at JSC CB 'PrivatBank,' nor did he prove that he did not take actions or omissions that contributed to the illegal use of his personal identification number (code) or other information allowing the initiation of payment transactions on the credit card, the court concluded that there were no legal grounds for satisfying the claims against JSC CB 'PrivatBank.' Based on the aforementioned justification, the court finds no grounds for declaring the loan agreement concluded between the parties on October 1, 2014, invalid, nor for the obligation of the defendant to return to the plaintiff the ungrounded acquired funds amounting to 28 thousand hryvnias. Thus, due to the lack of evidence and ungrounded nature of the claims made by the citizen, the court should completely deny the claim submitted by him to JSC CB 'PrivatBank',” - emphasized the court.