A man lost 41,931 hryvnias, and PrivatBank added interest for using borrowed funds. Here's the court's decision on the matter.

A client of PrivatBank lost 41,931 hryvnias from his account. He is requesting the return of the funds and to stop the accrual of interest and penalties on the credit funds that he did not use. This is stated in the decision of the Sosnovskyi District Court of Cherkasy, published on January 31, 2025.

On April 11, 2024, unauthorized withdrawals were made from the man’s account at JSC "PrivatBank" totaling 41,931 hryvnias. He reported this incident to the bank by sending a message through the Privat-24 app and by calling the hotline at 3700. Additionally, on April 12, 2024, the citizen submitted a statement about the commission of a criminal offense to law enforcement agencies. In a letter dated May 14, 2024, the bank indicated the necessity for him to fulfill his credit obligations. The illegal withdrawal of funds from his card account was not due to his fault, and therefore he requests the recovery of 41,931 hryvnias from the financial institution and to compel it to take actions to stop the accrual of interest and penalties on the credit funds amounting to 41,931 hryvnias.

During the court session, the man explained that on the night of April 11, 2024, around 11:00 PM, he received a notification about the withdrawal of credit funds totaling 39,131 hryvnias and three transactions of 900 hryvnias each. He immediately called the hotline at 3700, and the next day, April 12, 2024, he filed a statement with the bank and law enforcement agencies. Part of the funds, 39,191 hryvnias, was returned; however, 2,700 hryvnias were not refunded and interest is being accrued, demanding payment of the credit debt.

A representative of PrivatBank stated that on April 11, 2024, there was an access to Privat-24 from the man’s financial number, and there was no cancellation of the access. Subsequently, payments of 39,131 hryvnias and three transactions of 900 hryvnias each were made using his personal information. After the client called to cancel the transactions, the bank took measures to restore the account and return 39,131 hryvnias, but the 2,700 hryvnias were paid as charitable contributions, which could not be returned to the account due to technical reasons.

What did the court decide?

The court partially granted the claim. The joint-stock company commercial bank "PrivatBank" was obliged to recalculate the debt under the banking service agreement dated April 5, 2016, arising from the unauthorized payment operations conducted on April 11, 2024, regarding the withdrawal of 2,700 hryvnias as a charitable contribution with the payment designation "Collection for Superhumans: The Face of Humanity." The other parts of the claim were denied.

"The court concludes that the claim is partially satisfied, namely by obligating the joint-stock company commercial bank 'PrivatBank' to recalculate the debt under the banking service agreement dated April 5, 2016, arising from the unauthorized payment operations conducted on April 11, 2024, regarding the withdrawal of 2,700 hryvnias as a charitable contribution with the payment designation 'Collection for Superhumans: The Face of Humanity.' The part of the claim seeking the recovery of funds in the amount of 41,931 hryvnias from the defendant is not satisfied, as the defendant returned the funds in the amount of 39,191 hryvnias, which was not disputed by the plaintiff," the court emphasized.