A man unknowingly had a loan of 60,000 hryvnias taken out in his name at Monobank. Here’s the court's decision on the matter.

A man discovered that a loan of 60,000 hryvnias was taken out without his knowledge. Additionally, Monobank has claimed a debt of 122,271 hryvnias. The citizen is requesting the loan agreement to be declared invalid. This was stated in the decision of the Nezhin city district court of the Chernihiv region, published on October 4, 2024.

On October 21, 2019, the man signed an application form related to the banking services agreement, which specified that the application form, along with the terms, tariffs, a loan cost calculation table, and consumer loan passport, constitute the banking services agreement. He received a loan amounting to 60,000 hryvnias as a credit limit on his current account, with a payment card as the designated payment method. However, the citizen failed to timely pay the bank the amounts due for loan repayment, interest, and other expenses as per the agreement. As of September 19, 2023, the client had defaulted on his obligations, resulting in a debt of 122,271 hryvnias.

On March 12, 2024, the court received a counterclaim from the man against JSC "Universal Bank," in which he requested to dismiss the claim of JSC "Universal Bank" against him and to declare the loan agreement dated May 12, 2021, for a loan amount of 60,000 hryvnias and a consumer loan amount of 50,000 hryvnias invalid; as well as to cancel the accrued debt of 122,271 hryvnias under the specified loan agreement. The claims were justified by the fact that on October 21, 2019, he opened a current account in the mobile app of JSC "Universal Bank" and received a card for use. Until May 12, 2021, he used the card for personal needs, utilizing his own funds that he transferred to the card, and did not use any credit funds, having no debts on the credit limit. On May 12, 2021, the credit limit funds from his bank card were withdrawn not by him but by fraudsters, which he reported to the bank on the same day. He noted that on May 12, 2021, unknown individuals appropriated his funds, specifically: 60,000 hryvnias from the credit limit, 1,700 hryvnias of his own funds, and 326 dollars, transferring the specified amounts to "Izibank" cards. Furthermore, unknown individuals ordered and received a consumer loan of 50,000 hryvnias in his name. In connection with this, on May 13, 2021, the Melitopol Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Zaporizhzhia region initiated a criminal case under part 2 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

What did the court decide?

The court partially satisfied the claim. The man is to pay a debt of 60,000 hryvnias to the joint-stock company "Universal Bank."

"As seen from the provided statements of both the plaintiff and the defendant regarding the movement of funds on the card, a credit limit of 60,000 hryvnias was established (the principal of the loan, the amount actually received by the defendant). The plaintiff requested to recover from the defendant the debt on the principal of the loan amounting to 122,271 hryvnias but did not provide any evidence to support the increase of the credit limit from 60,000 hryvnias to 122,271 hryvnias. Evaluating the relevance, admissibility, and credibility of each piece of evidence separately, as well as the sufficiency and interrelation of the evidence as a whole, considering the above, the court believes that the initial claim of JSC "Universal Bank" is subject to partial satisfaction, specifically within the limits of the actually received credit funds of the credit limit amounting to 60,000 hryvnias, as confirmed by the case materials. The amount of debt on the principal of the loan stated by the plaintiff, amounting to 122,271 hryvnias, is unfounded; there is no information in the case about the increase of the credit limit to this amount, and evidence cannot be based on assumptions," the court emphasized.