Dutch banks to compensate clients for too high penalty interest

Around 30 thousand ING and Volksbank clients are getting money back from their bank. These involve homeowners who paid too much on their mortgage between 2011 and 2016 or who had their interest adjusted, and therefore had to pay a too high penalty interest, RTL Nieuws reports.

The banks calculated a penalty interest on the adjustment due to lost interest income. But complaints revealed that the calculation of the penalty interest was always in the favor of the bank. Banks are allowed to impose a penalty interest, but it may not exceed the actual damage that they suffer.

This affected around 7 thousand ING customers. Most of them have already been refunded.

Volksbank notified its customers that the bank is recalculating the penalty interest. If it turned out to be too high, the difference will be refunded. If it was too low, "then it is a mistake of the bank in your favor", a spokesperson said, according to the broadcaster. The bank expects to repay some 20 thousand customers.