ÚROKY Z ÚVERU – RIEŠENÉ A OTVORENÉ OTÁZKY. PODSTATA ÚROKOV Z ÚVERU A ICH SPLATNOSŤ (1. ČASŤ)

The issue of loan interest, also known as contractual interest or capital interest, has become the focus of the application practice, decision-making work of courts and the private law science in the recent years. Attention is paid in particular to two groups of interest-related issues: interest overdue or the time-frame for payment of interest; accumulation of interest and default interest. These topics became problematic, especially in connection with consumer loan agreements. However, in this context, the inadequate consumer-related protectionist practices are often transferred to loan agreements in business relations and significantly deform the business environment. Moreover, legal provisions on loan agreement regulated by the Commercial Code are also inadequately interpreted and applied in the light of consumer protection, which ultimately negatively affects those legal relationships to which a consumer is not a party. The situation is also complicated by the fact that legal science and decision-making work of courts failed to reach a consensus on solution of these problems. The first part of the article on loan interest addresses the substance of the concept of loan interest in relation to the time-frame of its payment, with impetus on the legal framework of the obligation to pay loan interest. Subsequently, it analyses loan interest in case of premature repayment of loan from the perspective of law, the application practice and decision-making work of courts.