Store cannot charge interest above 12% per year on installme

Only financial institutions can charge interest above 12% per year. With this understanding, the 3rd Panel of the Superior Court of Justice denied, this Tuesday (28/4), a special appeal from Lojas Cem and reduced the monthly fee applied to a customer who paid in installments from 3.46% to 1%. of a camera.





Disclosure

Nancy Andrighi said that only financial institutions can charge interest above the ceiling established by the Civil Code

Reproduction

The consumer requested a B2B Lead review of interest rates in court and the first instance reduced the rate. The decision was upheld by the Minas Gerais Court of Justice. Lojas Cem then filed a special appeal with the STJ.



The company argued that retail companies, in installment sales, can charge a cash amount that is sufficient to cover the operating expenses of their credit department plus the cost rate of financing from credit institutions.



The case's rapporteur, Minister Nancy Andrighi, pointed out that only entities submitted to the National Monetary Council can charge interest higher than the ceiling established by the Civil Code, of 1% per month or 12% per year.



Although article 2 of Law 6,463/1977 allows, in installment sales, retail companies to establish rates above the ceiling, the rule that must prevail is that of article 4, IX, of Law 4,595/1964, which only authorizes the practice to financial institutions, said the minister.



She highlighted that Law 6,463/1977 emerged from a 1963 project, and, when it was converted, it was obsolete. It was a time when consumers themselves had to control companies' interest rates. However, after the establishment of the National Financial System by Law 4,595/1964, the practice no longer made sense. After all, financing activity began to be regulated and supervised by bodies of the National Monetary Council and carried out solely by financial institutions, declared Nancy.







"Thus, Law 6,463/1977 is not capable of charging remuneration interest higher than the limits of 1% per month or 12% per year in installment purchase and sale contracts of goods, as the possibility of agreeing on rates market averages is limited to financial institutions, subject to the control and supervision of the National Monetary Council", he assessed.



For the judge, as Lojas Cem is not a financial institution, they cannot charge interest of 3.46% per month on the installment purchase of a camera; therefore, she voted to deny the special resource and maintain the 1% rate for financing.