The Abu Dhabi Commercial Court ordered a bank to refund AED92,854 to one of its customers after banking experts concluded that the lender had charged interest and fees on a credit card without any document proving that the charges had been agreed upon by both parties. The court also ordered the bank to close the card account and provide the customer with a clearance certificate.In detail, a man filed a lawsuit against a bank seeking the appointment of a banking expert to settle the account between the two parties. He also requested that the bank be ordered to return any excess amounts he had paid, provide all contracts and account statements in its possession from the start of the relationship until the filing of the case, and issue a clearance certificate. He further sought legal costs and expenses.The plaintiff said that in 2013 he applied for financing from the defendant bank and was approved for a credit card with a limit of AED50,000. He said he had paid all outstanding amounts due and had even paid sums exceeding the value of the debt. Despite this, the bank continued to demand further payments from him.The court said the report prepared by the banking expert appointed in the case showed that the plaintiff had obtained a credit card from the defendant bank with a credit limit of AED50,000. However, the bank failed to provide the original card application or any document proving the agreed interest rate or fees. It said those documents had been lost in a fire at the place where they were stored. As a result, there was no evidence showing that the parties had agreed on a specific interest rate or fees.The court noted that the expert reviewed account statements covering the entire period of the banking relationship and found that the bank had imposed interest and fees on the credit card without providing proof of any agreement. The expert then recalculated the account using simple legal interest, while excluding compound interest and fees that were not proven to have been agreed upon. Payments were allocated first to interest and then to the principal amount.According to the report, total withdrawals amounted to AED1,403,078, while the total amount paid by the plaintiff reached AED1,605,130. After recalculating the legal interest and excluding the unproven fees, the expert found a final balance in favour of the plaintiff amounting to AED92,854.The court said it was satisfied with the expert report because it was based on established principles and on the documents and account statements submitted by the bank. It added that the report contained sufficient technical reasoning to support its conclusions. The defendant bank failed to present any evidence that would undermine the report or challenge the basis of the expert’s findings.The court added that the expert had examined the bank’s objections and responded to them appropriately and in line with the task assigned to him. It therefore adopted the conclusions of the report and the reasoning on which they were based.Regarding interest, the court said the bank had been found liable for the claimed amount and had delayed payment. Therefore, the plaintiff was entitled to late-payment interest as compensation.The court ordered the bank to pay the plaintiff AED92,854, along with late-payment interest at a rate of 3% per year from the date the lawsuit was filed until full payment, provided that the interest does not exceed the principal amount. It also ruled that the plaintiff be cleared of any debt arising from the credit card issued by the bank. The bank was ordered to close the related account, provide the plaintiff with a clearance certificate, and pay the fees, expenses and AED200 in legal fees. All other claims were dismissed.
