If the default interest is higher than the usury threshold set out in article 1 of law 108/96, the interest is illegitimate: the bank cannot request it and the borrower is required to repay only the principal amount as it is void according to article 1815 of the civil code.
This is the meaning of the new sentence of the Court of Cassation expressed with order 23192/17, published last October 4 by the sixth Civil section, and which rekindles the issue of usury of default interest.
Several courts in recent years have proved consumers and companies right who have argued that, beyond having paid or not the default interest, the only contractual provision of the clause that provides for them, requires them to be considered for the purposes of the usury threshold .
