Banking law lawyer in Paris: securing your rights against the bank.

The first question is the date of the deed. For a guarantee concluded since 1 January 2022, Article 2300 of the Civil Code provides that a commitment manifestly disproportionate to the guarantor's income and assets is reduced to the amount the guarantor could undertake. For an earlier deed, former Article L. 332-1 of the Consumer Code provided that a professional creditor could not rely on it, unless the guarantor's assets later allowed the debt to be met. The Reims Court of Appeal recalls that the guarantor must demonstrate the disproportion at the time of signing, while the bank must establish the guarantor's return to better financial circumstances where it relies on it (CA Reims, 4 November 2025, No. 24/01020). The deed, the asset statement, the income, the assets and the debts at the relevant date must therefore be gathered.

Yes, where the director committed as an individual to a professional creditor. Being a director is not enough to rule out the proportionality review. In a judgment of 23 November 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal states precisely that "No provision excludes from this protection the guarantor who is a director of a company whose debts they guarantee" (our translation) (No. 20/13541). The analysis remains concrete: the deed, the other commitments, the income available, the assets actually held and the debts must be set against the amount guaranteed. The bank may dispute the information presented, but the challenge is not limited to the nominal amount of the guarantee. The documents supplied at the time of signing and the contemporaneous supporting evidence are therefore essential to assess the situation without artificially reconstructing the guarantor's assets from later data.

The duty to warn concerns the risk of excessive indebtedness arising from the grant of the loan where the borrower is non-professional. The Court of Cassation recalls that the failure deprives the borrower of a chance to avoid the risk that materialised, which assumes that the borrower cannot meet the sums due (Cass. com., 13 February 2019, No. 17-14.785). On 13 August 2026 the Dijon Court of Appeal stated that "A banking institution is bound by a duty to warn a non-professional borrower where, on the day of its commitment, that commitment is not suited to the borrower's financial capacity or where a risk of indebtedness arises from the grant of the loan" (our translation) (CA Dijon, 2e chambre civile, 13 August 2026, No. 21/01598). The file must therefore document the situation known on the day of the contract, the expenses, the other loans, the information provided and the progression of the arrears. The discussion is not limited to the difficulty that appeared several years afterwards.

Report the transaction to the bank by a means that preserves the date, describe the contested entries precisely and request reimbursement. Article L. 133-18 of the Monetary and Financial Code provides that the provider must reimburse immediately after becoming aware of the transaction and, at the latest, by the end of the first business day following, unless it has written grounds for suspecting fraud by the user. Article L. 133-19 specifies the cases in which the payer may bear a loss, notably before the report in the event of loss or theft, and those in which the payer is not liable. Keep the statement, the police report receipt if there is one, the exchanges and the authentication data. A general reply from the bank does not replace a transaction-by-transaction review.

It may dispute reimbursement if it has grounds for suspecting fraud by the user or if it alleges fraud or gross negligence under the conditions of Article L. 133-19 of the Monetary and Financial Code. This position must be examined on the basis of the specific transaction, the method of authentication, the safekeeping of the security data and the chronology of the report. The customer should ask for a written reply, the identification of the transactions concerned and the grounds on which the bank bases its refusal. The ceiling of 50 euros provided for by the text concerns certain losses before notification following the loss or theft of the instrument; it does not govern every case of remote fraud. The firm therefore compares the statements, the alerts, the devices used and the exchanges, without inferring gross negligence from the mere fact that a payment was authenticated.

Article L. 313-34 of the Consumer Code requires the lender to keep the terms of the offer open for at least thirty days from its receipt. The borrower and any guarantors who are individuals may accept it only ten days after receiving it. The offer, its acceptance, any withdrawal relied on and the documents supplied must therefore be dated and kept. The reflection period for the offer is not the same as a withdrawal, which must rest on the applicable text. In a dispute, the signed version, the specific conditions, any amendments and the date of each dispatch must be checked. These formation rules are not enough to resolve a challenge to an acceleration of the loan: the clause of the contract, the unpaid instalments, the formal notices and the statement of the balance must also be read. A bank that declares the whole loan due must be able to link its decision to the contractual terms and to the events actually established.

The answer depends on the account agreement, the type of account and the notification sent. A closure is checked against the letter, the notice announced, the transactions in progress and any reasons given. The customer should save the statements, ask for the return of the funds and arrange for the direct debits or transfers that can no longer go through. A closure that follows a disagreement over a transaction, a credit application or a fraud report calls for a complete chronology, without automatically concluding that there was an abuse. For a business account, the effects on salaries, suppliers and receipts must also be measured. The firm examines the contractual terms, the exchanges and the loss that can actually be demonstrated before choosing between a complaint, a transfer request or an action.

Yes, but the overall handling of debts must be distinguished from the challenge to a bank claim. An over-indebtedness application does not, by itself, decide the validity of a guarantee, a statement of account or an unauthorised transaction. The file must list the income, expenses, loans, debts due and recovery documents, then check whether a claim should be challenged in parallel. For a director, the personal situation and that of the company are not the same; the nature of the debt and of the debtor must be clarified. The firm can briefly present the banking elements useful for choosing the route, without promising a measure or a result. The letters received and the time limits mentioned must be sent over before any reply, so that a recovery procedure does not advance without review.

First send the contract concerned: loan offer, guarantee deed, account agreement, tariff conditions or credit-related insurance. Add the statements showing the transactions, the amortisation schedule, the formal notices, the acceleration of the loan, the closure letters and any complaints already sent. For a guarantor, include proof of income, assets, debts and commitments at the time of signing. For fraud, keep the date of the report, the alerts, the exchanges with the bank and any elements of a police complaint or challenge. Sort the documents by date and state what you are asking of the bank. An incomplete file can be reviewed, but the missing documents will be identified before choosing between negotiation, a formal complaint and proceedings.