In the past two years, due to rising inflation and high interest rates, installments on home loans issued in zlotys have increased significantly. As a result, more borrowers are filing lawsuits against banks requesting the cancellation of the contract, even if it was made in the recent past.

Past experience with housing lending reveals a state of great legal uncertainty. Validly concluded loan agreements, not challenged by anyone, are now being challenged and then judicially invalidated. This creates chaos, whereby safe and stable bank management becomes impossible. The only way to bring order to this situation seems to be to agree on the content of a standard housing loan contract, which would give banks a guarantee that a loan granted according to this model would not be disputed either during or after loan repayment.

Work on the standard agreement is underway. If they are to reach a happy conclusion, it is necessary to hold a discussion with the participation of stakeholders: consumers and banks, and credit and consumer market regulators.

Panelists will be asked to address three issues:

• Where is the essence of the conflict between the two parties to a credit agreement?
• How much room for maneuver does each party have, and is it possible to reach an agreement with such defined boundary conditions?
• How to proceed if it is shown that the positions of the two parties cannot be agreed: to abandon long-term lending, to get the state to act as an arbitrator and with its authority impose an unchallengeable, uniform model contract, others – which?
• The final product, summarizing the findings of the discussion, should be an EKF recommendation, addressed to all stakeholders, indicating the next course of action.