§ 4-44. Notice of termination of an account with a fixed term

This section applies to accounts that are not payment accounts. On such accounts, you and the bank can agree that the money is to be tied up for a specific period, without any payments being made to or from the account. You can also agree on a notice period. If you are a consumer, the period can be no more than three months. Example: a customer deposits money in an account with a fixed term and wants to withdraw it before the period is over. In that case, the bank may be entitled to have its loss covered or to a fee, if the agreement says so.

If you give notice of termination during the fixed term, the bank can demand that you cover the loss the termination causes it, but only if the agreement allows for this. Instead, the agreement can set a fixed and reasonable fee for breaking the fixed term, an amount decided in advance.

If the bank can claim a loss or a fee, a counter-rule applies. If the bank makes a gain because the agreement ends during the fixed term, you are to have the gain credited to you. This right can be excluded by agreement, also for consumers. In that case, the consumer must have been made aware of the term before the agreement on the fixed term was entered into.

The fourth paragraph refers to § 4-42 third paragraph. The rules on paying out the balance with interest, proportional repayment of prepaid costs and access to information about previous transactions therefore also apply here, as far as they are appropriate. The customer's ordinary right to give notice of termination is set out in § 4-42, with a one-month notice period for consumers. Fixed-term accounts therefore have a longer period, three months. The bank's own right to give notice of termination follows from § 4-43. This section is referred to from § 3-25 (information about entering into the agreement and later changes) and from § 4-21 (charges and fees).