Frustrated customers of mBank and MultiBank, both part of BRE Bank Group, have teamed up to create a pair of websites (www.mstop.pl and www.nabiciwmbank.pl) which are critical of the banks’ mortgage lending policies. The creators of the websites claim to seek fair treatment.

A group of over 20,000 customers of the banks took loans in Swiss francs prior to September 2006, when mortgage interest rates were determined by the bank’s board, before the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) was involved. When the Swiss National Bank (SNB) began increasing interest rates, Polish customers had to pay more expensive mortgage payments.

When the SNB finally cut the rates in 2008, the banks’ boards kept interest rates high for this group of clients. However, those customers who borrowed money after September 2006 at interest rates based on the LIBOR and bank margins will soon see their monthly payments drop.

MBank responded last week by offering to recalculate these people’s mortgage terms according to the LIBOR and bank margin rate. “This is a real decrease in the current interest rates of their mortgage,” said Anna Moszczyńska, spokesperson for mBank. MultiBank plans to follow suit.

Aggrieved customers, however, call the margin too high in comparison with margins of other mortgage programs from both banks. Some mBank customers say they haven’t been contacted about the new offer. Others have taken their claims to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.