Supermarket swindle? Court orders Carrefour to cough up nine years’ worth of interest after ‘deceptive’ credit trap exposed.

It’s the plastic trap that’s been quietly draining wallets across Spain – but one shopper just turned the tables and got every last euro back.

A Spanish court has just handed down a damning verdict against Carrefour’s finance arm, ordering the retail giant to refund every cent of interest charged on a notorious Carrefour Pass revolving credit card – all the way back to December 2015.

That’s nine years of interest payments wiped out in one fell swoop. Why? Because the court ruled that the customer had been lured into the deal without clear, transparent information – a legal must-have under both Spanish and EU law.

And this isn’t a one-off. Courts across Spain are increasingly siding with consumers in what’s shaping up to be a full-blown revolving card rebellion.

What exactly is a ‘revolving card’?

If you’ve ever wondered why your credit card debt never seems to shrink, even though you’re making payments every month – you’re not imagining things. That’s the shady magic of revolving credit. You pay a small monthly amount, but the interest stacks up faster than you can blink. Some argue that it’s just legal loan-sharking in plastic form – and supermarkets, petrol stations, and non-bank outlets have been dishing them out for years.

The Alcobendas ruling: Game-changing stuff

In the latest bombshell ruling, Judge of First Instance No. 1 in Alcobendas pulled no punches. He declared the card’s terms so murky and misleading that the consumer couldn’t possibly have known what they were signing up for.

According to the judge, ‘conditions must be drafted clearly and comprehensibly so that any terms affecting the main object of the contract aren’t ambiguous or misleading.’

In other words? If it’s gobbledygook, it’s no good.

The court hammered home what’s known as the control de inclusión y transparencia formal – essentially a legal test to make sure consumers have a fighting chance to understand what the hell they’re signing.

As the judge put it, ‘You can’t call it consent if the consumer never even got a copy of the terms and wasn’t told they existed in the first place.’

The tide is turning against shady banking tactics in Spain

Legal experts say this ruling could set a major precedent. Why? Because the card in question wasn’t even sold in a bank – it was issued through Carrefour, a supermarket chain. That’s important. Thousands of similar cards have been handed out in petrol stations, stores and shopping centres with little to no explanation of what borrowers were truly getting into.

‘This is a textbook example of why transparency isn’t just a formality – it’s the difference between a fair deal and financial entrapment,’ said one legal source close to the case.

Join the fight – or keep overpaying

Consumer associations in Spain are urging anyone with a revolving card to check their statements and consider legal action. Their message? ‘If you’ve got a revolving card, you’re probably paying too much. Join us and we’ll fight for your refund.’

With this ruling now on the books, anyone trapped in a similar credit cycle might want to revolve their thinking and get some expert advice. Because when it comes to hidden interest, what goes around, might just come back to bite the lender.

Key takeaway: If you’ve got a revolving credit card issued by a supermarket or non-bank lender, you might be entitled to a full refund of the interest paid – especially if the terms weren’t crystal clear when you signed up.

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