THE CREDIT CONCESSION IN BRAZIL AND THE INTERPRETATION OF BANK CONTRACTS BY THE SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

This article discusses credit granted by financial institutions and the banking contract as its instrument. It presents the origin and evolution of the financial system; the treatment of credit and the collection of interest; the banking contracts in Brazil and their interpretation by the Superior Court of Justice. On the one hand, the credit finances consumption and the activity of the productive sectors, fomenting the development of the economy of the country. On the other hand, the supremacy of the financial institutions and the vulnerability of the consumer are factors that are present in the formation and execution of the banking contracts. Based on the economic analysis of law, detached from personal and ideological positions of the judge, the search for balance between these factors and the legal security in the business environment are the challenges imposed to the national jurisprudence, commanded by the Superior Court of Justice. In this sense, even without a legal limitation on the remuneration interest rate charged by financial institutions, a review of the banking contract is allowed when, in the specific case, once the consumption relation is characterized, the abusive nature of the interests contracted is demonstrated, taking the average market rate in the area where the credit was granted as a parameter.