Banco BICE has exhausted its last legal option. The Supreme Court rejected the bank's judicial misconduct appeal, leaving in force the ruling requiring it to pay 1,000 Monthly Tax Units (UTM), a fine payable to the Treasury.
The National Consumer Service (Sernac) announced the ruling this Friday, according to Emol. With October's UTM set at $72,151, the penalty amounts to about $72.2 million.
A judicial misconduct appeal is an exceptional remedy. Through it, a party accuses judges of serious misconduct or abuse in reaching a decision. The Supreme Court found that the Santiago Court of Appeals had not acted in that way when it upheld the lower court's ruling.
What did the bank do? Sernac's complaint dates back to 2019. According to the agency, BICE would first assess a customer's credit risk and present an offer. Once the person had accepted it, the bank would unilaterally raise or change the promised interest rate.
This happened with both new loans and refinancing. Think of agreeing on a car's price with the seller, only to be shown a different figure when it is time to sign. On a mortgage lasting 20 or 30 years, a difference of a few tenths of a percentage point in the rate translates into a lot of money.
Sernac also alleged failures to provide information. Before signing, the bank was required to give all prospective borrowers a quote and its binding summary sheet, a document summarizing the loan's terms and requiring the bank to honor them.
In its financial portability offers, the legal mechanism that allows you to move your debts from one bank to another on better terms, BICE also failed to attach a quote with the product's main features and its corresponding summary sheet.
Santiago's Third Local Police Court concluded that the bank had infringed consumers' rights to choose freely and receive accurate and timely information. It also found that the bank had failed to honor the terms and conditions offered, as required by the Consumer Protection Act.
The court also found violations of the Regulations on Consumer Information for Mortgage Loans and the Financial Portability Regulations. The case was handled as a violation of consumers' general interests, which is why the fine goes to the Treasury rather than to customers. The sources do not report whether those affected will receive any compensation.
For people who have or are seeking a loan, the ruling's message is clear: once you accept the quote, the bank must honor the rate and terms stated in it.
The case has precedents. In October 2021, amid rising interest rates, Sernac announced complaints against BICE, Itaú, BCI, Santander and Banco de Chile over problems with quotation sheets and financial portability offers. Between January and August of that year, the service recorded about 105 complaints about mortgage rates, 47 of them directly related to increases and changes in terms.
The bank paying the fine today is larger. Since November 1, 2025, following a merger authorized by the Financial Market Commission (CMF), BICE has operated as Banco Security's legal successor.
