Credit fraud surprises people because you do not need to rob anyone to commit it. It is enough to state a higher income in a loan application, conceal another debt or dress up the company accounts. The Supreme Court says repeatedly: the offence is complete the moment the untrue information is given, regardless of whether the bank suffered any loss and whether you are repaying the loan honestly. The same applies to subsidies.
What is prosecuted
- Untrue or grossly distorted information or concealment of material information when negotiating a credit agreement or when drawing on a loan.
- Using the loan for a purpose other than agreed, without the creditor's consent, where larger damage results.
- For subsidies, the same when applying for a subsidy, grant or repayable financial assistance.
What you are facing
Up to two years in the basic range, but the amount of damage raises the range quickly: for considerable damage, two to eight years; for damage on a large scale, five to ten years. A company director who repeatedly gave untrue information when drawing on a bank loan was convicted of the felony with considerable damage.
Defence
The strongest arguments: the information was not material, it was not untrue at the time it was given, or intent was missing (the paperwork was prepared by someone else). And the subsidiarity of criminal repression: for minor inaccuracies in a loan that is being repaid properly, the courts consider whether it is a matter for criminal law at all. This defence rests on the documents from the time of the application, so secure them early.
What this rests on
No advice on this page is an opinion. Each one has a section of the law and a court decision behind it. Click through, the full text is on Europaius.
Statute
- § 211 tr. zákoníkucredit fraud: untrue information or concealment of material information when negotiating or drawing on a loan
- § 212 tr. zákoníkusubsidy fraud: the same for a subsidy, grant or repayable financial assistance
- § 12 tr. zákoníkusubsidiarity of criminal repression
Case law
- 6 Tdo 108/2023 (Nejvyšší soud, 28. 2. 2023)credit fraud is an offence completed early: it is complete when the untrue information is given, and repaying the loan changes nothing
- 4 Tdo 614/2025 (Nejvyšší soud, 30. 7. 2025)neither obtaining money nor any loss is needed for criminal liability; the consequence takes the form of endangerment
- 6 Tdo 742/2023 (Nejvyšší soud, 26. 10. 2023)liability under § 211(1) does not require any financial loss to have occurred
- II. ÚS 1167/22 (Ústavní soud, 6. 9. 2022)a company director repeatedly gave untrue information when drawing on a bank loan: the felony of credit fraud with considerable damage
A different situation?
- You or someone close to you has been detained
- Pre-trial detention is looming, or someone is already in it
- A police summons has arrived
- Criminal complaint: you want to file one, or one has been filed against you
- You have been charged with a criminal offence
- A penal order has arrived
- Alcohol or drugs behind the wheel, driving ban
- Plea agreement, conditional discontinuation
- House search
- You have become the victim of a crime
- European arrest warrant, extradition abroad
- Charged with embezzlement
- Disorderly conduct: a brawl, a pub, the street
- Dangerous threats and stalking
- You drove while banned from driving
- Charged with bodily harm
- Damage to property
- Violation of the inviolability of the home
- Defamation
- Conditional release from prison
- Negligent homicide: a fatal accident