The Shanghai Financial Court for the first time on Monday amended the original sentence in a dispute over a loan agreement under the Civil Code.

The borrowers, nicknamed Tian and Zhou, recovered 840,000 yuan (US $ 130,031) from the state-controlled financial institution Zhongyuan Trust.

The Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, which is called “an encyclopedia of social life” and has 1,260 articles covering all aspects of life, came into force on Friday.

Tian and Zhou borrowed 6 million yuan from the institution in 2017. They could repay the money in eight years with an annual rate of 11.88% depending on the contract. They also signed a plan on how much money they should return each month.

A year later, they wanted to pay off their debt sooner than expected, but were asked to repay 7.4 million yuan, the annual rate reaching 20.94%.

Although they returned the money, they thought it was unreasonable, and therefore sued the company to refund 880,000 yuan.

A district court dismissed the request and the couple appealed to the financial court.

According to the new law, lenders must inform borrowers of the real interest rate in a clear and accessible manner.

There was no real interest rate in the plan, so people without professional financial knowledge could not calculate the rate in a short period of time, which was different from the figure written in the contract, said the financial court.

The plaintiffs’ appeal was upheld, and the company was ordered to return 840,000 yuan.