Is there a maximum interest rate for a mortgage?

Just got an “Erricjtung Schuldbrief” for my property in Zurich and in it, I read “Im Grundbuch its sin Maximalzinsfuss von 10% eingertragen (Art. 818 Abs 2 ZGB)”.

I looked up the said article (Art. 818 ZGB (Zivilgesetzbuch - 2023)) and in it I read:

“The interest rate originally agreed must not exceed five per cent to the detriment of subordinate mortgage creditors.”

Then I read my mortgage contract (Saron), where it says that interests can change, also significantly and rapidly, and that “there is no upper limit to them”.

I am confused. Sounds like the three sources are saying each a different thing. Anybody knows more about this topic?

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10% are quite normal. Please find here some information (in German only): Grundpfandgesicherte Forderung - Ihre Notariate im Kanton Zürich

It’s to cover additional costs/fees as well (beside the mortgage itself). But in reality I never saw it executed.

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You signed a contract with no upper limit, that is what counts.

The rest is irrelevant: The promissory note on your property must be limited in amount to ensure cascading rights for subordinated mortgages to the proceeds from selling the property in case you fail to pay your mortgage and it gets foreclosed. 10% (plus potentially up to another 5%) is simply a standard placeholder solution to this, but it only limits the interest amount of your first lien mortgage lender that also ranks first lien, it does not however limit the amount of interest you actually owe that lender.

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