Does the class action settlement over early repayment fees apply to car loans?

No. The claim concerned mortgages, and the Banking Order (Early Repayment of a Housing Loan), 2002, applies only to a loan to buy a home or secured by a mortgage on a home. The settlement money goes to the class action fund, not to customers.

Can a Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing car loan be repaid early?

Under the agreement in the file described in this article, yes. Section 3.1 allows early repayment on written notice at least 10 business days before the repayment date. Send the request in writing, ask for a dated payoff letter, and keep a copy and proof of sending.

What fees apply to early repayment of a loan that is not a mortgage?

For banks, the matter is governed by Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 454 of the Bank of Israel. According to the explanation sheets the banks publish, the possible fees are an operational fee, a fee for notice of less than 10 days, a discounting difference fee, and for CPI-linked loans an index loss fee. The agreement in this article says the Bank of Israel directives apply "insofar as they apply to the company".

What can you do when the bank does not answer a payoff request?

Send a written request to the lender’s address in the agreement and to its current address, and ask for a final payoff amount and date. Keep every request, reply and call with its date. If the lender is a banking corporation, you can turn to the Public Enquiries Unit of the Banking Supervision Department at the Bank of Israel. In the file described here, the April 2024 emails are what show that the customer asked to pay off.

Complaining to Israel's Banking Supervisor about Mizrahi Tefahot

Bank customers' complaints are examined by the Public Enquiries and Consumer Oversight Unit of the Banking Supervision Department at the Bank of Israel. It handles complaints about commercial banks and credit card companies. But you cannot go to it directly.

In brief

Stage 1: a written complaint to the bank's public complaints commissioner. According to the Bank of Israel, the commissioner must reply in writing within 45 days, and in some cases within 60 days after notifying you.
Stage 2: if no reply arrives in time, or the reply is unsatisfactory, you turn to the Banking Supervision through the online form, using Israel's national identification system.
What to attach: the complaint to the bank, its reply if one came, and any supporting document.
The arrangement is set out in Proper Conduct of Banking Business directive 308A.

Stage 1: the bank's public complaints commissioner

Every bank has a public complaints unit. File a written complaint and keep a copy and the date. It helps to state:

Who you are, and the account or loan number.
What happened, in chronological order, with dates.
What you are asking for: an explanation, a correction, a fee cancellation, a refund, a document.
Which documents are attached.

Stage 2: the Banking Supervision

Forty-five days have passed with no answer? An answer arrived that does not address your claims? File with the Supervision through the online form. Attach your complaint to the bank and its reply, and set out each claim separately.

According to the Bank of Israel, banks must comply with the unit's decisions, but the complainant is not bound by them and may also go to court.

Examples from a real file

In the file we document against Mizrahi Tefahot and Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing, several issues fit such a complaint exactly:

A request to repay a loan that went unanswered. In April 2024 the customer wrote that he wanted to pay off the loan, and no one replied. Details: car loans at Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing.
A balance that cannot be understood. The statement contained 22,068.79 shekels that no one explained. Details: how much do you really owe Mizrahi Tefahot.
A refused request to access personal data. Details: the right of access to personal data at Mizrahi Tefahot.

Two important notes

A subsidiary that is not a bank. Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing is a subsidiary of the bank, not a bank itself. If the complaint concerns it, address it to Bank Mizrahi Tefahot, its sole shareholder, and explain the link. If the Supervision will not examine it, you will be told.
Open legal proceedings. When the matter is already before the Execution Office or a court, the decisions there govern. A complaint to the Supervision does not replace an application to the registrar or the court.

Sources

A general guide, correct as of 2 November 2026. Check the current procedure on the Bank of Israel website before filing. Not legal advice.