The European Court of Justice has handed Spanish home owners a major victory against the country’s banks.

It ruled that two million mortgage holders are entitled to additional refunds because they paid too much interest.

The banks had not lowered their interest payments to match the  low benchmark rates set by the European Central Bank, as part of its measures to stimulate the eurozone economy.

The European Court has now ruled that was unfair and the repayments should cover the entire life of the mortgage during the time that interest rates were low. The ruling, which banks and analysts were not expecting, is final and cannot be appealed.

The ruling means that millions will receieve mortgage repayments worth billions of euros