default

noun · Verzug

Verzug is narrower than default and arrives with conditions attached, § 286 BGB wants a due claim, usually a Mahnung, and a debtor at fault, § 286 Abs. 4 BGB. English default triggers on the miss alone, so the reflex rendering quietly postpones every remedy until the German prerequisites are met.

Which translation, when

Verzugqualified delay, § 286 BGB, due claim plus Mahnung unless one of the shortcuts of § 286 Abs. 2 or Abs. 3 applies, plus fault, § 286 Abs. 4 BGB. The right word for default in the payment-delay sense, and the gateway to Verzugszinsen, § 288 BGB.

Kündigungsgrundhow German finance drafting renders an event of default, the trigger for acceleration and termination. An event catalogue, not a Verzug, and the word German loan documentation actually uses.

Why

Default in English drafting is a trigger, the payment misses its date or a covenant breaks, and the clause fires, no reminder, no fault inquiry. German Verzug is a legal state with an entrance exam, § 286 BGB: the claim must be due, the creditor must normally have sent a Mahnung, the statute waives it only in listed cases, a calendar date, § 286 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 BGB, a period running from an event, Nr. 2, serious and final refusal, Nr. 3, special reasons on a balance of interests, Nr. 4, and for remuneration claims the thirty-day rule of § 286 Abs. 3 BGB, and even then the debtor escapes if the delay is not his fault, § 286 Abs. 4 BGB. Only inside Verzug do Verzugszinsen run, § 288 BGB, nine percentage points over base for remuneration claims between businesses. So default rendered as Verzug has not translated a trigger, it has imported prerequisites, and an event of default in a facility agreement is not a Verzugsereignis at all, German loan practice calls the catalogue Kündigungsgründe, events that open acceleration whether or not anyone is in Verzug.

Typical mistakes

Verzugsereignis for event of default is residue, German facility agreements say Kündigungsgrund, and the catalogue works without the machinery of § 286 BGB.
In default of agreement is not about delay at all, it means mangels Vereinbarung, in the absence of one, and a rendering built on Verzug turns a gap-filler into a breach clause.
Verzug carries its own interest regime, § 288 BGB, so pairing a contractual default rate with the statutory Verzugszinsen needs a decision, the German reader will ask which of the two applies.

What matters

Facility agreements and payment clauses split the word: the borrower defaults on an instalment is Verzug country, § 286 BGB, Mahnung or a calendar date, fault presumed but rebuttable. An Event of Default in clause 22 is a Kündigungsgrund, a trigger catalogue. Translate both with Verzug and the lender has promised the borrower an entrance exam the English text never contained.

Authority

§ 286 BGB
§ 288 BGB

What the machine misses

Default lands on Verzug in machine output with great regularity, and the German word smuggles in prerequisites, a reminder, a fault inquiry, machinery the English trigger never had. Where the source said in default of agreement the output can turn a gap-filler into a breach clause, and an event of default arrives as Verzugsereignis, a compound German loan practice does not use.

Examples

default interest	Verzugszinsen
the buyer is in default	der Käufer ist in Verzug
event of default	Kündigungsgrund
in default of agreement	mangels Vereinbarung