I had a 10,000€ personal loan with a Caja de ahorros. In 2008, due to the high rate of interest on my mortgage, I found I couldnt afford paying it anymore. In September 2008 they sent a burofax to my parents address in Zaragoza asking me to pay the whole amount otherwise there would be a "proceso monitorio". (I had already chagnged my address with them to my actual address, and I used to receive the Equifax letters and the bank statements here). By an unfortunate coincidence, the day they sent the burofax, I was in hospital giving birth to my son, and my parents were here with me, as a consequence I never found out about the burofax until much later.
In November 2008, unaware of the above, I rang my office to ask how much were the outstanding monthly amounts I had to pay them, (I received the 2500€ that the government was giving for having a baby at that time and I wanted to clear the back payments). They told me the loan was in legal, and I had to pay the whole amount plus legal fees if i wanted them to stop the legal process. Of course, if I couldnt afford 136€ a month, I was hardly going to afford 10.000€ in one go! Anyway, i made a payment of 830€ on the 12th of November 2008 and continued to make voluntary payments of 200€ a month.
I contacted a solicitor that worked for the company I used to work for, who is a friend of mine, and she helped me writing a burofax to the bank, asking for an agreement of making monthly payments, and in return asking if they would stop the legal proccess. They never replied to my offer.
In January 2009, my work got a letter from the court, saying they had to seize my wages at source. I work for a private school but I am paid by Comunidad de Madrid, so it took a while between the time they received the letter from court, and the point at which they started with embargo. In the meantime, the bank asked court as well to seizure my income taxes in case they were "negativa".
I wrote to the judge, (on behalf of myself as I couldnt afford a solicitor), explaining the facts, and asking for a reduction in my seizure, as I had 3 small children. The judge forwarded my letter to the bank and then the bank replied. They completely lied saying on that on the 14th November 2008 we had reached an agreement that I would pay 300€ monthly and that I hadn´t accomplished it on any month. (they never replied to my offer of agreement!). Anyway the judge didnt reduce the seizure, and since April 2010 they are taking 462€ from my monthly wages, 100€ monthly that hacienda "pays" me for having a child under 3, and as well the income tax from last year.
From November 2008 to October 2009 I made voluntary payments of 2760€ in total. From April 2010 (when the embargo began) to February 2011, I have paid a further 7901,91€. The judge asked my employer to seize my wages until the amoungt of 7966,81€ + 2300€ for legal fees and interest. So I have already paid more than the judge stipulated.
I asked the bank a month ago to inform the judge that all payments had been received (the judge is unaware of the 2760€ of voluntary payments I made before the embargo took effect), and the bank told me that the 2300€ for legal fees was just an estimation, and the actual fee could be as high as 6000€! So I now find myself in the position of paying almost 600€ a month with no idea what the money is for.
My questions are:
1.- is there a deadline for the solicitors of the bank to ask for the final liquidation of interests and legal fees?
2.- Is it worth hiring a solicitor and "procurador" to ask the court to stop the seizure, as I already have paid the amounts that the Judge asked for?
Many thanks