Bank / mortgage problems.

Thanks Noreen & Smiley, perhaps it is right then, although it seems a bizarre way to go about it??  In any case I will be checking and double checking the terms with my lawyer.

Thanks again,

Ken.

Hi Patrick,

THanks for your long reply, the mortgage is not on my holiday home but my permanent home and I am a spanish resident working here autonoma...........we receive bank statements without a problem but have never received notification of a change in our mortgage and I even checked our mortgage account on the bank website this year, absolutely nothing, no info beforehand whatsoever.........

I know it is not a problem of their making (althought I think most banks are culpable where this mess is concerned, even spanish banks work on a bonus system) but equally it is not of ine and I am only looking for some help/support, not a loan or to deault or more complications, just a little understanding............as autonoma I cannot do anything or receive any benefits if I stop working - my only option is to work 100% on the black and my integrity does not allow me to do that........

Any advice?

Best thing that I can suggest is that you ask your bank to confirm to you the rate above Euribor that you paying. You already know the date of review which is November but at Septembers rates and then access the Bank of Spain website at the time of year of review to check the Euribor rate - at least then you will know if the rate has gone up or down and whether substantially or not - this assumes that you cannot get the bank to send you a pre advice. Regarding the change of payment date - most lenders in Spain have a standard payment date so I would be surprised (whatever they said) that they would amend it - their view would be if you need to transfer funds from the UK then transfer them a little earlier - sorry but that tends to be the way it is. Nonetheless it may be worth going back to them and asking for input from a higher authority than the person you spoke to before, explain your situation and see if they can do anything about the payment date. Most lenders send monthly mortgage slips (and by law they are required to produce them). Any change of monthly payment is contained in a pre advice within the monthly slips. Thus the slip that is produced in October should advise of what your new November payment would be.........in theory!!!

Hope that helps.

Thanks for replies to my original post. Thought I should update things as some progress has been made of late - albeit at a price.

We will pay 32000E for the mortgage payments we withheld & interest accumulated - which is fair enough. We will pay an unbelievable 10000E in lawyers fees - not happy about that one. We take up an additional debt for the money my wife's former company owes (equivalent to the value of a decent 2 bedroom flat - gulp).

Both our mortgage and the additional loan have been re calculated at very much lower rates than what we were previously paying for the house. We also extended the repayment time to ease things a bit. This in effect means we are paying about the same amount every month as before, but owe very much more.

Fortunately we both still work - my wife has a new company & is a consultant for another. I work offshore. Only downside is I'll be about 100 years old by the time everything is paid off.

When our clients are in similar position to yours, we advise to:

- Think of giving the keys back to the Bank, if the situation has become unsustainable.

-Try to find an only-interest mortgage for a period of time.

We have been approached by a Bank which offer to any client ( not just their clients) to assume new mortgages with the consumers with a period of 5 years only interest. Is it really a good chance?

The problem with that of course Maria is that if the lady of the house has only just started her company and started a new job as a consultant and El Romeral works offshore they may not meet economic criteria on ability to pay. There are many lenders offering 5 years and more interest only for remortgage - one even offering up to 40 years interest only for remortgage but the clients have to meet economic criteria - not to mention the fact they have been in dispute with the current lender so it is likely that adverse data will have been recorded on their Cirbe report

We did not want it to ever come to a case of handing back the keys. According to the bank we are in the clear regarding credit rating. The bank requested salary statements from us for the last three months and we more than met their criteria.