07 May 2013 2:03 PM:

Hi
I was wondering if anyone knew of any benefit I could claim whilst in Spain. I have lived and worked in Spain for ten years but at the moment I am not employed by a spanish company. I was however employed last year with a spanish company. I have been diagnosed with breast cancer and my treatment will take up to a year, so ineffect I cannot work during that period. Idid go to my Dr about claiming the 'baja' but was told I was not elligible as I had to be currently employed by a spanish company. I have no other income. Can anyone shed any light on this please?

Thanks

Thread: Claiming benefits in Spain

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19 Mar 2012 12:00 PM:

Nice to see a sense of humour!

Thread: Opinion and advice on foreign currency mortgage

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18 Mar 2012 10:14 AM:

Thank you for your opinion Steve but as I said in my original email I had just moved over from another Spanish island.  I did not come straight from the UK, this was in fact the 4th time I had bought property in Spain without any problems.  The only difference I can think of is if for want of a better word you are 'dodgy' on a small island, whether you are an English builder or a Spanish bank manager  you can be very sure everyone will hear about it.  However the mainland is a different story altogether and people can scam people for years without any recourse.  I am going to take advice from my own lawyer first who is honest, good at her job and cheap!  The fact is I can't afford an expensive court case anyhow, paying this damn mortgage has taken nearly every thing I have. I have been very grateful for the replies I have received, some very good advice given.  Thanks

Thread: Opinion and advice on foreign currency mortgage

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14 Mar 2012 8:55 PM:

Thank you both for your prompt and illuminating replies.  One point I did not mention was the fact that I have only  recently realised that the bank has never supplied me with any mortgage documentation or the 'nota simple'.  It would not hurt to have a lawyer look it over.  The bank is the Banco de Valencia by the way which is itself bankrupt!

Thread: Opinion and advice on foreign currency mortgage

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14 Mar 2012 12:00 AM:

I was wondering if anyone can shed any light or indeed have themselves have a foreign currency mortgage.  My predicament is this I came over to the mainland from a Spanish island to start a new life.  I had sold my house there and made a nice little profit and came to the mainland.  I have friends here who introduced me to an English estate agent who sold me an apartment on a very nice golf resort. He mentioned to myself and my friend a 'foreign currency mortgage', arranged meetings with a bank manager who explained how it worked (or seemed to explain how it worked), indeed the bank manager himself had a FCM as did my solicitor.  The worst case scenario I was told was that my monthly payments would be the same as payinging in euros.  This was in 2007, all was well until the crisis hit.  My monthly payments have more than doubled and after 5 years of paying I now owe more than 70,000 euros MORE than I orignally borrowed.  Plus of course the value of the apartment like all property has depreciated.  The estate agent has disappeared back to the UK leaving a string of debts and disgruntled customers and the bank manager has hounded me for years to keep up the payments even asking at one point if I had any friends or relatives who would give me money so that I could give it to him! I have since found out that this type of mortgage carried a huge risk,, indeed I was told recently by a friend of mine who mentioned this type of mortgage to a financial advisor in the UK that  he 'nearly fell off his chair in shock' as this type of mortgage should only be offered to someone in the 'know' financially and willing to take the risk.  Basically its playing the stock market with currencies.

I am struggling to find work and have missed 3 months mortgage.  The bank manager has offered me a deal.  Walk away now, give the bank the apartment and they wont pursue me through the courts and I wont get a bad credit rating, however I lose over 122,000 euros deposit and of course the apartment leaving me with nothing.  I don't what to do.

I would really like to know if anyone else has this type of mortgage, their opinion and is there any advice anyone could give me.  i do feel that this mortgage was misrepresented to some degree as I would never have taken it out had I known that in time I would have owed more than I borrowed. 

Thread: Opinion and advice on foreign currency mortgage

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