Lawyers specialising in Floor Clause Claims
Bank Claim
- Do you know that you can claim the amounts paid in excess if you have a floor clause in your mortgage?
- Do you know that they are abusive clauses?
- We take care of it. Our Law Firm is a leading specialist in bank claims.
- We will review your mortgage loan deed free of charge, and we will advise you on the viability of the claim.
- Minimum initial outlay, receiving our fees when you get paid. Lawyers in Madrid specialised in claiming floor clauses and banking matters (preferential, convertible, multi-currency mortgages...etc).
- More than 25 years of experience.
- Offices in Madrid, Pozuelo, Majadahonda and Collado Villalba.
Fees
G. ELIAS Y MUÑOZ ABOGADOS will take care of the review of your deed to check if you can claim for these clauses. This work is FREE OF CHARGE AND AT NO COST TO THE CLIENT.
In the event that the claim is viable, we will charge a minimum initial fee to cover expenses, charging a variable percentage of 20% at the end of the procedure or when you get paid. The fixed fees are as follows:
- 125 € plus 20% of the amount recovered.
- 75 € solicitor's fee
- 50 € power of attorney.
In addition, these fees will be signed in writing so that the client can be sure that they will not vary throughout the process.
What are the claims for floor clause and mortgage costs?
The jurisprudence of the Spanish Supreme Court and the High Court of Justice of the European Union has once again given an important reversal to the banks; now, anyone who is a consumer can claim the nullity of certain clauses as abusive, and therefore have them deemed not to have been included in the mortgage loan deed, which automatically implies that THE BANKING INSTITUTION IS OBLIGATED TO REIMBURSE WHAT IT CHARGED FOR THE APPLICATION OF SUCH CLAUSES.
Jurisprudence is evolving and more and more clauses are being declared null and void as abusive, such as: the so-called floor clause, late payment interest clauses, early maturity clauses, clauses that impose on the consumer to pay all the mortgage costs... and there are many others. FOR THIS REASON IT IS ESSENTIAL that professional and specialised lawyers from ELIAS Y MUÑOZ review your mortgage deed and advise you if you fulfil the requirements that the current jurisprudence demands to be able to claim, if you are affected by these clauses and therefore if you can claim against your bank and this claim will be successful without any problem whatsoever.
In the last 20 to 30 years, in most of the mortgage deeds signed in Spain, the banks imposed two types of clauses on the consumers or purchasers of the mortgage loan, which have now been recognised as abusive by recent case law: the so-called floor clauses and the loan arrangement costs clause, which are entirely attributable to the consumer. As these are the clauses that normally affect consumers the most, we will focus our study on them. However, we must insist and warn you that they are not the only ones and there may even be several abusive clauses in the same deed, which is why we insist that for the lawyers at ELIAS Y MUÑOZ it is essential to carry out a prior study of the deed to see if you are in a position to claim and how many null and void clauses are affecting you.
At Elias y Muñoz, lawyers specialised in banking law will review your mortgage deed FREE OF CHARGE to find out how many clauses of this type affect you and for which you can claim.
What is the Floor Clause?
A floor clause is a stipulation inserted in the mortgage loan deed, normally in the section regulating interest rates, which establishes a limitation on the decrease in the agreed reference rate (normally EURIBOR), over which the interest rate will not vary and will remain frozen.
In other words, despite the fact that the agreed reference rate has fallen a lot, you cannot benefit from this fall because a limit was agreed in the deed below which the interest rate would not be reduced. This stipulation is the so-called floor clause and provided that it was not included in the deed in a transparent manner and was perfectly known by the signatory, it must be declared abusive and therefore it will be understood as not having been included and the Bank will have to return the amount charged for it.
Before the latest ruling of the High Court of Justice of the European Union of 21 December 2016, claims could only be made for the floor clause for what was unduly charged for its application from 9 May 2013, the date on which the Spanish Supreme Court first considered it to be abusive. However, the recent ruling of the TSJUE has eliminated this time limitation and IT IS NOW POSSIBLE TO CLAIM ALL THAT WAS UNDUELY CHARGED DURING THE WHOLE LIFE OF THE LOAN BY THE BANKING INSTITUTION FOR THE APPLICATION OF THIS FLOOR CLAUSE. In short, now is the time to make a claim.
At Elias y Muñoz we will review your mortgage loan deed free of charge, and we will tell you if you meet the requirements to be able to start your claim and have it upheld without any problem.
Clause requiring the consumer to pay attention to
loan arrangement fees
Procedure for claiming for this type of unfair terms
Since 23 December 2015, the date on which the Supreme Court handed down its ruling recognising this clause as abusive, if you paid all the loan formalisation costs, you can claim the amount from the bank, as this clause, if all the established jurisprudential requirements are met, will be considered abusive and will be understood as not having been applied and the bank will in no case benefit from it, nor will you be harmed by it. Elias y Muñoz, we will help you to find out if you are affected by this clause.
The claims procedure is divided into two phases:
- Extrajudicial or negotiated phase: This will begin with a prior complaint to the bank in question; if the bank does not respond to the complaint within two months or if its response is negative and therefore refuses to respond to the request for the refund of amounts unduly charged, the consumer will be able to claim before the Court of First Instance for a refund of what should never have been charged.
- Judicial phase: This will begin with a claim before the Courts in which we request, based on the application of the jurisprudence of the TSJUE, Spanish TS, and the jurisprudence of other Courts and Provincial Courts, the nullity of the clause in question and the refund of the amounts paid and which should never have been charged by the bank.
For claims for floor clause it is advisable, although not essential, to have the following documentation: mortgage loan deed and the possible binding offer if it existed.
For the claim for payment of loan formalisation expenses, it is also very convenient, although not always essential (you can try to obtain them by other means), to have the following documentation: mortgage deed, tax paid for documented legal acts, registry, notary and agency invoices, provided that these were imposed by the Bank.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Law Firm will help you in this task, however, we must check if in your mortgage deed there is a section that sets a limit to the variability of the interest rate to which the mortgage loan is referenced (usually Euribor).
You will have a so-called "floor clause" if there is a percentage that sets a limit on the application of this index, so that no matter how much the reference index falls, an interest rate lower than this cannot be applied.
There are legal opinions in both directions. On the one hand, art. 10 of RD 1/2007 determines that the waiver of consumer rights is null and void, however, there are also opinions against it, as it is understood that it would go against the doctrine of the acts themselves.
In principle, it is possible to claim, even if your mortgage has already been cancelled, and it is advisable to do so before 4 years have elapsed.
This issue affects mortgages contracted by consumers; the premises may involve the exercise of a business activity and therefore, in principle, would not benefit from this ruling, although the answer is not clear.
You can reclaim anything the bank has overcharged you.
You should contact our law firm who will advise you.
The attachment procedure is caused by non-payment. The fact that the new doctrine may entitle you to claim the overpayment does not entitle you to stop paying the relevant instalment. In any case, you could reduce the amount claimed by the financial institution for the first of the defaults.
Consult with G.Elias y Muñoz Abogados, leading law firm in ground clause claims.
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