We continue to receive instructions from clients who have recently been contacted in relation to a historical debt in Spain. The debt in Spain exists as a result of a previous property purchase made by these clients in Spain. The clients are now receiving legal demands directly from their Bank in Spain or, in some instances, via a third-party debt collection agency in the UK acting for the Spanish Bank.
Typically, these clients took the decision (and the chance) many years ago to “walk away” from their Spanish property, believing their Spanish lender would simply take back the property and not pursue them for any monies thereafter.
Post Brexit, these clients have been further mistaken into believing that a foreign Bank can no longer pursue them for monies owed.
Sadly, this is not the case, and the foreign Bank(s) are now pursuing the debts here in the UK. Naturally, this has resulted in a very serious position for clients receiving these demands, as the debts they are now facing include perhaps 5 to 10 years’ worth of interest and legal penalties on top of the original debt.
We have seen in extreme cases, debts on an original €250,000 mortgage have now increased to in excess of one million Euros. Currency exchange rates can also have a significant impact on debts in foreign countries. This is certainly relevant in Swiss Franc Mortgage cases in Cyprus.
What options do you have to deal with your Bank in Spain and/or companies such as Axactor regarding the historical mortgage debt?
The good news however is there are solutions to be found. We continue to be engaged by clients to negotiate with their Bank in Spain full and final settlements. By negotiating full and final settlements with these entities, we are able to extinguish the Spanish debt and as a result we are able to remove the threat of any future enforcement against the client and their assets in the UK.
A recent Case Study can be viewed here - Spanish Bank claim successfully settled - Case Study (judicaregroup.com)
We are presently handling an ever-growing number of such cases for clients who have received a legal demand notice. The majority of these clients have received letters from companies such as Axactor, who are now the beneficiaries of the debt after purchasing it from numerous Banks in Spain. Some of the Banks in Spain that Axactor have purchased debts from are - Bankia, BBVA, Banco Sabadell, BankInter, Banco Popular, CitiBank, Caja Mar & La Caixa to name a few.
It’s important when looking for a firm to represent your interests and to negotiate with a foreign bank on your behalf, that you look to engage a specialist and regulated firm of solicitors. Here at Judicare we have decades of experience in dealing with Banks in foreign jurisdictions, and as a specialist firm of Solicitors, we have been able to negotiate over €45million of foreign Bank debt being successfully written off for our clients.
If you have concerns about a foreign mortgage debt or would simply like more information on our fixed fee approach a member of our team will be happy to take your call on a confidential basis at 01438 840258 or via email to admin@judicaregroup.com
We can also arrange a free no obligation teleconference via Zoom/Skype.
Getting in touch will allow us to understand your individual circumstances and discuss with you your concerns and objectives. Working with you we can then decide upon the correct strategy to approach and find the solution which is right for you.