Spain Explained

Were you misled by your bank?

Last updated on October 28th, 2019 at 05:11 pm.

The banks have received a significant amount of bad press. This unwelcome attention is not confined to Spain. It perhaps comes as no surprise that banks are being held to account for some of the unprofessional ways they have tried to part customers from their money in the past. Individuals are increasingly realising that the methods used to convince them to buy bank products were not always legitimate. For example, there are cases where banks designed, marketed and sold a number of products to make themselves ‘easy’ money.

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One example are the mortgage ‘clips’ or ‘swaps’ offered to non-professional investors as a simple-to-understand product similar to an insurance policy. They were sold as an insurance to protect the client in case the Euribor went up over a certain rate agreed between the bank and the client. The rate was often fixed at 5%. If it went above this rate the bank would pay the difference or the mortgage would remain at the lower, more stable amount.

People were sold this product in spite of the fact that for the last ten years, interest rates have always been held between 2 and 5%. Knowing this, banks still asked clients to swap their variable rate for a fixed rate of 5.5% which they knew the Euribor would never reach. The result being that the bank was bound to profit from this arrangement.

Clients were not informed about the amount of money they would need to pay out if they wished to cancel the policy before it was due to expire. Clients, expecting to pay 500€ to 1,000€ in settlement, were suddenly faced with a bill of 30,000€ to 40,000€.

People were left with a product that they had no real need for and from which they could not wriggle free. In some cases products intended for speculators had been sold to individuals with little to no financial knowledge. With time these unwitting speculators have realised that they handed over their savings in good faith to buy a product with little stability.

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What you can do

There is hope. On 5th March 2012 a judge in Alicante declared the contract between a bank and its customer to be null and void. This led to a flood of new cases being tried in court with customers taking legal action against their banks. And in many of these cases the customers are winning. These judges in Spain have recognised the false impressions which banks were giving at the time and that this did not comply with the requirement for transparency.

If you believe you have been mis-sold a product like the mortgage ‘clip’  you can get in touch with our legal department who will check the situation for you. We can inform you of your rights and recover capital in those cases where the pitch did not reflect the true nature of the product.

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5 comments

Peter Jones

24 July, 2021 4:14 pm

I got charged 700.00 Euros by La Caixia, for accepting a cash deposit, made in Euros, which was delivered electronically.

The Bank did nothing except to recieve it.

Very unfair and they would not accept any form of redress.

Can you help please?

Peter Jones.

Oscar Paoli

25 July, 2021 9:55 pm

Dear Mr. Jones,

Unfortunately this charge must have been included in your bank account conditions and it is not a service that we can deal with unfortunately.

If you contact your local branch manager I am sure they will be able to assist you and try to reduce the fee.

Wishing you best of luck.

With kind regards,

Ábaco Advisers

Natanya

6 September, 2021 4:24 pm

My bank didn’t pay out when my husband died . The said the 6,000 paid for 10 years was only if I died . That’s not true because the other insurance we had covered us both and it was the same price no matter who died . It is also total nonsense that they would put me down . If they were allowing only one it would have been the breadwinner . I was robbed . Anyway one I got a card I saw the bill for the 6,00 0
. Suddenly they did a deal to just wilpe the debt . For 13,000 they cleared debt of 140 k
. I was delighted . Single , three kids . Dire straits . Anyway If they had an insurance policy on my husband I would still have the apartment . It’s probably too late . They never sent me the original documents . Only the updated 2015 with only my name . I can tell you there is no way my husband would insure me and not him . He would have protected me first .
Is it too late . He died in 2008 . The sudden change happened when I saw the renewal . 2013 I think
Ps I need insurance ASAP . I cancelled my bank insurance and have very little time as the policy runs out or renews ( if I’m not covered elsewhere) sept 21 st

Oscar Paoli

7 September, 2021 11:48 am

We are sorry to read about your situation.
We do not deal with this type of legal process, but can surely recommend someone who can assist you should you need it.
Regarding the insurance you need, what exactly are you looking for?
With kind regards,
Ábaco Advisers

PAUL CLEGG

23 August, 2022 1:04 pm

I was told when opening a share account with Sabadell bank that the most l could loose was 2% but after loosing 8% a different employee at the ban k informs me that the amount l could loose was infact 10%