Following our previous article about mortgages in Spain.

The CJEU resolution (21th of December 2016) allows consumers to claim their money back retrospectively from Spanish Banks

As we explained in our previous article, The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) was recently asked to decide about an important case for Spanish consumers as well as for Spanish Banks. The final decision has now been issued and this is good news for those individuals who got a Spanish mortgage but not for the banks.

Some of you will recall that some Spanish mortgages signed in the last 15 years contained a clause that Spanish Courts recently declared null and void because of the “lack of transparency” and “the failure to inform customers adequately” when they signed the mortgage deed. These clauses are known as a “cláusula suelo” which means that they are subject to a minimum monthly payment even if the interest rate, which usually has a variable rate linked to the Euribor, is negative.

If you bought a Property in Spain during the property bubble (2000 to 2008) you were probably paying the appropriate interest. However, the interest rates were quite low after the recession and those who had a “clausula suelo” on their mortgages have been paying an unfair and excessive interest on their mortgages which they can probably claim back.

The consumer’s action group (Adicae) started in 2013, on behalf of 15.000 mortgage holders, a claim against banks claiming for the nullity of the “cláusulas suelo”, after these had been declared “abusives” by the Spanish Supreme Court but with a retrospectivity to May 2013. This was clearly unfair. If a clause in a mortgage was considered abusive then the consumer’s right to claim should not be capped to May 2013. It should be retrospective to the date in which the mortgage deed was signed.

The said action group went to Luxembourg asking for the backdating to the date that the mortgage was signed and the CJEU has today decided that Spanish Banks have the obligation to refund unlawful interest from the very beginning: backdated to the date the mortgage was signed (instead of May 2013).

This means that Spanish banks have to pay consumers around €4.000.000. Goldman Sachs says that BBVA will be the Spanish Bank with a higher debt in front of consumers with €1.815.000.000; CaixaBank (La Caixa) with €750.000.000; following them: Banco Popular and Bankia with €160.000.000. These are the main banks but there are around 40 more banks involved.

Obviously, there are some exceptions depending on the mortgage holder’s profiles or depending on the specific circumstances of each case, but what is clear is that if you or your clients signed a mortgage in Spain during the property bubble years you or them could have the right to claim some money back.

In the following months Spanish Banks will probably try to sign transactional agreements with consumers. We strongly recommend to contact a Spanish Lawyer for advice to 1) analyse your mortgage in detail and inform you if contains a “cláusula suelo” and 2) see if you have the right to ask for a refund when that Decision takes place and last but not least 3) to deal with your Bank to ask for the refund or to negotiate with it.

Claudia Font & Antonio Guillen

Spanish lawyers at gunnercookellp