IN today’s article we want to highlight a new judicial success that White Baos Abogados has achieved for Mr. G and Ms. R clients of our law firm.
These two expatriates were very badly advised by the office of the Banco de Valencia in Moraira, (today CaixaBank) in 2007 and the bank mis-sold them a multi-currency mortgage loan in Swiss francs without explaining the really high risks and the numerous expenses of the product.
Recently, the Provincial Court of Alicante, (specifically its Section 8, in its judgment number 459/2017), confirmed our petition and ruled that this multi-currency mortgage loan was not transparent, specially the clauses relating to foreign currencies, exchange rate, interest to be applied, which were unclear even from the grammatical point of view.
For all these reasons, the court of appeal upheld our claim and accepted as we proposed in our court claim before Denia courts, that the bank did not properly inform my clients about the risks and expenses of this loan that was granted in Swiss francs (a foreign currency which has nothing to do with my clients as they do not hold or have any income in this currency).
In addition, the clauses within it were not clear or transparent, in such a way that it was not possible for an average consumer to understand really how the product works, its risks, potential expenses, or the arbitrary way in which the bank fixed the exchange rate between the chosen currency: Swiss francs and the currency used by the clients for the payment of the monthly installments of the loan: euros.
Thus, the Provincial Court of Alicante, as petitioned by ourselves, declared null and void the parts of the loan that refer to any other currency than the euro, noting that the loan should be understood as being granted only in euros, instructing the bank to return what was paid in excess by my clients and recalculate the outstanding capital in euros, which meant a reduction of the amount of capital pending to be paid, and a refund of almost €200,000 of what was overpaid.
The important element of this court decision is that the Alicante Province Appeal Court, does not partially cancel the loan for a mistake on the consent, that is, because the product was consented or accepted by consumers unreasonably due to a lack of clear information on the part of the bank.
The court stated that the clauses of the loan were obscure, not clear, nor understandable and therefore declared them directly null, which we hope can help many others affected consumers by this type of mortgages in currencies different than the euro, which were marketed in Spain incorrectly and not transparently, to achieve what our clients have obtained.
If you or someone you know has a problem with a loan in currency different than the Euro, either in Francs, Yen, etc. contact us and we will help you.
The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.
Carlos Baos (Lawyer)
White & Baos
Tel:+34 966 426 185
E-mail: info@white-baos.com
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