We have had a mortgage with Caja Madrid since Feb 2006. We are not happy with the lack of service from them. They have increased the monthly payments by over ?170 without informing us, we are unable to remortgage because we have never received a mortgage statement and have no evidence to confirm what we have paid or what we owe. I have written several emails which have never been answered. I don’t speak Spanish yet. I am trying to learn it before I move out. But I am convinced that they are extracting the michael. They definitely mis-sold the mortgage in the first place. Is there something similar to the Financial Services act in Spain or an ombudsman?

The ideal solution for us would be to find a mortgage company in Spain who could contact Caja Madrid on our behalf and find out what the ‘eck is going on. Does anyone have any advice to point me in the right direction. Our house is in Valencia province (yes, additional problem - learn Spanish and they insist on speaking Valenciana )

My advice for what it is worth would be to get a lawyer.  One who speaks English and there are plenty of them.  My experience of lawyers in spain has been good and not very expensive.  (OK I expect there are horror stories but on my three different occassions the estimate of cost was about right and the job done)

For me when I had spanish bank issues I was lucky, my Spanish sister in law shouted the house down and did everything except declare war (no on second thoughts I think she did declare war).  She made so much noise all rules were dropped and I got what I wanted.  They don’t like you shouting in front of the other clients - OK so you will shout in English but I guess the message will be clear.

Have you tried Barclays or another British bank?  While Barclays Spain is distinct from Barclays UK I would imagine you might get more sense from them.  I spoke to them in Asturias and they were helpful although in the end I went with Cajastur as their charges were a little less for a standard bank account.

Just a thought on Valenciana as far as business is concerned - it is a joke.  I had this issue in Barcelona in the 80s but when I bought in colleagues from Madrid they stood no truck with it.  It is like some welsh shop assistants who are speaking English but when a tourist walks in they switch to welsh (seriously I have lots of welsh friends and my business partners father and uncle played Rugby for Wales so nothing in general against the pricipality)

Anyway Good Luck Amigo, I hope it gets sorted soon.

Hi Sonic, I understand that you are upset with the Caja Madrid but all mortgages have increased in line with the Euribor and it is not uncommon not to receive any notification when this happens. The rate rises are on the net and Spanish TV news (and usually reported in the UK papers here in Spain also)

They should be issuing you statements - perhaps you are not receiving the post? Statements are most definitely produced by Spanish banks.

Who did you obtain the mortgage through ? Can they not help you (ie did you use a broker ?)

You do need to understand that changing mortgages in Spain is not always that easy and perhaps more importantly not that cheap! You may have heavy early redemption penalties and lots of setup costs to arrange another mortgage and another trip to the notary etc.

I suggest you try and find a way to talk with Caja Madrid. Obviously email is not the answer and again this is not uncommon with Spanish banks. Explore the options ie maybe they will agree to extend the term and thus reduce the monthly payments ? Also be aware that Spanish banks really lay the charges on if a mortgage goes into arrears.

Another idea - there are 3 Caja Madrids in London - perhaps they could help ?

and another idea try Confederacion de Cajas de Ahorros - BANCA MARCH, 30 East cheap, London EC3M 1HD. Tel: 0207 2207488. ... CONFEDERACION ESPA?OLA DE CAJAS DE AHORRO, 16 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y 4AR. ... - they will help anybody with a Spanish bank account in a Caja type bank. (Thanks Julia! and google)

Jumping from the fat to the fire may not be the answer.

Thanks Robi. I understand about rate rises, but they told us that the mortgage was fixed rate for 5 years. We didn’t organise it through a broker, it was done directly with Caja Madrid via the estate agent - there was a woman from Caja Madrid at the meeting with the notary. She spoke English but didn’t understand English (which didn’t help LOL). I do wonder about the post, we don’t have a postal address, only a PO Box but we seem to receive very little corespondance from anyone!

I think we’ve decided that the best thing to do is to go in to the local branch in Xativa when we’re there next week and see if we can get someone to explain everything to us. Failing that, I’ll be off up to London at the end of the month so I’ll try to get in to one of the branches there.

Thanks again 😊

OK speaking to them is the best idea - we have recently negotiated extensions to the term for some of our clients (albeit not with Caja Madrid) Julia (my Spanish wife who has organised many a mortgage) says she is very surprised that you had a 5 yr fixed rate because she has never heard of that option here! If that is true then they must stick by it (check the small print!)

Everyone must ensure that they have a qualified interpretor with them at the notary - pay them the money its worth it! If you dont understand something ask!

Good luck.

We did have an interpretor with us at the notary but he was told that he wasn’t allowed to be in the room at the time of the exchange of contracts, etc. The notary spoke very good English luckily, but it just all seems a bit dodgy when we look back on it now.

Ok listen up folks (this is aimed at everyone who buys a property) - more free advice!
(you may need to read the above posts as well)

You have every right in the world to take your interpretor with you into the actual notaries inner office (ie where you sit and sign the papers) in fact - even if the notary speaks English - he should INSIST that you have a qualified interpretor working for you and WITH you in the room.

In there is any attempt by anyone to stop you from doing this - there is a problem. Probably the deal is dodgy and they dont want a witness who would obviously understand what is going on!

Many things are changing and a lot of the cash under the table deals are being stopped by new rules and regulations. Certainly in our area anyway.

You must use common sense and not be scared to ask What is going on ? once you have signed it is often to late to rectify any problems.

Sonic

I asked about your situation in Madrid but really got little more than already offered above but just incase it helps:

Fixed interest mortgages as we understand them in the UK are exceptionally rare.
There are ‘Hipoteca de cuota fija’ where your monthly payment remains fixed but the term extends, but there are conditions on age and possibly nationality.
An interest hike is often applied once a year (I’m guessing that is what you have seen?)
The base interest rate has more than doubled in two years (see below).  (On this basis does yr 170Es look bad?  Bear in mind they need to recover all the unpaid interest from each monthly hike.)
My friends offered that changing banks (as said above) can be costly with penalties

Finally if they were agrieved they would go to the Consumers Association which they believe works really well.  So yes there is help.  Sadly they didn’t send contact details.  Does anyone know?  If not I will get back soon.

These are figures for Euribor

Agosto 2007 4,666%
Julio 2007 4,564%
Junio 2007 4,505%
Mayo 2007 4,373%
Abril 2007 4,253%
Marzo 2007 4,106%
Febrero 2007 4,094%
Enero 2007 4,064%
Diciembre 2006 3,921%
Noviembre 2006 3,864%
Octubre 2006 3,799%
Septiembre 2006 3,715%
Agosto 2006 3,615%
Julio 2006 3,538%
Junio 2006 3,401%
Mayo 2006 3,308%
Abril 2006 3,221%
Marzo 2006 3,100%
Febrero 2006 2,910%
Enero 2006 2,833%
Diciembre 2005 2,783%
Noviembre 2005 2,684%
Octubre 2005 2,414%
Septiembre 2005 2,219%
Agosto 2005 2,223%
Julio 2005 2,168%
Junio 2005 2,103%

When will the trend turn??

Thanks Flyeogh

The payments did remain fixed for the first six months so I guess that was what happened. We must have misunderstood what was being offered or they misunderstood what we were asking for. It looks like the rate changes every month now. I suppose in the long run that is better because we don’t have any catch-ups to do. The biggest issue for us is the total lack of any communication at all. We had set up a fixed amount to transfer every month to cover the mortgage and when it wasn’t enough to cover it, they didn’t tell us so we were falling behind a little bit every month. We’ve caught up now but it’s taken some effort!!

OK good it seems like you are getting sorted out - yes we have had clients complain that the banks dont tell about rate changes but the banks culture is that they expect you to know as its is your loan! We all complain about bank charges but sending out 1,000s of letters telling people the rate has gone up only adds to their (and everyone elses costs)

Now the good news - the net this morning reports that it is expected that both UK and Euribor rates will be held this month.