Reduce Your Mortgage?
July 14, 2010 by JoelC2009
Are you a British ex-pat with a Spanish mortgage? If you are then you may be wondering, like so many people, whether it’s possible to do anything about it. Tina and Glynis asked themselves the same question and the answer they found was surprising. What many people don’t know is that under EU law the Spanish and EU foreigners have to be treated the same.
But it seems that legal teams have discovered the Spanish banks may be charging foreign nationals over and above the rate the Spanish themselves pay for their mortgages.
Whilst mortgage rates were lower than in the UK for a good many years, British buyers felt they were getting a good deal and signed up without asking too many questions. Add to this the pressure from sales agents to get the whole transaction done before you get back on the plane and you end up with thousands of people stuck in expensive mortgage deals and unaware they can do something about it.
Earlier this year we went to our bank to ask why, when interest rates had plummetted, we were still paying the same amount each month. We can help you lower your mortgage payment,they said, and within 10 minutes we had a new repayment plan which cut our monthly repayments almost in half fixed for 3 years and within a week we had been to the notary and done the deal. There was a catch however, they had deferred 40% of the amount outstanding for those 3 years so after that time we are back to square one. Friends of ours also recently gained temporary respite from high repayments by re-negotiating their mortgage to interest-only fixed for 2 years.
Recently we met Simon, he pointed out that whilst we and our friends thought we had got a better deal, we were still paying 1.25% over base rate whereas the Spanish pay 0.5%. As Spain is an EU country this amounts to discrimination. Over time this makes a huge difference. The same could apply to your mortgage interest rate. Isn’t it time you found out?
Jack Martin – It is obvious you know nothing about the workings of a large and complex banking institution. Many of the myriad departments of said banks no doubt have committed and successful departments which make profits for the banks. The toxic mortgage deals were probably run by a handful of people who are no doubt looking for work right now – or at least should be. The other people responsible would be those at the top who approved this high risk strategy – the top bean counters and their ilk who approve the levels of risk. The only way these banks are EVER going to be made whole again is to retain those people who are doing good business AND to be able to get new people in with fresh ideas and strategies to start anew. Strange thing is – you have to PAY for the top talent.
Everyone here has the wrong picture. If you could afford your mortgage, and are not planning on selling, why does it matter if you are under water. Can you make your payments? Are the terms of the mortgage different than what you signed up for? No. People are giving up because they see where market values are going, and have no moral values. Granted if you lost your job or need to move, then you are in a different scenario. For the most part, that is not the case as the national average is around 10% for unemployment. The other 90% of the popluation made their own beds by paying too much for the homes, and getting into bad mortgage deals. There is no one to blame but yourselves for this mess. If you signed up for your mortgage and you pay your mortgage on time, there should be no difference whether you are above or under water on the price of your home until you either lose your job or have to sell the property. Then it becomes an issue. People are so used to the easy way out and walking away from deals and that is why we are in this mess in the first place. If you can't afford it, you shouldn't have bought it in the first place. Years ago, people actually brought money to the table to buy a house. Now you can easily walk in with next to nothing and get approved for 400k+ houses. People got into this mess and want everyone else to bail them out. When will we start to take responsibility.
You have entered into a legal contract to sell at a specific price. If you back out now he can sue you for breech of contract.
If I were you I'd be on the phone to my Realtor raising Cain.
There is money there to subsidize the additional funds they are asking from you. The Realtors can give up some and so can the buyer's lender if they want this thing to close.
Call and ask you current lender how much the escrow refund will be and then demand that the difference between that and the $1000 you committed to be covered by the people who misinformed you as to the extent of your financial commitment.
Your Realtor's Broker would be my next call if your Realtor doesn't play ball.
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If you are not on the loan, you are not on the deed. That's usually how it works. Mortgage companies do not allow those not on the loan to be on the deed.
If you file a quit claim deed, that may call the mortgage due in full.