In the face of an economic urgency when it comes to making ends meet or wanting to indulge in a whim like a new mobile phone or a vacation weekend, advertisements from microcredit companies seem to have the solution. The conditions seem advantageous to get the money almost instantly, but the fine print can hide abusive and usurious interests.
The interest on a loan is the price charged by the lender –a financial institution or a bank, for example– to the borrower –the person requesting the loan– for giving the money requested. It is an extra amount, so it is important to know how much you will have to pay back.
To know if a consumer is paying too much interest on their loan, the first thing is to understand the difference between the interest rates of a loan:
The Bank of Spain establishes the normal or habitual interest rate for consumer credit operations. It also establishes the legal interest of the money, which is the type that determines the default interest to be paid in case of non-payment or delays in payment. To assess whether the interest to be paid is higher than the normal interest on money, the APR set in the operation and the average interest on consumer loans on the date it was contracted must be purchased.
Although there is a Usury Law, the truth is that there is a lack of regulation regarding the limitation of interest rates. Even the Supreme Court is generating some confusion with the latest rulings against “revolving” cards, for example. In addition, usury is not a crime in itself, but its practice entails the nullity of the contract. In other words, if it is shown that there is usury in the loan, the consumer would only be obliged to pay the amount received and not the abusive interest.
Although it must be borne in mind that, in order to cancel a loan with exorbitant interest, it can be done for more reasons than the interest rate. The declaration of abusive interest loan does not only mean that the consumer has been deceived, so the contract can be declared void even if they have given their free and informed consent, signed in writing. Being aware of the economic repercussion of the loan does not affect the declaration of abusiveness or usury.
When claiming a loan with abusive and usurious interest, what you want is to cancel these interests. In the event that the debt had already been paid at the time of claiming, the claim seeks to recover the excess paid.
The first step is to submit a written claim to the customer service of the financial institution or bank, requesting the annulment of interest for usury and for not being transparent in the conditions of the contract.
There are several models for claiming abusive interest. But for the claim to advance to the following steps, it is best to start the process with lawyers who are experts in claiming abusive interest.
These professionals will first take the extrajudicial claim route, with the intention that the consumer can recover their money without having to go to trial, administratively. In case of not reaching an agreement, it is when lawyers and solicitors will work on the presentation of a legal claim so that it is admitted for processing by the court. In this case it is also useful to have specialists to know what the judges will take into account when resolving claims of this type.
Professional help allows the elaboration of a judicial strategy to be able to claim for usury, lack of transparency or defect in consent. In other words, it may be the case that the loan does not have abusive interest, but that the contracting conditions and the way to obtain the consumer’s consent are not in line with the transparency regulations for this type of contract, with which it also could be declared null.