Given the rises in interest rates and the economic problems of the most vulnerable families, banks and the Government are urgently seeking solutions to reduce the monthly installment or alleviate the expense of paying the mortgage installment month after month. . Until now, the banking system, essentially through the three employer associations (AEB, CECA and Unacc), has been seeking a consensus on the measures, but in recent meetings the discrepancies have risen to a higher level and it has been found that each entity has specific solutions based on the profile of your customers.
CaixaBank has turned its cards upside down and has proposed freezing mortgage payments for a period of twelve months for customers experiencing financial difficulties. Making this position public has not sat well with the large banks that belong to the AEB, among other reasons, because it would mean having to make more provisions if the mortgage conditions are modified. And because it implies that “only the clients of said entity would benefit from the measure”, they point out from some entities.
From the banks that are part of the AEB they defend that they are working with different proposals, among which are expanding the code of good practices; individual negotiations; possible moratoriums, but more segmented than those that were activated in the Covid crisis or moving the mortgage from variable to fixed rate. Financial entities such as Sabadell, KutxaBank or Unicaja Banco point out that cases with difficulties “are being attended to personally”, until a new sectoral measure is agreed upon. Santander and BBVA refer to the employers, which is the one that leads the negotiations with the Government, but they opt for tailored suits.
The CECA maintains that “negotiation is still open and work is being done with AEB and Unacc to reach a joint proposal.” Some banks that are part of said employers corroborate that “work is being done in a sectoral way”, with which they do not understand the pick-up of the Catalan entity.
The rise in interest rates undertaken by the European Central Bank (ECB) has caused the Euribor to go from an average of 1.249% in August to 2.233% in September and the trend is upwards because so far in October it is already at a rate of 2.459%.
Some economists calculate that the annual rise for a family is about 2,300 euros a year. And in Spain there are about four million mortgaged with mortgages referenced to the Euribor.
Last week, the CEO of Banc Sabadell, César González-Bueno, pointed out: “The problem lies in the variable-rate mortgages granted in the last 5 years. There the solution is urgent so that these cases of vulnerable families do not end up in eviction”. Similarly, Manuel Menéndez, CEO of Unicaja Banco defended “that there is experience of previous crises” in clear reference to the recent moratoriums.
Yesterday, Podemos registered in Congress a proposal to limit mortgage spreads. From the Ministry of Economy they keep silent about the disputes between banks and the proposal of their government partner.
