Repayment of mortgage costs entails claims against the Bank of Spain to the maximum | Companies

The decision of the Higher Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on non-discharge of mortgage costs has caused an avalanche of claims on this matter to the Bank of Spain. That opened the door for millions of bank customers who co-signed their mortgages to ask the institutions to pay them management fees that had traditionally been borne by consumers. The Spanish banking regulator recorded 40,000 requests for remediation until June, 60% of them motivated by mortgages, according to data 2023 Claims Report, published this Wednesday.

The figure for the first half of the year already exceeds the 33,191 claims for the whole of 2023, which corresponds to the figure of 34,146 in 2022. It also equals the decade’s high of 40,176 recorded in 2017. Data for that year and since 2014 were affected by rulings in a sex clause lawsuit that deemed them abusive. Moreover, the number of claims up to August has already reached 45,000 and exceeded the 2017 figure. The Bank of Spain estimates that the year will end with between 50,000 and 60,000 applications received.

The enterprise already indicates that it has already experienced such an increase in mortgage cost requirements in 2023, mainly in November and December, and this trend has consolidated throughout 2024. In fact, mortgage-related claims were the most numerous. in 2023 – 10,145 files, 30.6% of the total. Compared to the previous year, an increase of 63.9% was registered.

The Bank of Spain, however, clarifies that it is not within its jurisdiction to consider whether mortgage provisions are abusive or not. The report justifies an increase in the number of complaints for this reason, despite the fact that the supervisory authority will not resolve them in the manner foreseen, to advertising campaigns of consumer associations and specialized lawyers. This, in his opinion, motivates many clients to complain, even if they have previously been refused. The agency also found that in many cases, it is banks who recover these mortgage charges when consumers complain to customer service, without having to go to court.

This means that the 2023 data has already seen a 61% increase in unadmitted claims, up more than eight points from the previous year. The reason for the inadmissibility of a significant part of them is that they relate specifically to offensive articles. It also highlights cases of fraud where a consumer admits to having provided their passwords as a result of fraud.

Of all claims received in 2023, corrections accounted for approximately 80%, including reports of a positive decision for the complainant, a raid on the organization, or the recall of the complainant. However, the weight of claims decided in favor of banks reached its maximum level, although the most common result was preliminary agreements. The amount returned by businesses was €4.37 million, compared to €6.02 million last year, a 37% decrease. On average, the Bank of Spain takes 53 days to respond to a complaint.

In terms of the number of legal entities, CaixaBank, the largest in the Spanish market, received the most complaints with 9,474. Next comes BBVA with 5,904. Santander has 3,763 compared to 2,381 for Unicaja, 1,662 for Sabadell and 1,242 for Baninter.