Are you still paying the same instalment every month even when your mortgage has been revised? Your contract does not contain the term “floor clause” anywhere but your instalment never goes down? More than three million mortgage loans are affected by the floor clause and yours is probably one of them.
The floor clause establishes a minimum amount to be paid in the mortgage instalments even if the interest that was agreed with the bank and that, generally referenced to the Euribor, is, as it is now, much lower.
If you were not aware of this, if you were not clearly informed when the loan was signed, if the term does not appear in the mortgage contract, if there is no ceiling clause or if there is one but it is completely disproportionate, it is more than likely that you can get this floor clause annulled and get back part of the money you have paid too much.
However, in the vast majority of cases, when banks annul the application of the floor clause, they do not return the amounts unduly charged on their own initiative unless there is a ruling, so it is advisable that you contact your lawyers before agreeing any change of conditions or reductions with the financial institution or signing any document because, without knowing it, you may be waiving the retroactive nature of the clause.
As of today, in the vast majority of cases, the courts are declaring mortgage floor clauses null and void, which means not only that the bank has to stop applying it – which in an average loan could mean a saving of between 1,500 and 1,800 euros per year – but also that the financial institution has to return the amounts paid in excess, since 9 May 2013, which means the return of an average of around 4,500 euros.
Moreover, if the High Court of Justice of the European Union rules in favour of the report submitted by the lawyers to the European Commission, you could also recover all the amounts overpaid from the moment you signed the contract. In fact, the first judgements inspired by EU principles have already been handed down in the Courts of First Instance, obliging financial institutions to repay the amounts unduly charged since the constitution of the loan.
If you want to make sure you are not overpaying, call us and we will advise you.
