Dilip Kuner
IT was yet another giant victory over the banks for Marbella lawyer Diego Echavarria in the courts last month.
Handing his clients a €16,000 cheque in their battle against Sabadell bank was ‘yet another proud moment’ for the bilingual brief.
The Madrid-born boss of Fairway Lawyers won Peter Cooper, from Fuengirola, the healthy sum in a one-off payment.
“He got it after we found that he had a floor clause inserted into the mortgage he needed to buy a property in 2005.
“He had literally no idea that for many years the rate never went below 3%, even when interest rates dropped to nearly zero.
“To say he was overjoyed with the payout is an understatement.
“It was a giant gift for his family, who are planning a big holiday this Christmas and a new car.”
The battle against Sabadell came after the British family took on Fairway Lawyers in a ‘no win, no fee’ deal three years ago.
While it wasn’t a quick process, Diego admits, it is just a matter of doing things by the letter of the law.
“You just need to be diligent and cross the t’s and dot the i’s,” he explains.
Having taken on and won over three dozen cases over the last decade, he has become probably Spain’s number one legal specialist on the so-called ‘Floor clause scandal’.
The scandal stems back over two decades when many Spanish lenders secretly inserted a clause in their clients’ contracts that ensured interest rates could not drop below 3.5% or 3%.
This was called the ‘floor clause’ and when for a decade, between 2011 and 2021, the interest rates in Spain sat at a record low, between 0% and 1%, they did not benefit.
It meant hundreds of thousands of people spent years paying usually hundreds of euros more per month above what they should have paid.
Diego estimates that tens of thousands of homeowners – over half of them British – could be owed €50,000 or more in compensation.
“The average is likely a little lower, but whatever happens they are owed money and with interest on top,” he explains this month.
“It was a really shocking abuse of legitimate trusting clients and the banks were very crafty,” he adds.
“I have spent years exposing these hidden clauses inserted into their mortgages.
“And there are around 100,000 mis-sold mortgages that have yet to be resolved in Spain.”
He explains that most banks, including La Caixa, Sabadell and Banco Popular, used such clauses.
“And it will only take me a few minutes to work out what you have paid and what you are owed today,” he continues.
Over the last year he has had a series of payments, including one for €21,075, plus legal costs, in Mijas, and another for €48,359 for a British family, the Brighouses in Estepona.
In one urbanisation in the Malaga resort, Mirador de Costalita, he has four happy clients alone.
The huge golf lover, who named his firm after the sport, added: “It always involves lots of legal letters being sent and it’s a bit of a game, to be honest.
“Luckily I know all the tricks and how the banks try and slow things down.”
He currently has ‘over 100 clients’ he is working with around Spain, most of them expats, who became victims, but also some Spanish buyers.
“I am handling cases all over the country and travel around the place all the time” he adds.
If you want to claim for a mis-sold mortgage – NO WIN, NO FEE – or feel you may have been affected, contact diego@fairwaylawyers.com or send a message via Whatsapp to +606307885.
THE KEY POINTS
- A mortgage acquired between 2000 and 2010
- Payments the same amount for often many years.
- Despite paying off the mortgage and even selling up you can still claim
- There is no deadline since the latest ruling from TJUE (Tribunal de Justicia de La Union Europea)
- Fairway Lawyers acts on a No Win, No Fee basis
What are you waiting for? Get in touch with the team at www.fairwaylawyers.com or diego@fairwaylawyers.com or call 0034 952771150 or 0034 606307885
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