The European Commission has recently issued a report on IRPH clauses in Spain, which leaves Spain’s Supreme Court in a compromising situation. The effects could be of similar proportions to the cancellation of the ground clauses of the mortgages, although we will still have to wait for the response of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to a question submitted by a court in Barcelona.
In November 2017, Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that mortgage contracts linked to the IRPH are not abusive because this index, being official, already offers guarantees of transparency. But now the legal section of the European Commission is of the opinion that the decision of the Spanish Supreme Court may violate Community legislation. The European regulations say that the commercialization of any financial product must be done with transparency and sufficient information, something that did not happen when those affected by these mortgages contracted them with this index as an alternative to the Euribor as a way to calculate the interest payable.
The Supreme Court in Spain decided in favour of banks, now the CJEU could overturn it and decide in favour of consumers.
Costaluz Lawyers
