Foreign Currency Mortgage

[Ripoff]

Help someone please...we are a bit confused !

We brought our property in 2007 just before the euro changeover. On advise given we opted for a Swiss Franc mortgage
It would appear that our mortgage lender purchased the Swiss francs 2 weeks before CYP went into the euro. They seem to have converted CYPounds into Swiss Francs which has resulted in our 85000 CYP leaving us with a debt of 242000 Swiss Francs.

If the bank had at that time converted what would have been a 100000 euro advance into Swiss Franc our outstanding debt would only be 116000 Swiss Francs !!!!!!!

How can they have done this, is this legal.... it seems to us that they have off load a redundant currency 2 weeks before the changeover which has resulted in the Laiki Bank not only charging us a huge amount of interest they will also double their money! At no time were we advised that the exchange rate was double and that it would have been better if we waited 2 weeks until the euro came in. Surely this is fraudualent as we were not given the full facts and it would appear they have deliberately misled us.

I feel sick to my stomach I cannot believe we have been so blantantly ripped off.....please help us someone to try and sort this mess out


Please help anyone have any advise ?

[Nigel Howarth]

Hello Ripoff & welcome to the forum.

There are thousands of people in a similar position to yourself. The problem is that over the last three years the Swiss Franc has virtually doubled in value and the banks have increased their margins. At the time you took out the mortgage, CHF mortgages were being offered at very attractive interest rates - about half the rate of Cyprus Pound mortgages.

A couple of weeks ago I contributed to an article in 'The Times' about this problem that you can read at Foreign currency mortgages turn sour.

In that article you will find links to a Cyprus-based mortgage specialist who may be able to help and also to a law firm in London that it working with a Cyprus-based law firm looking into possible mis-selling.

If you took advice in the UK, you may have a claim against your advisor. If he was registered with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) at the time, you may complain to the FSA and make a claim against him/her on the basis that if you had been advised of the full facts about your potential purchase, you would not have gone ahead and bought. If you are successful but the advisor is unable to meet the claim the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) may be able to assist.

Regards,

[citybantam]

hi i have a swiss franc mortgage could anyone put me in touch with anyone who can help and advise me.many thanks.

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi citybantam and welcome to the forum.

In addition to the FSA that I linked to in an earlier reply, I wrote an article an what to do if you are unable to maintain your mortgage repayments at http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... /id=001361

and if you feel you have been mis-sold, see http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... /id=006686

When did you purchase the property?

Regards,

[citybantam]

hi nigel i purchased the property in 2007 im trying to see if i can just pay the interest for now.

[Firefire]

Hi there

I'm new to all this and wondered if anyone had Any information that could help me. My parnter and I are in same situation as the rest of u it seems. We brought our villa in 2008 in swiss frank moragae but held out till 2009 but had already put down a massive chunk of money to back out, if we had known then what we do now about the Swiss franc and euro we would of walked away then. Our repayments have gone through the roof and doubled and r now over 4k a month sterling and going up monthly.!!!! I feel we were mis sold it and never knew to what extent the payments would go up. We are thinking about handing back the keys and walking away from it. Can we do this? Our property I'm the Uk has no charge against it?

Would b grateful with any advice. Many thanks

[Tony w]

Hello Firefire,
I am also in the same situation as yourselves with no near as higher payments you seem to have but with the work situation as it and my payments ready to double soon I will find it impossible to keep up the loan payments.
Walking away "handing in the keys" seems an easy option but would like to know if the banks would persue in the uk. What if i was declared banktrupt?/sold my property in the uk and bought a new property in another name? Does any one have any ideas?

[Nigel Howarth]

We brought our villa in 2008 in swiss frank moragae ... ...I feel we were mis sold

Apologies for the delay in replying and welcome to the forum.

If you feel that you have been mis-sold, I suggest you contact the law firm of Healys in London or the Zambartas firm in Cyprus - see http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... /id=006686

There is also a possibility that your property has been built on mortgaged land. If so you should write to the Consumer Protection Service - see http://cyprus-property-action-group.net ... n-service/

To find out if the land is mortgaged, see http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... /id=004888

And there is another article yo may find useful at http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... /id=001361

If there is no way out of your situation and you fail to maintain your mortgage repayments, the bank may bring an action against you in Cyprus. If this action was successful this could result in you losing the property and the bank could also get a money judgement against you. It could then apply to a UK court to have that judgement upheld and could then seize you assets to recover the debt.

I suggest that you speak with your UK lawyer on how to protect your UK assets in the event that the banks acts against you.

Regards,

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Tony w and welcome to the forum,

Please see my earlier reply to firefly.

Regards,

[taffyboy]

Hi Everybody

I'm a new member to the site and have been taking note of lot's of the information given on the site.

I am looking for some advice regarding our current mortgage situation.

We have a swiss franc mortgage in my wife's name and have been suffering lately like everyone else. We live and work in Cyprus and have no assets in the UK. As of the 1st August we were up to date with the payments and then my wife visited the bank to see what help they could offer as we could no longer make the full payments. They said that they would make an application for her to pay the interest only for 6 months. However they would need the authority of the developer. My wife informed the bank the the developer has gone missing and nobody seems to be able to find him. Whilst waiting to hear from the bank regarding interest only payments my wife received an arrears letter threatening the usual possible legal action and that charges would be added to the account. She visited the bank again as she was upset to receive this letter when the bank were supposed to be making the arrangements for an amendment to the mortgage. Whilst there the paperwork suddenly appeared for her to sign to amend the mortgage. Again she was told that it was subject to the developer approval. She reminded them that he has gone missing and cannot be found. Surely as we have been honest with the bank they should be able to help us out in some way. The bank records will show that my wife approached them before the next payment was due so why send us a threatening letter.

To make matters worse in May last year the developer held a meeting on our complex to say that he could not carry on with the maintenance of the complex due to people not paying their communal fees. We have since employed a property maintenance company. During the meeting he also informed us that our title deeds would be available in fourteen months. We have no found out that he has not even applied for the individual deeds. We are concerned that he may have something to hide. Most owners now have their solicitors looking into the matter.

Any advice or information that anyone can give will be gratefully received.

[SBSis]

Hi
Just wondering if anyone has managed to successfully put a complaint in with the FSA regarding being mis-sold mortgages in Cyprus & if so, what procedure did you take.

We are in a very similiar situation as everyone else, trusted the wrong people and at the moment each week there appears to be something else to deal with with the property and something else to pay for. We are continuing to pay the mortgage to Alpha Bank and things are tight, but the added stress and worry just inflates the problem. We currently have the property up for sale but feel completely out of our depth and that there is no-one to discuss this with.

I have contacted Healy's and they are currently looking at a test case I believe. Has anyone contacted the Cypriot firm that Nigel has suggested?

Thanks
SB