Bank of Cyprus - CHF LOan

[CyprusH]

I have just read this article in the Cyprus Mail. My question is does this mean that the Bank of Cyprus policy was wrong and that in effect all the CHF mortgages that they arranged were mis-sold.

"At last some banks have accepted responsibility for the miss-selling of Swiss Franc mortgages to normal mortgagees.

After a year of claiming that the Bank of Cyprus has miss-sold me and my daughter mortgages based on Swiss-francs, we have recently been offered a settlement. Compared to a normal euro loan, our Swiss Franc loans have cost us so far an extra € 60,000 and €110, 000 respectively.

Consequently we are in arrears. The Bank has offered us discounts of €22,000 and €66,000; these would not be deducted straight away from our highly inflated mortgages but essentially we would get it back in dribs and drabs over the remaining period of the mortgage.

Not only do the amounts not cover the losses we made but we do not even benefit now when we have such an enormously high debt and we are in arrears. We are currently in the most economically deprived times of our lives. We believe a fairer proposal is for the bank to convert our mortgages into euro mortgages at the original exchange rate. This would reduce our monthly payments substantially and enable us to pay them.

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi CyprusH

The Cyprus Mail has published what I call an 'advertorial' - I received a copy as well but did not publish it. (I receive many such articles from various law firms involved in the CHF loan debacle - including one from a lawyer who is currently under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in the UK. (Not the firm referred to in the article I hasten to add).

I cannot say whether the CHF loan that you and your daughter have with the Bank of Cyprus was mis-sold. It would need a lawyer to plough through all the loan documentation and your signed agreements - and then they would (should) advise you of the best way to proceed - negotiate or litigate.

I know that the Bank of Cyprus were much better ensuring its loan customers were advised correctly compared with the bank referred to in the article.

The Bank of Cyprus & others are offering discounts using a carrot and stick approach. If you maintain your payments for 'x' months, then the outstanding balance is reduced. However, if you miss a payment you will not receive the reduction.

You should be able to negotiate a Euro loan (preferably a Sterling loan if your income's in Sterling). You may also benefit from joining one of the groups who are negotiating with the banks on behalf of hundreds of clients.

Unfortunately I don't have the list of groups with me as I'm currently in the UK. However, you can find an article I published some time ago at http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... id=0017804

Regards,