EU Property Solutions- Experts in all Spanish property issues

Banco Halifax Hispana was incorporated in 1993 to serve the needs of Expat buyers in the Southern Costa’s in Spain. Many investors took out mortgages with Halifax, given they were at trusted UK High Street lender giving them confidence in their overseas property purchase and finance they obtained.

Unfortunately, many borrowers now find that their loans are no longer with Halifax. Initially, the Building Society was demutualised in 1997 and merged in 2001 with Bank of Scotland to become HBOS.  In 2010 the Lloyd’s Banking Group acquired HBOS and the branches located in Spain became Lloyds Bank International. In the final banking change in 2013 Lloyds Banking Group agreed to sell its Spanish Operation to Banco Sabadell, initially under the banner of Sabadell Solbank and was then fully integrated into Banco Sabadell in 2014. More recently, they have been aggressively enforcing interim charges on peoples UK homes.

Many investors borrowed from a trusted UK based Building Society in Halifax given they could liaise in the correct language with the lender and deal with the mortgage in both Spain and the UK. It is important to remember many of the loans sold by Lloyds Banking Group have become default and problematic. Essentially, Sabadell acquired a non-performing loan book and are doing their utmost to solve the issues for borrowers.

One reoccurring issue is that Halifax sold 10-year interest only mortgage products which are now coming to a stage where they enter the repayment phase of the mortgage. There have been significant jumps in mortgage repayments often reaching thousands of euros per calendar month. Couple rising repayments and declining property values since 2008, we are seeing many borrowers struggling with their Banco Sabadell Mortgage.

Too many of these struggling borrowers opt to surrender the keys of the property to the Bank and do not enter further dialogue. This is the incorrect way to handle the matter and we know Banco Sabadell have obtained second charges over defaulted borrowers UK home properties.

Whilst many investors look to place blame on the Bank they did not write these mortgages and instead are working with borrowers to end their Spanish Property issues. Their proactive methods and legal approach allow overseas borrowers the opportunity to dispose of their property with minimal costs and issue providing it is done through legal avenues.