GE Money have sold their mortgage book to OTAGAZ Gestion Hipotecaria

If you can't access, try this generic one: ge@peppergroup.es

Good Morning Zyloc,

Thank you for your private message to which I have responded.

The portfolio was sold on again at the end of last year however this has not affected the service provider has they have been instructed to keep managing the portfolio.

This year alone their are in excess of 180 mortgages switching from interest only to repayment, which we know will create a lot of defaults, indeed we have clients that have already stated they cannot meet the montly payments when the switch takes place.

Nothing will happen with any of the mortgages until March/April at the earliest.

We already have several cases from last year that were put on hold due to the sale of the portfolio, these are now been studied and decisons are starting to be made about how we will handle them, it may be similar to how we have dealt with the cases in the past, but I cannot confirm.

Please feel free to contact me privately with any questions you may have.

Unfortunately I do not have the time to keep posting on open forums, information that is sensitive and private, I am sure you fully understand.

Kind Regards

Another new name has appeared on my bank direct debit this month. No longer OTAGAZ GESTION HIPOTECARIA but  FINANCIAL PEPPER ASSETS SERVICES, S.L . It keeps changing, it is difficult to keep up!!

Markfish, the portfolio was sold on again in Dec last year to another fund who I won't name.

However it is still Peppers that are handling everything.

You can PM me for more details.

Re Otagaz, we are selling a property that was originally mortgaged with GE, then Otagaz.

Be warned, Otagaz have not registered their proxy interest in our mortgage and possibly others, despite acquiring the debt years ago. This means that we were not be able to redeem the mortgage, as it’s not in their name yet, and our sale fell through on the completion day. You can sell but you can’t clear the debt. We are now pursuing their legal team.

Senior23. I did PM you, but received no response.

Twickers Dave: That is not good, I think they are now Pepper assets, so yet another change. I know Pepper originally was set up to manage the accounts, but it seems they are now owners of the accounts. Customers being treated like mushrooms unfortunately.

Mark

Our lawyer in Spain is in touch with their legal team now. As I understand it, anyone with an Otagaz mortgage needs to check if they have taken over their mortgage by proxy with the land registry. They haven’t done so with ours and, until they do, we can’t redeem it.

Maybe we should stop the mortgage payments until they do their paperwork - I sense that they will only act when their money river runs dry.

Is there a law protecting owners redemption rights in Spain and if so is this a national law respected across all regions in Spain?

Is this a growing problem or an isolated incidence?

I’m no expert in Spanish law but from recent experience, there is little, if any, protection for mortgage holders. It’s all geared towards banks and lenders and they do things in their own time, as they see fit with no regard for the holder as long as the money keeps coming.

Whether it’s an isolated case or not, I’ve no idea but I’d expect that all Otagaz mortgage holders will be in the same boat. In addition, be wary of other ‘unknown unknowns’ which tend to happen in the Spanish financial system, normally at the detriment of the individual tax payer, usually from abroad.

As I stated a few months ago, Otagaz sold the portfolio to another fund, whom I will not name on here. 

The fund are now actively addressing cases both Non performing and performing, as you can imagine their are a number of NPLs that need to be addressed.

The service provider is still the same and if you need help please PM me and I am happy to assist.

Usually registration of any change of title will take around 3 to 4 months in the land registry, however the actual deed signed on the day is always available on request, weather it be a credit or asset purchase.

Over the last 3 months the new owners have been very active and plans are now starting to be put in place to assist both resident and non resident borrowers.

On another note GE stopped lending back in 2007/8 which is .10/11 years ago now, no new mortgages were administered after this date and with the crash of 2008, most if not all mortgages given are more than likely in negative equity. Also with the interest only products that clients took advantage of, the switch to capital repayment is causing clients a real problem.

Obviously I do not know your case, however you can PM me and I will see if I can address it.

I did PM, but never heard back.

Thanks for the pm, but think I will stay in the dark. Not really into giving my personal details to someone I don't know. I will stick to contacting Hayley if I need her.

Markfish, thanks for the response.

Your original PM I never received, very sorry.

Hayley will assist you in every way she can, any case in Andalucia will be passed on, however for the moment if you are performing on your loan then their is no need for concern.

The information I stated below is correct and up to date.

Activity levels and planning is currently underway with the new owners to address all NPLs in order to try and resolve their situation in the best way.

I wish you all the best.

Thanks for the reply and I have responded again to your pm. I have a lot of time for Hayley, she has been very helpful through the years, so if you are on her team, you must be a good guy/ gal .

It seems though that the thread title needs to be changed to OTAGAZ Gestion Hipotecaria have sold their mortgage book to Thames International. The sale went through about 2 weeks ago apparently.

I have seen a thread somewhere by Maria that says that mortgage holders should be allowed to purchase the debt for the same amount it was sol on for, but have heard nothing of that throughout any of this.

Mark

This matter is currently under Preliminary Ruling to the European Court of Justice:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:62016CN0096&from=ES

Preventively, it is good you activate the request to the entity/entities

In the interim is the Bank of Spain supposed to be monitoring and regulating such activity in any way Maria and are these instances being officially logged as complaints?

If so how do people go about this?

Self regulation by these Banks is NOT working and hypocritically they rarely comply with their own compliance criteria which they market on their websites. Pure rhetoric I’m afraid and it’s s surely time that regulation of the Banks was stepped up given their abysmal track records to date.

How can Banks and financial institutions be allowed to absolve themselves of responsibility when they sell on their mortgages in this manner, without due account of their customers best interests and abiding by law intended to protect?

This “free for all “ mentality that fails to instruct mortgagees (in a timely manner) of ALL their options AND RIGHTS in this day and age is a disgrace. Mortgagees should not have to depend upon ad hoc advice, this should be addressed across the board, and in a way that treats mortgagees with respect as real people and not “ commodities” to be passed from pillar to post.

It’s called corruption and suits perfectly all those who have the power and ability to rectify it.

It is the cowboy culture of Spain, their county and not ours,  so if you don’t like it stay in blighty.

Here we go again Kavanagh.

There are those of us who care sufficiently to seek improvements, to seek out solutions to the benefit of all, and then there are those whose rhetoric only alienates and divides....

In reference to ads - I would be the very first to agree with you that mortgage regulation in Spain is woefully lacking and many of the banks are a law to themselves in the way that they act. Every week I speak to someone that has been provided with a mortgage product and associated products that they do not fully understand - and in many instances has left them in financial distress

That said when it comes to the selling on of individual mortgage accounts that isnt exclusive to Spain and part of the Mortgage Deed you sign in the UK gives the lender permission to sell your mortgage on or transfer your mortgage to another lender......it is all in the small print and declarations that nobody ever bothers to read. Hence the very public failure of Lloyds TSB, Nat West/RBS, BOS/Halifax having bought and sold tranches of mortgage books from and to other lenders in order to leverage their own capacity to lend. That is a worldwide problem - not exclusive to Spain.

I agree Smiley.

This should not be a competition however about who is the worst but seeking solutions to the growing requirement for enforceable regulatory structures that protect against financial abuse of this nature.

Striving for best practice that benefits all is surely not beyond the remit of those professionals who work within the industry to influence and ironically seize upon the marketing potential in this day and age, where so many now place accountability and transparency far higher on their list of priorities going forward.

There is a large market place for more trusted ethical financial organisations in this day and age given the many vulnerabilities associated with recent history....if only “ they” would recognise it.

If we have learned anything from the past it’s that trusted regulatory enforceable structures have become an essential prerequisite to counter the psychology of abusive greed and corruption in ANY civilised society.