On May 16, Wall Street Italia (WSI) published an article, in which Barclays felt the need of defending itself from the charge of fraud, stating they had not committed “any violation”. This answer was in response to the statements related to the holders borrowers mortgages, with a variable interest rate, from euro to the Swiss franc. These mortgages, known as fx loans, were provided by Barclays.
The reason WSI was aware of what Barclays had done, was thanks to Sheila Meneghetti, founder and vice president of TUCONFIN. Meneghetti is practically dedicating her day to day, to explaning the rates that had been applied and how these were always in favor of the bank.”As a result of the strengthening of the Swiss franc over the euro and its effects on mortgages indexed to the US dollar, Barclays, although not considering critical issues in the product structure, has defined some trade options on behalf of clients , with the intention to meet the main requirements so far as the latter manifested. The bank reiterates, in fact, that there has never been on his part no violation of the rules on transparency, nor the adoption of commercial practices contrary to the principles of good faith, honesty and fairness. ”
“However, with the aforementioned Barclays initiative intends to confirm its willingness to dialogue with customers, providing concrete solutions to those who make formal application. Barclays also informed that the content of the Ordinance of the Milan Court of 11.16.2015, dismissed the precautionary questions from advanced clients through one of the main consumer groups.
As for the loans indexed to the Swiss franc marketed in Italy (representing a very small percentage of total loans marketed by Barclays in Italy) must therefore be held still the reference to what is stipulated by the Italian courts without instrumental similarities to other cases. However, as regards Italy, it is recalled that “the Court of Milan has largely confirmed the validity of the indexation clause Swiss Franc” the statement concludes.
Meneghetti has been fighting against Barclays, since this bank introduced her to fx loans. The italian activist, now former president of Tucofin, has sued the Bank. Meneghetti explains what solutions should be viable and which ones the Bank should start taking into consideration and should start to act upon. The activist explains to the WSI three possible solutions the Bank should be offered to put to an end to the FX LOANS:
Solution 1: Creating a new type of mortgage, with a new accessory fund to help adjust. What is left to pay of the mortgage, the remaining loan, must be converted from swiss francs into euro. The customer will no longer have to pay the present rate debt owed to the bank. The installments will have the same amount of the original loan for an indefinite number of years because it will depend only on the final result of the debt. This comes to mean that you will remain in doubt until the natural expiration of the original loan. The borrower, in addition to the added uncertainty, will not have any benefit, because in the meantime can not substitute, pay off the mortgage or sell the house without feeling the weight of the revaluation.
Solution 2: Conversion of the loan in CHF to EURO with the possibility to choosing between fixed or variable rate. What varies with respect to the original loan contract is that in this case the part of the revaluation will be added to the mortgage without however calcolarvi interests. For the monthly payment, clients should be able to choose in between two options: Leave unchanged year mortgage and pay a monthly installment increased with discount interest on part of the revaluation
lengthen the mortgage and leave unchanged installment, but also see themselves subject to interest on the portion of the revaluation. This way, in a few words, the borrower freezes debt revaluation to negative conditions today and smear the additional debt into the new mortgage. The calculation of interest, there are no benefits because: you can still substitute (the value of the mortgage will not exceed the current value of the house), it can still sell (if the value of the home is less than the debt must also have the capital to cover the excess debt).
Solution 3: Transfer the mortgage that guarantees the mortgage on another property in order to sell the home without extinguishing the mortgage. This is very complicated, because you have to hope to have another property that meets the needs of Barclays bearing in mind that generally the mortgage on these mortgages has exorbitant amounts compared to the value of the same.
