A recent ruling by the Federal Court of Appeals sets a precedent for thousands of Argentines who for months saw how the dream of their own home turned into a nightmare. The Justice of Mendoza ruled in favor of a mortgage debtor who requested a UVA credit of 2 million pesos at the beginning of 2018, whose debt currently amounts to 13 million pesos with installments that exceed 50% of their monthly salary. Through a lawsuit, it was established that the fee cannot exceed 30% and forced the National Bank to renegotiate the terms of the contract.
The debt generated by the UVA mortgage loans it became dramatic for thousands of Argentine families that every month face the payment of installments that far exceed 30% of their income. Faced with political decisions that do not arrive and are delayed in time, the victims opted to make individual demands, achieving sentences throughout the country, generating jurisprudence for a group that needs immediate responses to an abuse of their rights.
The ruling recently issued by the Federal Court of Appeals marks a before and after for those who took UVA mortgage loans and due to the excessive increase in fees and interest rates they were harmed. A native of San Rafael from Mendoza who requested the National Bank 2 million pesos with installments that did not exceed $9,000 in 2018, and which currently pays $58,000 with a total debt amounting to 13 million pesos, achieved through a judicial appeal the freezing of the amount to be paid and the renegotiation of the terms of the contract.
“From the resolution of the Justice we achieved the regulation of the monthly fee paid by the mortgage debtor, stopping the excessive increase in UVA. Currently it cannot exceed 30% and remains frozen if the woman’s income does not increase Until the month of June, prior to the ruling, he paid $58,000 pesos a month out of a salary of $100,000 and the UVA mortgage loan exceeded 50% of his salary,” explained lawyer Camila Fernández Giol, who added: “Another aspect to take into account is that the parties are forced to renegotiate the conditions of the contract, which can lead to an agreement for new interest rates.
At the national level, it is estimated that approximately 110,000 families have UVA mortgage loans, with monthly obligations for their homes that increased more than 100% in relation to last year, impacting the total debt that, in some cases, tripled, exceeding 30% of the amount corresponding to their salaries.
Faced with this bleak panorama, the UVA mortgage debtors they began with a series of individual lawsuits and the results began to be seen from recent court rulings. Among the arguments put forward by the victims are the conditions of vulnerability in which these families find themselves, whose rights as consumers are affected by the abusive conditions posed by the banks.