Today, the General Counsel of the Court of Justice of the European Union will present his opinion, expressing whether one of the indexes used to calculate the mortgages (IRPH) was marketed in Spain correctly and clearly enough or not. This resolution is not binding, although it usually coincides in 80% with the final criterion of the Luxembourg Court, which in this case is expected by the end of the year or at the beginning of 2020.
The IRPH index was, together with the Euribor, the benchmark used at the time of the real estate boom and, although it was presented as a safer alternative to fluctuations in the euro zone, the truth is that it has always been much higher and, therefore, worse for consumers. Therefore, many clients have modified the reference index of their mortgage and others are still waiting for the resolution of this conflict.
If the claim is considered, a bankruptcy of between 2,000 and 44,000 million euros could be caused to the financial entities, according to estimations made by different investment banks that assume that the CJEU will oblige to compensate the clients for the difference charged to those cases where IRPH and not the Euribor was applied to the mortgages. It is also questioned whether this effect will have retroactive effects (so they would have to return the whole amount charged from the beginning).
We have several issues pending this resolution and many pending in order to be able to initiate the claim so we are expecting the decision with great interest.
As soon as we have news, we will let our clients know, given the fact that claims based on the nullity of this benchmark, if estimated, will mean an important refund to them.