What Happens if You Default on Your Spanish Mortgage?
When money is tight, many people end up in a situation where they cannot pay their bills, sometimes including their mortgage. Whether the mortgage is on a primary residence or vacation home, defaulting on a mortgage can have serious consequences for the homeowner. These consequences vary by country and can even vary by state or province within the same country, so it is important to understand them fully.
For instance, when you default on Spanish mortgages, there are certain consequences. In the past, such defaulting used to be very simple. People who were not Spanish citizens but owned a vacation or second home in Spain could default on the mortgage with little or no cost or repercussions. However, this is no longer the case, as Spanish banks can and will pursue non-residents to fulfill their mortgage obligations.
One option you have when you default on your Spanish mortgage is to turn over the home to the bank. Turning the home over to the bank will save you a lot of money, as the bank will not have court costs associated with pursuing you for the mortgage, and your interest will stop accruing sooner. However, turning the home over to the bank is a process that must be negotiated. The bank can to agree to accept the home back, but they do not have to. The bank is more likely to accept the home back from you if you have had a true hardship that has affected your ability to make payments on your Spanish mortgage. Any homeowners that can prove such a hardship to the bank will be even more likely to succeed in negotiating a turnover.
If the bank rejects a home turnover offer from the homeowner, he or she will need to try to sell the home quickly. Try to get a final sale price that will cover the remaining amount on your Spanish mortgage or one that will come as close as possible to paying it off, as the bank will still expect the full amount from you in any case. The bank will be most likely to aggressively pursue you for a large shortfall on the Spanish mortgage. But the bank can legally attempt to collect any amount from you. This means you may face liens on any assets you own, including your primary home and investments. Although it may take years to collect on the shortfall by going through the court systems, the bank that holds your Spanish mortgage will not give up until they do.
If you must default on your Spanish mortgage, it is vital that you contact the bank as soon as possible to work with them. Showing a willingness to work with the bank can allow a homeowner to walk away from a Spanish mortgage with as little financial cost as possible and still retain full ownership of all his or her other assets.
