Finally, at least two banks in Spain have obeyed the ruling of the European Court, which has ruled that the “cláusulas suelos” (a floor below which mortgage interest rates may not fall) are ilegal and abusive, and have dropped the clause from mortgage agreements with immediate effect.
The Banks, BBVA and Cajamar have announced that they will stop applying the clause with general effect from May 9. The move will mean a large number of families with variable rate mortgages will benefit from lower mortgage interest rates as the applicable rate will be directly linked to the Euribor.
Some BBVA customers will be liberated from the “cláusula suelo”.
The ruling of the European Court was that the clauses were not abusive in themselves but had been applied “without transparency.”
