If you don’t pay your loan installment on time, how much can you be charged?
Non-payment entails the application of default interest. Keys to not getting lost in a debt management
If you don’t pay your loan installment on time, The due date of a loan or credit installment arrives and the payment of the same does not take place.
The situation is not very desired by the financial entity, of course,
but even less so by the debtor since it entails what is known as default interest.
What are they and how can a situation of this type be managed?
Default interest is a percentage that is added to the fee to be returned when a default occurs.
All the information related to the type, the way in which it is applied and calculated,
and the expenses for non-payment,
must be provided before the loan is signed by the lender or intermediary. These same conditions will also appear in the financial product contract.
The limits dictated by the law
The law establishes a general limit to this type of interest,
which cannot exceed two and a half times the legal interest on money at any given time.
The legal interest on money is updated every year in the General State Budgets and, for 2017, it is 3%. In the case of credits for an amount less than 200 euros, this limit does not apply.
As for mortgage loans, the Draft Law that seeks to reform the Mortgage Law stipulates that the default
interest will be triple the legal interest of the money in force throughout the period considered,
a figure to which two percentage points will be added.
Default interest may only accrue on the capital pending payment and may not be capitalized.
This proposal will modify the Mortgage Law, in which the limit on
default interest is less than three times the legal interest of the money and can be negotiated with the entity.
If what occurs is a non-payment in commercial operations, that is, between companies,
the Law to combat late payment stipulates a different late-payment interest,
which the European Central Bank sets each semester.
For the second semester, the default interest for commercial operations is 8%. He knows in depth all the sides of the coin.
When there is no agreement between the parties and there is no special provision in the regulations,
the Law of Civil Procedure determines that the default interest will be that of the
“legal interest of the money increased by two points”.
The Supreme, against abusive interests
In May 2015, the Supreme Court declared default interest
that exceeded the interest rate of the loan itself by more than two percentage points abusive through a ruling
that meant softening the penalty for non-payment of installments on non-mortgage loans.
The Supreme Court considered that a default on the stipulated date was not enough for the entity to apply sanctions
that it judged disproportionate with respect to the damage that the debtor had caused.
A very controversial sentence, since the bank considered it a punishment for those who do pay their dues on time.
Be that as it may, legal claims then began for all late payment interest
charges that had exceeded what was established in the Supreme Court ruling.
The commission for claiming the debt, in question
Being late for the payment of the installment (but also remaining in the red with a credit card )
entails not only the payment of default interest,
but also the so-called commission for claiming a debtor position, which aggravates the position of the debtor.
“This is one of the most unfair commissions that the consumer bears”,
in the opinion of the finance expert at Ahorro, Antonio Gallardo,
since it is charged for letting the debtor know what debt is acquired by not paying it on time,
or overdraft on an account.
“For the mere fact of notifying you of the existence of the debt by mail,
they can charge you up to 45 euros,
even if you have already paid the fee before receiving the letter,
mail or SMS that they send you” laments the expert of the banking comparator.
The Mercantile Court number 1 of Vitoria,
In this case, too, justice has positioned itself on the side of consumers, at least on one occasion.
in a ruling issued in June last year, annulled the commission for claiming Kutxabank’s debt and prohibited applying it to future clients,
considering it abusive. The entity charged 30 euros of commission in credit contracts and current accounts.
