Sorry to hear about your situation. I would tread carefully if I were you. Unlike (say) the US where loans are generally non recourse (i.e. you can simply hand the keys back), as other posters have stated you are liable for the loan. However, given the present climate there may be merit in engaging with the bank. Play the "poor pensioner card". Tell them you'll be taking a €100,000 hit and that you expect them to take a €50,000 hit. An 80% recovery on the loan (i.e. €200,000 of the €250,000) may be acceptable to the bank. Tell them you simply cannot repay the €50,000 (I'm assuming doing so would put you in a difficult situation). Put it this way, if I were you my starting point would be that I am not repaying that €50,000.
Pressure from the bank to pay?
Are you paying into your mortgage? Why not continue to do so?
Sorry to hear about your situation. I would tread carefully if I were you. Unlike (say) the US where loans are generally non recourse (i.e. you can simply hand the keys back), as other posters have stated you are liable for the loan. However, given the present climate there may be merit in engaging with the bank. Play the "poor pensioner card". Tell them you'll be taking a €100,000 hit and that you expect them to take a €50,000 hit. An 80% recovery on the loan (i.e. €200,000 of the €250,000) may be acceptable to the bank. Tell them you simply cannot repay the €50,000 (I'm assuming doing so would put you in a difficult situation). Put it this way, if I were you my starting point would be that I am not repaying that €50,000.
Right.It was an interest only mortgage over a very short term (4 years) because of my age.
The bank is happy for me to carry on paying interest only for another 12 months, and they would review the situation again after that. The problem is, as Brendan said, futher falls in the market would make my situation worse.
Interesting advice....
If the OP stood to sell at say E500k (i.e. E150k profit, and bank laid claim to E50k on the basis that OP was making a profit and that they (the bank) felt they should share in this profit, would you say that was fair and reasonable...?
If we follow your logic, then everybody should take your advice and tell bank 'I'll only pay you x%' - upshot bank's go belly-up and Joe Citizen has to carry the cost in some form or another...
You took a gamble to make money and you lost so pay up.
That's a bit harsh.
I took a gamble on the stock market, too, and lost. I also bought a "fully tradable" share in Se(ll)afield Golf Club and when I tried to sell that (for 40% of what I paid) the golf club stepped in and vetoed the sale. I have found lots of interesting ways to lose money!
Did you get proper financial advice in all of this. You paid 350,000 for an apartment and then some bank was smart enough to gave you 200,000 of a mortgage when you were approaching 60 years of age, utter and complete madness and I think both you and the bank are equally responsible for the situation you now find yourself in.
we are house owners with obvious means. I've been advised that the bank will pursue us for every penny. Apparently, the only way to get away with paying less than the full amount is to skip the country!
I am reading down through these posts and I am at a loss for words. Did you get proper financial advice in all of this. You paid 350,000 for an apartment and then some bank was smart enough to gave you 200,000 of a mortgage when you were approaching 60 years of age, utter and complete madness and I think both you and the bank are equally responsible for the situation you now find yourself in.
Negative equity is a meaningless concept in this case.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?