Will the bank ever pay my exersised bank guarantee?

[Frank]

Hi i wonder if you could answer a question for me.

I have won a court case to exersise my spanish bank guarantee for an off plan property.The bank has not paid my money back yet, so the court has issued a writ to force them to pay.

In your opinion do you think this will prove to be sucessfull ?

[Lawbird Lawyer]

This is happening a lot with all Banks specially post credit crunch. They try not to honour BGs just to wear you out as a court procedure is expensive and daunting for many. But the fact is that a BG is an executive title that follows a special executive procedure so they are forced to pay up.

Please read our article on Spanish bank guarantees.

[Unregistered]

Hello

Just found your wonderful site!!

I have a bank guarantee (AVALAN) for a property I purchased in 2006. the property has not been started and the developers have entered voluntary administration on may 9th last year.

I have executed my BG but have received no response in writing. the bank have said that they will only consider repaying if they get the money they are owed as creditors through the administration process.

This means that I am having to wait until the entire administration process is finished. Already this has been nine months.

Surely the whole point of a bank guarantee is that I should not have to worry about this and should just be paid.

I have written to the chairman of the bank (banco pastor) sent a burofax, written to the chairman of the bank of spain and received no response from anyone

How can this happen in the modern world and do you have any advice regarding anything else I can do?

Thanks so much in advance

[Lawbird Lawyer]

Hello

Just found your wonderful site!!

I have a bank guarantee (AVALAN) for a property I purchased in 2006. the property has not been started and the developers have entered voluntary administration on may 9th last year.

I have executed my BG but have received no response in writing. the bank have said that they will only consider repaying if they get the money they are owed as creditors through the administration process.

This means that I am having to wait until the entire administration process is finished. Already this has been nine months.

Surely the whole point of a bank guarantee is that I should not have to worry about this and should just be paid.

I have written to the chairman of the bank (banco pastor) sent a burofax, written to the chairman of the bank of spain and received no response from anyone

How can this happen in the modern world and do you have any advice regarding anything else I can do?

Thanks so much in advance

Dear Madam,

Thank you for your kind words.

The whole point of a bank guarantee is for it to act as a safety net should:

1.- The off plan property be delivered late (I'll add substantially late)
2.- Or the developer file for bankruptcy.

Your case would be number two. You do not have to wait for anything nor does your bank. You only have to execute the bank guarantee hiring a Spanish lawyer. If the bank refuses to honour it then your lawyer will follow a swift executive procedure to recover all your stage payments plus legal interests as explained clearly in our article on Spanish bank guarantees. In fact you can even claim back from the bank the legal expenses you will have to pay upfront on executing your BG.

If you are trying to execute a bank guarantee on your own without a lawyer I wish you good luck.

To lodge a complaint before the Bank of Spain you must first contact the complaints department of Banco Pastor. All Spanish banks have a specific complaints department to deal with customers' complaints. If you attempt to bypass this procedure and contact the BoS directly they will reroute you to follow this procedure so you might as well follow it from the onstart unless you enjoy runnning round in burocratic circles.

If the banks' complaint department do not reply, reply unsatisfactorily or take a long time to reply then you can contact the Bank of Spain and lodge a formal complaint agaisnt the bank having proved that you indeed filed a complaint previously. Again your Spanish lawyer will advice accordingly.

Unfortunately the BoS' website is not available in English yet.

http://www.bde.es/clientebanca/quejas/quejas.htm

Needless to say the complaint should be worded in Spanish as it stands to logic.

This is the complaint's department from Banco Pastor:

0072 - BANCO PASTOR, S.A.

SERVICIO DE ATENCION AL CLIENTE DEL GRUPO BANCO PASTOR
MARINA MATEO QUINTANA
DOMICILIO: CL CANTON PEQUEÑO 1 PL.8 DCHA - 15003 A CORUÑA
TFNO. 981127441
FAX. 981127472
E-MAIL. atencionalcliente-grupobancopastor@bancopastor.es

[anna]

Thanks so much for your advice

I agree it should be straight forward but it is now nine months since our developer went into voluntary administration. The bank refuses to pay as they said they must wait for the judge to resolve the contract (even though it is an avalan) and the civil court says it will not get involved it is waiting for the mercantile court. It means I am left in the middle.

Our current lawyer says that there is nothing we can do but wait for the administration process to be finished??? If you know a different way then you can have a new client!!

Anna

[Lawbird Lawyer]

Dear Anna,

You're welcome.

I'm afraid not, it's black or white. Or you follow a Summary Excecution Procedure (3-7 months) or else the Standard Procedure (2-3 years).

Please read our article on Spanish Bank Guarantees.

[Unregistered]

Thanks again for your reply. I cannot actually find what a summary execution procedure is and where I would serve it. my lawyer tells me that the mercantile court wont accept it and the civil court says the mercantile court must decide not them.

I have already been waiting eleven months for my money. Are you saying my lawyer is incorrect and I should get different advice?

If the courts wont hear my case then what can I do other than wait?

[Unregistered]

Hi.
We had a bank guarantee and we won a High Court ruling in Madrid against the Bank to return our deposit plus legals and interest in early June.
We still haven't received our money or heard anything and I realise all the courts and offices are closed in August but how long does it normally take for them to refund the money.
Our lawyer says it can take time and is chasing it up.
We have also been told that the bank cannot appeal against this ruling and I am sure if they could we would have heard about it by now.

What are your thought on this?

[Lawbird Lawyer]

Dear Sir/Madam,

That in a couple of months you should have it. Normally once there's a Final ruling it doesn't take that long.

In any case, we are speaking of a bank, so they will pay you.

Yours faithfully,

[Unregistered]

Hello again

Further to my question on 09/04/2009 and your reply.

As yet I still haven't had my deposit returned by the bank.

My lawyer says he is chasing it up regularly via the court procurator and not to worry but I will get it back eventually.

It is now 6 months since the High Court ruling !!!

Is this normal ?