The ACTA is an official document that stays in your mortgage file that the Spanish notary has to ensure you sign and states that you understand how your chosen mortgage actually works. They will ask you a series of questions regarding interest rates, be it fixed or variable, early cancelation commissions, and your rights and obligations as a consumer regarding Spanish mortgages and the laws that regulate such contracts.
You can take this opportunity to ask questions to the notary if there is anything you are unclear about but this is your final opportunity to clarify anything relating to your agreement or Spanish mortgage rates.
The Fluent Finance Abroad team will of course help you with translating and understanding everything before you go to the notary, who will also check to see that you have received the required documents from the lender prior to signing the ACTA FEIN & FiAE. We will ensure you get these too.
The important things here are your rights if it comes to repossession. If you did find yourself in difficulty, you have at least 12 months before the bank can put any pressure on your regarding them taking possession of your property.
What can I be charged above my agreed interest rate? And what are the early cancellation fees?
You can only be charged a default interest of 3 points above your agreed spread and no more. Meanwhile, a 2% early cancelation fee is the maximum a bank in Spain can charge you for early redemption of the fixed-rate mortgage, no more. It is less for variable rate Spanish mortgages.
What is ACTA?
The ACTA is a legal document that forms part of the application process to ensure that you, the client, fully understands what your Spanish mortgage is designed to do. It was brought in to ensure that the general public are aware of the financial consequences they are getting involved in so that firstly consumers don’t enter into anything they are not comfortable with or that they do not understand and also to ensure that there are no legal comebacks for the bank if their client fails to repay the mortgage.
All of this comes down to the fact that Spanish banks mis-sold mortgages prior to the credit crisis and when the financial crash happened in 2008 and 2009. The recession brought all of these bad practices out into the open so it became clear that the relationship between Bank professionals and the public was too one-sided and unfair. Regulation, in the form of the ACTA, was then brought in to prevent anything similar regarding mortgages happening again.
The documents for the notary to prepare the ACTA has to be sent by the bank and that is when the 10-day rule has to apply. These documents must be the final contracts that you are supposed to sign and cannot be changed by the bank at any time once they have been sent. If they did, the notary would just cancel the signing and get the bank to reissue the contracts and we would have the start the 10-day period once more.
Contact Us
We will assist you with understanding your mortgage application from the very beginning meaning that signing the ACTA will not be a stressful situation for you to go through. For more information contact us on +34 952 85 36 47 or get in touch via info@fluentfinanceabroad.com.
