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INPRIMATU
Kutxabank sells to a fund putre mortgage debts from several Basque households
  • Kutxabank has sold 2,500 "toxic" debts to the Irish slut fund Zima Finances and trade has harmed several Basque families; the vulture fund can file lawsuits and initiate eviction proceedings. The Stop Deshaucios platform has identified seven cases in Gipuzkoa and Araba, and the Housing Union of the Casco Viejo de Bilbao, AZET, has announced that some of the people affected by the sale have begun to contact them.
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AZET Bilboko Alde Zaharreko Etxebizitza Sindikatuak putre-funtsen aurka egindako agerraldia, San Frantzisko auzoan (Argazkia: Ecuador Etxea)

Kutxabank sold 2,500 mortgage loans last July to the Irish investment fund Zima Finances, managed by Servihabitat in the Spanish state. For EUR 250 million, the bank has sold 2,500 mortgage debts classified as "toxic", which is called debts that have a low probability of being fully recovered in the eyes of the bank. The Stop Layoffs platform reports that these debts are sent from several addresses in the Spanish State, including Madrid and Málaga.

There are at least seven families affected by the sale and purchase, as there are so many families identified by the platform: three in Donostia and four in Goierri and Vitoria. However, it can be concluded that the number of people affected is higher. On October 8, AZET, Housing Union of the Casco Viejo de Bilbao, through social networks, reported that some of the people affected by the sale of Kutxabank have already begun to contact them.

"All banks are selling delinquent debts to vulture funds at a much lower price than their customers' debt. But Supreme Court judgment 728/2020 prevents debtors from buying their debt at an irreversible price sold to the fund. So banks and vulture funds win, and mortgaged people lose," the Stop Layoffs platform laments. He denounces that Kutxabank is neglecting many people who have difficulty paying the fees with the sale, and recalls that banks have an obligation to comply with the Code of Good Banking Practices, avoiding evictions. They have not done so, so the vulture funds "have free the possibility of filing eviction lawsuits and leave vulnerable families on the street".

The platform has also challenged the Basque Government. He asked whether the Kutxabank trade was aware of the situation of the people affected and how it would ensure the protection and housing of these people in vulnerable situations. In addition, they have extended the word to political parties, "especially to the PNV and the PSE", because they govern jointly in the General Boards and in most municipalities. This is how the platform has been told: "In 2015 resolutions were passed declaring the territories and municipalities free from evictions of vulnerable people tightened by financial institutions and putrice funds, committing to mediate before them to avoid eviction of the usual dwellings. We will ask them to do so through mobilization."