Ecuadorians and foreigners in Spain struggle through the Platform for Mortgage Affected

Ecuadorians and foreigners in Spain struggle through the Platform for Mortgage Affected

In Madrid, the created Platform for Mortgage Affected immigrants living in Spain would prevent them to loose their homes and to prolong the payments for the creditor banks.

According to the National Secretariat for Migrants (Senami for its Spanish acronym), around 15,000 Ecuadorians have difficulty paying their mortgages. Of these, 8,000 are facing evictions. In 2011, 1,500 people attended the Senami to seek help for this matter.

This difference is marked by the economic crisis in Spain, endorsed in sectors like construction, which was important to accommodate immigrants, especially from Ecuador.

Platform members meet once a week for massive visits to bank branches to submit requests for forgiveness of the debt.

The evictions of those who can not pay their mortgage almost doubled to 50,000 last year in Spain, from 27,000 in 2008, as unemployment grew to 23% by the Supreme Judicial Council.

Aminta Buenaño, Ambassador of Ecuador in Spain said “They gave them too much hope. It was a seduction, a chase, they were duped.”

(BG)