It is now clear that all banks offered the Equity Release products as a way to reduce or eliminate Inheritance Taxes. They used, for that purpose, all manner of publicity, promotional literature, fliers, ads etc.
It now appears that this is not true, and yet banks say that even if they did make those assertions, the contracts said something different and as such, they would not be held liable. It transpires now that the law will allow Equity Release victims to demand that Inheritance Tax breaks do actually happen, pursuant to the old Consumers Association Act (valid till November 2007).
Shall they therefore be entitled to ask the Government to change the laws? Or rather, just ask the Judge to bin these scam contracts due to its fraudulent nature?
Article 8 stated the following:
Article 8
The offer, promotion or publicity of products, activities or services, will adjust to its nature, characteristics, conditions, utility or finality, without prejudice to what is established in the laws pertaining to publicity and in accordance to the principe of conformity with the contract regulated in its specific regulation.
Its content, the specific characteristics of each service or product and the conditions and guarantees offered, will be demandable by users and consumers, even where not expressly specified in the contract or in the document or receipt received.
Notwithstading the above, if the contract had more beneficial terms and conditions, these will prevail over the content of the offer, promotion or publicity.
The offer, promotion of false publicity of products, activities and services will be persecuted and fined as fraud. The Consumers Association will be authorized to initiate and intervene in the procedures legally established to ensure the banks cease to do so.
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/spain-to-fine-banks-that-misled-pensionerseds-epa-photos_237713.html
By clicking on the following link it can be seen that the CNMV are finally realising what damage the banks have done to their victims. Whilst this article refers to Spanish banks our lawyers have now submitted complaints to the CNMV against a number of banks that have been involved in selling similar products namely the equity release schemes. Erva has asked our lawyers to commision a firm specialising in the investigation of the fraudulent publications of these products by the banks and to report back to us as well as other specialists in the tax field. We have made great progress during the last few months with the various regulatory bodies and are awaiting final reports from these. Unfortunately this takes some time, however we are finally, together with our lawyers very close to completing these very important quests.
By clicking on this link you will see how the High Court in London deals with this type of advice. This is good news for those bringing their cases in England and one can only hope that the Spanish legal system follows suit. We are all guilly of putting too much trust in IFA’s and the banks, for some reason we have had complete trust in these professional people to guide us through what can be very daunting contracts. So much so that it is difficult for well learned lawyers to sift through the small print. It is up to the gonvernment and regulatory authorities to protect everyone from these people. It should not be necessary to have to bring court action for justice.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/9602717/Woman-ruined-by-Spanish-property-price-collapse-wins-landmark-compensation-ruling.html