The legal representatives of more than 200 victims of loans in various banks are confident that, at least those of the Banco de Tierra del Fuego, can be transformed into normal lines of credit. Today they pay higher interest than the dollar and inflation.
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The lawyers Alejo Pons, Cristian Rubio and Antonella Olgiatti, legal representatives of the families affected by the notorious UVA, pledge and mortgages, reported on FM Master’s the measures and negotiations that are being carried out in recent days, due to the enormous upheaval that underwent the credit line put in place in the management of Mauricio Macri, whose beneficiaries today find it really impossible to deal with.
The operation called UVA was aimed at buying a first home for housing, mainly for those families who, due to their income, were excluded from the dollar credit circuit, usual in the real estate market.
The characteristic of credits, and at the same time the reason for the distortion, is that the capital adjustment system has not been implemented in a conventional way with a fixed or variable interest rate, but an equivalent has been established in an “artificial unit of value”. ”, UVA, a formula that is graded according to the value of the square meter and various indices related to construction, in practice.
After three or four years of credit development, debtors have begun to receive installments whose amounts, due to this updating system, have become excessively onerous with the consequent difficulty of coping with the payment, while their economy is compromised.
“Whoever took credit for 2 or 3 million, today owes 13 or 14 million, paying the installments on time. This puts the family’s finances under control, “said one of the lawyers.
The situation, as they explained, worsened after July 31, the date on which the deadline of a decree issued by the national government to contain, during the pandemic, the increase in these credits expired. Now the shares have started to increase again, freely.
Another of the attorneys gave a clear example of families being totally choked on financially, such as a person with an income of $ 160,000, who had an accident and had to go into debt for his palliative medical care, as UVA charged $ 140,000 as a fee. regular.
One solution offered by the State was that, once the 10% of the loan was exceeded, an increase in the number of installments could be requested, originally 180. But by the very nature of the system, the capital increases more and more and results in a partial and incomplete solution.
“The instrument they created increases parallel to or more than the dollar, this is the unusual thing about the system, because it is governed by an index that increases more than inflation and more than the dollar,” commented Dr. Pons, and presented as an example. credits increased by 600%, when the dollar, in the same period, did so by 500%.
Although these are contracts between private individuals, with mortgage guarantees, the lawyers understand that it was a state policy, endorsed by the Central Bank, where it was a constitutional right, and therefore the judicial claim they are pursuing.
Dr. Olgiatti recalled that, when these credits were granted, “the information that circulated, and that appears in public documents, spoke of a disinflation process with clear objectives, which would have been to lower inflation to 10%” and in that information context the contracts have been signed.
On the other hand, there is no delinquency in the operation as collection is mandatory by charging the victims’ assets or income, a condition accepted as the only means of access to housing.
“People have received pesos to access their homes and today they are being asked for an amount that exceeds the value of the dollar. This generates more headaches than if it were a dollar credit. It’s more expensive, ”argued Dr. Rubio.
238 people have been hit in Tierra del Fuego, with the Banca province alone. The lawyers represent 250 people who have taken out loans in different banks, in different ways, mortgage or pledge.
As part of the new instruments of the Civil Code, a preventive action has been proposed to prevent the damage that credit is generating in family economies. With a very summary procedure, a preliminary hearing of the parties has been convened in which a conciliation will be attempted. If this is not possible, a private case will be opened.
Bank representatives requested an interim period of 20 days to request instructions. The central idea is to contemplate the possibility of generating normal and traditional credit to cut this unstoppable debt. There would therefore be the certainty of the risk that each debtor assumes, with respect to the current burdensome UVA, confiscators, usurers, and impossible to fulfill.
“We promote an agreement that contemplates shared effort. Families want to pay, they are working families who want to pay ”, concluded the three lawyers.
