Hi all, We, like many others, took a mortgage in Swiss Francs and are suffering the 40% increase in repayments. We heard about a bill that the lawmakers are trying to pass to help people but can't seem to find any further reports on this since 22 February 2019. Does anyone know a good site to keep up to date with info or have any knowledge of what is happening and what is likely to happen in the future, it's not looking good I know.
Nothing is being done, though there were signs of the President, A. Duda bringing something up before the Parliament,. Just keep up to date on news and keep paying. Perhaps they will sort something out the day before you pay off your mortgage.
I would suggest that you go to your bank and extend the term of the mortgage.
Terri is right I'm afraid. Don't hold your breath. They've been talking about this for about four years. This is an election year and PIS would like to be re-elected so they'll stall and try to give the impression that something is being done in order to get votes, but whether anything will come of it, who can say. The last time that this law was on the verge of being passed, they decided that they couldn't afford it so it was shelved. Now at least six of the larger banks have objected and have written to the European Commission with their complaints so that means further delays and red tape.
This is an election year and PIS would like to be re-elected so they'll stall and try to give the impression that something is being done in order to get votes,
I saw an opinion poll saying most Poles are against it. I think it's viewed as deeply unfair.
Spilt my morning coffee.... Just another PIS idea - in that "We don't have any real policies to improve the economy, so what carrot haven't we tried yet?"
In the same way that I wasn't happy that the government was handing out money to uninsured home owners with a stunning riverside view (when, surprise,surprise, the river flooded). In the same way I wouldn't be happy paying out to home-owners who thought "Wow! This chance of mortgages in Swiss Francs is too good to be true!"
Can I join these schemes? My dog is a big one. I think I should be given a 50 zl handout every month to help me to feed him.
I would have no sympathy for foreigners who took out huge mortgages with the idea of investing in Polish property. Same goes for Polish investors. As an investor, you have to accept that sometimes investments don't pay off and you end up losing money.
I would have some sympathy for ordinary Poles who simply wanted to buy a home but it would depend on what they bought. I'm not sympathetic to people who buy bigger, more expensive places than they need. A single guy buying 80 or 90 square metres with two terraces (and plenty of people did just that), would not elicit much sympathy from me. However a single person buying a modest 30 sq metre apartment, well, I'd feel sorry for them or equally a small family buying 60 or 70sq metres. You can't deny that many Polish people at the time, particularly younger ones, were financially naive, inexperienced and susceptible to the marketing techniques used to sell those mortgages to them.
Generally, mortgages in Swiss francs were offered to people who would not or did not qualify for a mortgage in zloty as the payments would have been too high.
At the time, there was a big to-do in Parliament and PiS insisted that the banks give the mortgages in Swiss francs to all those who wanted them. Then the monthly payments of a Swiss francs mortgage were lower in zlotych, than for those who took out their mortgages in zloty.
However, (and this is where it all collapsed), no one (that is the banks) fully explained to the mortgagees that fluctuations in the value of the Swiss franc will have an impact on the amount that needs to be repaid. It seems that no one ever thought that the value of the Franc would change. The repayments are being made in Swiss francs which are then recalculated into zloty.
Always borrow in the currency you earn your income in so you can cover repayments. This happened in Australia in the 1980's. People had to sue the bank which gave them the loans and some received compensation from Westpac as they were not warned about the currency risk, but many people lost everything. The Westpac bank were nearly bankrupt from the litigation. Customers in Poland may be able to litigate if there are laws such as "duty of care" , "deceptive conduct". Your Government needs to make laws so banks disclose the risk to borrowers.
I believe that the banks are covered, as in the terms and conditions of the loan, the fact of fluctuation would have been listed in the small print. The fact is that no one ever read this, as they were so eager to get the mortgage, they did not know what they were signing.
I know quite a few people here who have sued government institutions, whether it be hospitals, state employers, whatever. I told them not to bother, as they would get a big fat zero in damages in a subjective society that looks after its own.
