English
FrançaisI understand France has a similar "unfair terms and conditions"law to us.
2 points.
Would members of the forum think that a 10 year penalty term in a 15 year mortgage was unfair?
Was it unfair for the mortgage company only to supply details written in french to an english buyer!
All comments welcome.
john
Does anyone know someone who is bilingual enough to read a french mortgage contract?
Tri
Hi Jaward,
Playing devil's advocate here on the 2 points you mention:-
1) In the UK at the lower end of the scale (with regards to mortgage products, you can quite easily find products with large tie ins and overhangs)
2) If a French national was to buy a property in the UK, as a holiday home (unlikely), and obtained funding in from a UK lender, they would NEVER EVER get a mortgage offer in French.
Davey
Hi davey1,
Thanks for your comments!.However a bit short on detail.
This mortgage with Credit Fonciere(Useless) was a 2 year deal on a 15 year mortgage with a 10 year tie in.Point me in the direction of a worse deal in the u.k.
I have to admit that as someone that considers myself to be Financially aware,i missed the 10 year penalty at point of sale.
In my defence i can say that i woulkdn,t have missed it if the documents had been in english!
I believe the contracts now have to be in the purchasers own language.
Regards
john
John,
You would be very hard pressed to find a UK mortgage with a 2 year fixed rate and a 10 year early repayment penalty (if it even exists which I doubt).
On the question of a mortgage offer being in the language of the borrower. If a French national wanted a holiday ohme in Cornwall and approached a UK lender, in my view according to FSA rules, the lender would need to obtain a signed letter from the client stating that they understand the terms and conditions of the mortgage before they would allow borrowing to take place (in theory). This would allow them to not have to print a mortgage offer in a different language, which they would not be equipped to do.
However, saying all of this based on the reputation of the banking world over the past 15 years, I very much doubt they would bother to obtain such a letter or statement.
Davey
I have found this interesting extract from a book about unfair terms in contracts in relation to e-commerce.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4-jBpnKb7gIC&pg=PA74& amp;lpg=PA74&dq=unfair+terms+in+contracts,+foreign+langu age&source=bl&ots=fqhZHviFt7&sig=Z5jpxeCV4-j1mvq urVPYDPSKmaY&hl=en&ei=Q_H7SqvdOteh_gbXtpn9Aw&sa= X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBA Q6AEwAw
It suggests that a contract could be deemed to be unfair if it is written in a language that is foreign to the consumer. It would be interesting to see how the courts would interpret this situation.
Sheridan
I am of the opinion that the French legal system is loaded towards the management companies,noitaires and mortgage companies who take the profits in the good times and steal from the investors in the bad times.
Everyone in France seems to have their noses in the trough in respect of leaseback.It is becoming the next timeshare scandal.
Contracts are worthless and the clauses are not obeyed.With hindsight if I would have never got involved in this national scam.
Waggtail