They are two families from Amara and Altza. Two boyfriends and all at age 60. Both have asked the Banco Santander to defer the payments due, but in both cases they have been denied the existence of defaults. In the case of the couple formed by Narcisa and José, the judicial procedure has already begun and the housing is being auctioned, so they could be evicted in the short term. In the case of Mercedes and José Ramón, the procedure can be initiated at any time.

Faced with this situation, the Stop Evictions platform has concentrated on the branch of Avenida de la Libertad and, in addition to suspending payments for five years, have required the bank to withdraw legal proceedings against these couples: “It is unacceptable that the Banco Santander has no desire to make these requirements more flexible,” said Stop Desahucios spokeswoman Rosa Díez.

According to the platform in defense of the right to housing, the two families comply with almost all conditions of economic vulnerability, except for one, to which the bank has hosted: Banks use all kinds of gadgets to be very demanding and deny the code of good banking practices that allows the suspension for five years,” Díez said. The amount of income is the condition that has been denied to one family and the price of the same housing is that of the other.

Mercedes and José Ramón have an income of EUR 1,228, from the disability pension of 72% and from the income guarantee income, and when applying the Eurybor the fee they have to pay exceeds EUR 670, more than half of the income.

In the case of Narcisa and José, the house of 43 square meters acquired in March 2007 had a cost of 200,000 euros, compared to the 50,000 euros that the Ministry of Transport had established in that period for Gipuzkoa. Imagine how the bubble was then, if the cost of a house of 43 square meters was 200,000 euros,” the spokesman said.