The businessman Raúl Castañeda calls his war against usury as "the revolution of injustices".He founded a law firm in Barcelona, a legal preic, after the usury credits left him with nothing.
Without being a lawyer.
"I suffered a financial scam by Cofidis," says Castañeda to Confilegal.«I had a company where we sold high -end mattRetur it in five years ».
However, after that time the entity did not return the money of the clients who had not faced the payment.«They alleged that some were unemployed, others had divorced…, so as they had stopped paying, they subtracted it from me.We are talking about very high amounts of money ».
"I had a company of 131 employees and five offices," he continues.«And because of this I had to stop financing.I was very lowered by sales, causing the closure of the company.I even lost my house and I had to go to live on a warehouse with my wife and daughter.We were 6 months.This happened between 2015 and 2016 ″.
«My company had nothing to do with the legal world.Moreover, I have no studies taken in this regard.But during those months that I was living there in the ship I only had hatred and thirst for revenge against Cofidis.So it had happened to me «, he says.
Remember that still living in the warehouse, a client said: "For those interests they would have to report".
«That caught my attention and I started looking for things about usury.I found the law of 1908 (Azcárate Law) and thought that if article 1 said 'any loan contract will be null in which a significantly higher interest is stipulated than the normal money', and Cofidis was applying 24%, when normal interestof money is 8%, so that it would have to be a usury ».
For Castañeda it was like an epiphany, a "Eureka" moment, in which all the pieces that, until that time they had not fit, found their site.
There everything started.
He showed that an office of this type was viable
He saw that it was not necessary to be a lawyer.That the important thing was to know how to get a company forward and, above all, you had to know how to sell.That was a field that he controlled perfectly.I played at home.
«I looked for lawyers to be interested in carrying these demands because I could capture many clients, the first four told me not.But the fifth told me yes.In four or five months I captured 3.000 people, 3.000 clients after all, who decided to trust me and submit demands for usura, ”he reveals.
He says that justice began to prove him in the claims he presented against the usury credits.There was born legal preic.
He insists that the idea of setting up a legal services company dedicated to the usurious clauses "arose from revenge.I am not a lawyer.The fact of not being, led me to distrust much towards the advice sector because they told me that where a person who did not understand laws to motivate people to submit demands.That there was a lot of risk «.
However, «it made me feel good, because there were many people who had motivated them to finance mattresses and in return they paid usure interests to Cofidis.I have never won anything with financing.It was my desire to do justice that led me to imply in this way.Now in the office we are invoicing millions of euros.I have come here to stay.In the office there are 20 fiscal lawyers, and not exercised about 60 more ».
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He acknowledges that they have accused him of intrusion: «I received a total of three demands and two complaints.The lawyers believed that I was doing intrusion.There were 14 more that came from Barcelona Bar Association ».
Despite this, defend your work.«I am not being adhering into anything, because to make a prior claim, reach an extrajudicial agreement or take the client to a negotiation with the bank or the entity you do not need to be a lawyer.It will only be mandatory for when you want to file the claim before the court and to defend the case ».
Ensures that it has open causes with 183 different entities
So, «everything that is from the doors of the court for outside, provided you receive a client's power before we represent it is already valid.I am the representative of my clients in a negotiation, but the one who has the case before the courts is a lawyer «.
Currently, he assures that he has open causes against 183 different entities and 28.000 claims for judicial or extrajudicial means.
In March 2020, the Supreme Court declared as usury, in a Wizink Bank matter, the ‘Revolving’ contracts with interests greater than 20%.
Since then, sentences have occurred giving the reason to consumers in this type of claims.However, today experts demand a reform that contributes legal certainty to the different interpretations that have been derived from the judgment of the Civil Chamber.
In some cases, provincial hearings are already setting a criterion as a stop.This is the case of the Provincial Court of Cádiz that recently reached an agreement that sets the limit by 30%.
It's not the only one.Also the Provincial Court of Albacete and that of Barcelona have reached similar agreements.In the event that this maximum stop at 30%, Spain would be aligned with countries around our environment such as France, Germany or Italy.Portugal, on the other hand, places it at 25%.
Castañeda acknowledges that he hopes that the interpretation will be clarified, since, in his opinion, “the Supreme has not set 20% as a stop, it has not made it clear.I have sentences with 16% tae already usury, because the rate was at the best 7% ».
On the other hand, he points out, that in this situation, "in many courts it is becoming fashionable that before accepting the lack of transparency that usures it because in many credits 'revolving' the entities allege that it is because of the solvency of the client and the speedwith which they requested the credit, and the judges not to discuss that usury go for transparency ».
However, it emphasizes, «Usura is still currently because financial and banks take advantage of customers.They know when they have and have no money ».
Castañeda does not agree to set the stop at 30%, because "breaks the economy of any family.A person to whom 30% is applied means that you are drowning and bleeding to interest ».
Among its next plans, he explains, is to take this matter to Europe so that credits above 20% are considered directly usury and punish Spain.
Para ello, contará con un despacho con sede en Bruselas como Navas & Cusí.
And, "it is not easy to avoid being a victim of usury because we live in the society of consumerism," he says, "we are accustomed to us that we have to finance even holidays, when that would have to be money saved.To really avoid being a victim what you have to do is have a healthy economy, not live above our possibilities and save.It seems easy but it is not, I am aware ».
Know first hand this type of credits, "it is difficult to go out for the trap behind".
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