If Cabot, Intrum, EOS, Hoist, Axactor, B2K Capital or any vulture fund is claiming an old debt that they bought from the bank for cents, there are legal ways to cancel it: limitation, lack of notice of the assignment, incomplete fund documentation, or exercising the right of redemption under article 1535 of the Spanish Civil Code.
Los fondos buitre are entities specialised in buying portfolios of unpaid debts from banks and finance companies. The price they pay is very low — between 1 y 10 céntimos por cada euro of the nominal debt. They buy thousands of loans in bulk and then try to collect the full amount from the debtor, generating a very high margin.
The main ones in Spain are Cabot Financial, Intrum (antigua Lindorff), EOS Group, Hoist Finance, Axactor, B2K Capital, Encore Capital, Krukand others. They mainly operate on unpaid revolving credit cards, consumer loans and payday loans. Their model is based on pressure: repeated calls, letters, inclusion in defaulter registries and, finally, payment-order proceedings.
What the fund does not want you to know: in many cases they cannot legally prove the full assignment of the debt. Documents are missing, they did not notify you of the assignment correctly, the original debt may be time-barred or usurious, or the fund has not complied with its procedural duties. A well-prepared defence cancels the debt in a very high percentage of cases.
Every case is different, but there are six proven lines of defence we apply depending on the fund's circumstances, the age of the debt, the origin of the loan and the proceedings they have started against you.
The general limitation period is 5 years from the last interrupting act (article 1964 of the Spanish Civil Code after 2015). If more than 5 years have passed without a formal reclamation, the debt is time-barred even if the fund keeps calling you.
If the fund did not formally notify you of the assignment of the loan (article 1527 of the Spanish Civil Code), payments made to the original assignor are valid and the fund cannot claim against you. One of the most common grounds for inadmissibility.
The fund must document the entire chain of assignments from the original bank to itself. In practice, documents are missing, there are errors in the amounts or the debtor is not correctly identified. Claim dismissed.
If the debt comes from a usurious revolving card, an excessive-APR loan or a loan with abusive clauses, the original contract is void and the fund is left with nothing to claim. The fund inherits the defects of the loan.
Article 1535 of the Spanish Civil Code lets you "buy back" the loan from the fund at the same price they paid the bank — usually cents on the euro. You have 9 days from learning of it to exercise it. A devastating defence.
Once the debt is judicially cancelled, the defaulter registries where the fund listed you must remove you. You regain your commercial solvency and, in many cases, additional compensation for moral damages.
Ask us for a free case review and we will get back to you in less than 24 hours.
Four basic questions and we tell you which line of defence is most likely to work in your case.
If you have a letter from the fund, a payment-order or enforcement claim, or insistent calls, give us the details. A lawyer from the firm will personally review the documentation. In less than 24 hours you will receive a report with the viability and the next steps.
The legal framework against vulture funds combines the Civil Code, the procedural law and settled case law. These are the three key references we apply to every case.
Allows the debtor to extinguish the loan by paying the assignee the same price they paid the assignor, plus interest and costs. Within 9 days of learning of the assignment. A devastating defence — the fund paid cents, you pay cents.
Until the assignment has been notified to you, payments made to the original assignor are valid and discharge the debt. The notice must be formal — an email or call is not enough.
Personal actions without a specific period are time-barred 5 years after the last interrupting act (October 2015 reform). For earlier debts, a transitional period until October 2020 applies. Limitation can be raised by the court of its own motion.