The Second Chance Law has allowed to forgive a debt of 308,716 euros to a couple from Arrecife. The court of first instance number 2 of the capital has exonerated the couple from the payment of the unsatisfied liability. The couple, residents of the city, reached a situation of insolvency after requesting several loans and credit cards with abusive interest rates. This produced "an endless wheel of loans", reveals the firm Bergadà Asociados (Lleida),
Regarding the beginning of the debts, these go back to the year 2011, "when with who is now my ex-wife we started asking for loans through credit cards to solve setbacks, but we did not end up closing them due to the abusive interest rates. We separated and I met who is currently my partner, but I was dragging her without realizing it towards the insolvency that I already had", says the man. He also adds that "we always asked for loans with the intention of liquidating others, thinking that it was the correct way to do it, but the ball of debts was getting bigger and bigger".
Faced with this situation, he and his current partner decided to seek remedy and contacted a law firm. "Searching the Internet we discovered the Second Chance Law and that this firm was handling cases like ours. But they did absolutely nothing and on top of that they charged us about 1,000 euros. They only contacted us to collect, to the point where they told us that we had an appointment to go to a notary, but this had not even been arranged", he argues. "We had more and more open fronts and we couldn't take it anymore," he adds.
It was in January 2019 when the couple contacted Bergadà Asociados. "It was a coincidence, because we were searching again on the Internet and we saw that Marta Bergadà had her own firm and that she had won several cases. In fact, we already knew the Second Chance Law, but due to everything that had happened to us with the previous firm we were very distrustful".
However, "from the first moment Marta Bergadà and her team transmitted a lot of tranquility and security to us. We even had doubts about whether we were going to be able to keep our home, but from the first moment they told us to be calm because they were going to fight for our debts to be forgiven and to keep our house. There was still a long way to go", says the couple.
In this sense, the lawyer and founding partner of Bergadà Asociados, Marta Bergadà, recalls that "they were in a very complicated situation and of absolute desperation. They didn't know what to do and the debts were drowning them. We analyzed their case and saw that it was possible for them to be granted the exoneration of the unsatisfied liability, so we started to fight to get it".
Three and a half very hard years due to setbacks
Despite everything, it has not been an easy road that they have had to travel during the last three and a half years, "since it has been plagued with obstacles", argues Bergadà. "Initially we started to receive numerous embargoes, especially from the payrolls. There were also lawsuits and executions that led us to despair. Luckily, whenever we spoke with Marta Bergadà she reassured us and looked for solutions", says the client.
In addition, "we suffered in first person the harassment of the banks. There were countless calls that we had every day on our phone. But, in addition, they also called my parents' house, my brothers and our workplace. They even threatened us saying that if we did not pay the debts they would send a person disguised as a clown to be shouting from the street day and night that we owed money", he laments.
Likewise, the man comments that "we live in a town where everyone knows each other and for 17 years I have been working in the public administration, so in the end everyone knew about our situation. Luckily, we have always received a lot of support. What's more, we are both disabled and, in addition, during this period of time my wife suffered cancer, but they did not respect even that we were in the hospital. All this has united us more as a couple". For her part, Bergadà explains that "these are very complex situations that banks do not contemplate. They only have their eyes on the debts without thinking about what is behind them".
Subsequently, "Marta Bergadà also had to move heaven and earth so that a notary would want to take our case, since in the islands practically no case like this was known in which good faith debtors could avail themselves of the Second Chance Law".
But the difficulties did not end here. Recently, from Bergadà Asociados it was necessary to ask the court for the nullity of an order with which the bankruptcy was closed without giving the option to request the exoneration of the unsatisfied liability (EPI). "A substitute judge came in and closed the bankruptcy without EPI. Our perplexity was monumental, so Marta Bergadà and her team immediately presented the corresponding writing, managing to reopen the bankruptcy", explains the man.
A date they will never forget
On June 15, the magistrate of the court of first instance number 2 of Arrecife issued the corresponding order in which he forgave the couple the debt of 308,716 euros thanks to the Second Chance Law, thus applying the exoneration of the unsatisfied liability. In addition, they retain their habitual residence. "It is a date that we will never forget and that to this day we still do not believe because of all the suffering we have had. We can even keep our home, which is in a block of flats where my parents and one of my brothers live, and that is very important for us", says the couple.
Likewise, he points out that "until this moment we have lived with the sensation of living on the margins of society, as if we did not belong to it. We do not wish that suffering on anyone. Our character changed and we did not feel like doing anything due to all the obstacles that we have had to overcome, but all this has united us more, since when one could not take it anymore the other pulled him". He even recognizes that "Marta Bergadà and the Bergadà Asociados team are already part of our family for everything they have done for us. They have fought for our case and we have come forward thanks to them"
He also recognizes that "now we need a period of adaptation to the new situation, because it has not been easy at all. We continue to pinch ourselves daily and review the order to confirm that it is true. But now we can go out into the street with our heads held high, knowing that we have no debts, and start living again, as if we were breathing pure air. We live again", he concludes.
For her part, Marta Bergadà indicates that "it has been one of the most complex cases we have had to face, but finally everything has been solved as we expected, since they are good faith debtors". In addition, she recalls that "the ignorance of the Second Chance Law is one of the main problems that currently exist. It is necessary to make it known and that all of us who are involved fight for it and train ourselves to help all the people who are in a situation of insolvency and are having a really bad time".
