The Commercial Court number 1 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has forgiven a debt of 30,602.41 euros to a resident of San Bartolomé who was immersed in a situation of indebtedness by not being able to cope with the loans she had requested during the coronavirus pandemic, losing her job as she worked in the hospitality sector and having to face daily expenses. Thus, the judge exonerates the client of Bergadà Abogados, a firm specialized in bankruptcy law, of national scope, from the unsatisfied liability, thanks to the Second Chance Law.
Regarding the facts, it should be noted that the woman has always worked mainly in the hospitality sector. But everything was disrupted by the pandemic crisis caused by Covid-19 in 2020. Until then, even as a single mother and not receiving any help, she had always been able to get ahead with her minor daughter with great effort. But it should be remembered that the coronavirus especially affected the tourism sector and its workers. She was no exception and remained in ERTE for a long period of time.
The surprise came at the end of it. "In June of that year, the day before I joined the company, they sent me a burofax, like the rest of my colleagues, saying that it was closing. There wasn't even a call giving an explanation. This was a drama, because when I was in ERTE I only received about 600 euros and although I have always been very careful with expenses, I started using credit cards and loans, which even my own bank offered me, to get ahead." In this way, she found herself in a very vulnerable economic situation.
Thus, "the ball got bigger and bigger, because I thought that a solution was to ask for another loan to cover the previous one, but that was a mistake, because the interest rates were also very high." Even her bank granted her a second mortgage to face the aforementioned loans that she had previously requested.
In this sense, the lawyer who has handled the case and founding partner of Bergadà Abogados, Marta Bergadà, comments that, "like so many other workers in the hospitality sector who lost their jobs due to the crisis caused by the coronavirus, she requested loans to face the day to day, but she has been dragging them until now. In addition, many banking entities also took advantage of them by making them believe that by asking for others or credit cards they could get ahead. She was in a situation of great vulnerability and not knowing what to do."
It should also be noted that all this caused her health problems, as she suffered from insomnia, stress and anxiety, "because I thought I was going to lose everything, including my home even though I have always paid the corresponding mortgage payment, and that my daughter and I were going to be left on the street," says the woman.
To this, we must add the constant calls and threats from the different banking entities. "In a day I could have 50 emails and between my daughter, who is a minor, and I, we received up to 200 calls in 24 hours. It was horrible, because they also coerced and threatened me saying that they were going to seize and take everything I had. They had no respect, because I have always paid the mortgage on my home and the daily expenses such as electricity, water and gas, even if I had to tighten my belt a lot," she adds.
It was at the beginning of the year when the woman, looking for a solution, discovered the Facebook Forum of the Second Chance Law that Marta Bergadà directs. "She was always giving a lot of encouragement and solutions to all the users and empathized with them, but I have to admit that the distrust generated after so much suffering made me afraid," says the woman.
However, in March she decided to send a message through the forum to clarify some doubts she had. "Almost immediately Belén Blasco, from Bergadà Abogados, contacted me and clarified everything. In the same way, she indicated that the best thing would be to make a video call with Marta Bergadà to present my case and for her to tell me what could be done, so we arranged a meeting in that way."
For her part, Marta Bergadà recalls that "in that first meeting the whole team already saw that she was in an extremely delicate situation, but with the documentation she provided it was reflected that she was a debtor in good faith and that, therefore, she could avail herself of the Second Chance Law." Thus, the entire procedure was quickly initiated. In this sense, the client of Bergadà Abogados comments that "it has been months of much uncertainty, because I was still very afraid, although from the office they have always transmitted tranquility and confidence."
The good news came recently, when the judge of the Commercial Court number 1 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria forgave her a debt of 30,602.41 euros. "It happened that when they called me from Bergadà Abogados to tell me that I had been exonerated from the unsatisfied liability thanks to the Second Chance Law I had had a very bad day. Therefore, when they told me I was in shock, not knowing what to answer, to be able to speak or express any emotion. I didn't believe it and it has been hard for me to assimilate, because I have suffered a lot."
Therefore, "now I see the future in another way. I am going to get ahead, together with my daughter, with what I have and without asking for any loans or credit cards. In addition, now I will be able to start saving to have a quiet and risk-free life."
Finally, Marta Bergadà recalls that "many people suffered in first person the consequences of the crisis caused by the coronavirus and that today they are still dragging those debts. Again, we are obliged to emphasize that it is necessary to continue publicizing the Second Chance Law, since if they are debtors in good faith they can avail themselves of it and forget that dark past."
