After we sold a property we'd owned in Jávea, we put the proceeds into the BNP Bank account we'd opened on the advice of Roy Turner (Crown Constructions), through whom we'd bought the property in 1985. Moises Erades, the Bank Manager phoned to tell us there was a no risk opportunity to gain interest on the money for which we did not need immediate access. He said he'd taken an option on 600,000 Euro units for us, and we transferred the money from our account to BNP to buy 451,000 Euros worth. The terms were what we needed: 5% Interest, over a 5 year period, with 100% of our money repaid at the end of term: 17th September, 2009.
We'd kept sufficient money in our current account to live on for 5 years, but were told by
Moises Erades that - should we need to spend more - we could borrow from the Bank against the security of the 451,000 Euros, as we had done over the previous 15 years with BNP promoted Treasury Bonds.We'd been offered a BNP Mortgage when offered a house at Vergel to buy, but as the paperwork was incorrect, we rented there instead. It took 9 years - until 2007 to rectify the paperwork - by which time the BNP offer of a Mortgage was withdrawn, as I was older than 65 years of age. The only way we could complete the purchase was buy from money set aside for our living expenses.
As our money began to deplete we went back to Moises to borrow against the 451,000 Euros invested with BNP. By this time, our bank account (and Moises, Pedro and Fina - the staff) had been 'sold-on' to Banco Gallego.
Moises told us that "in his opinion" - not that of his Bank - we would NOT get our money back in September 2009, but might have to wait a further 2 or 3 years. He also told us we could not borrow because the investments had lost so much money "But I will see what I can do if you come back next month."And so we did, for a year - a year in which we discovered that our 451,000 had been placed with Nordea, in a perpetual share, that
had dropped to as low as 22 centimos on the Euro for every Euro we'd invested. To add insult to injury, the Bank was charging us 1,500 Euros + VAT/IVA every 6 months for 'looking after' our money.Nordea have been VERY helpful to me, allowing me to understand that BNP Paribas has sold me a 5 year guarantee, for 451,000 Euros they had placed with Nordea who gave NO GUARANTEE. Currently (28th August) the Nordea units are trading at 68% of what we paid for them?
The new advertising slogan for BNP Paribas describes them as
The Bank for a Changing World
We liked it best in the World where 100% guaranteed repayment on 17th September 2009, meant what it said!
Are we unique or are there others who were misled by the words:
5 years at 5%, 100% Guaranteed?
