When Is A 35-year Irrevocable Credit Not One?

When is a 35-year irrevocable credit facility not a 35-year irrevocable credit facility? When the mortgage lender is BNP Paribas.

BNP Paribas in Geneva is determined to force me and my wife to take our modest Swiss mortgage elsewhere. It has been trying to do this for the past two years or so, firstly by demanding that I do so and now by driving up the interest rate it charges. Classic banking behaviour: make life so unpleasant for smaller customers they'll go away and stop bothering you, leaving them free to slaver over and pander to bigger customers with much fatter balances.

When they first launched this campaign, I dug my heels in and pointed out that the original loan agreement was described as a 35-year irrevocable credit. They gulped at this. Having inherited the business when it bought Fortis, which had in turned inherited us by buying Banque Mees Pierson, the original lender, no-one had consulted the documentation.

I sensed a new offensive opening up towards the end of last year when it became clear that they would no longer a fixed-rate and transferred the loan to a higher variable rate, simultaneously warning me that the rate was likely to rise, soon.

This morning I received a letter advising that it will in fact rise, significantly, in January 2015, and that this new rate 'may be revised, subject to prior notice in accordance with the provisions of your contract'. I know a threat when I read one.

Beware of bankers bearing mortgages; you never know when they might decide not to stop providing them...

ps Since writing this I have sent an email to the co-heads of BNP Paribas Wealth Management asking for their help in resolving this situation; I'll keep readers posted of any developments.