Spanish banks suspend evictions after woman´s suicide sparks fury

Spain´s Banking Association said it was suspending repossessions after a homeowner's suicide provoked public fury and accusations that politicians and banks are complicit in de facto "murder".

Close to 400,000 Spaniards have lost their homes since a property bubble burst in 2008 and the nation subsequently sank into recession, throwing millions out of work and unable to keep up mortgage payments to the banks.

Reacting to mounting anger at what ordinary Spaniards see as a lack of compassion among banks, many of which have benefited from taxpayer-funded bailouts organised by the political elite, the association said it had accepted a proposal by the government to halt repossessions of families in dire straits for two years on "humanitarian grounds".

A surge in the number of suicides and suicide attempts in the wake of an economic crisis has shocked Spain. A 53-year-old former Socialist councillor, Amaia Egana, threw herself out of her fourth-storey apartment window in the town of Barakaldo in the Basque Country on Friday as court officials came up the stairs to evict her.

Public pressure prompted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to call for officials from his conservative People's Party and the opposition Socialists to speed up talks on reforming the eviction laws when they meet on Monday.

Graffiti accusing bankers of murder and calling for an end to evictions appeared on some bank branches in the Basque Country on Saturday, while fans at a Primera Liga soccer match protested about the fate of Egana and and countless others who are losing their homes.

"They're not suicides. They're murders. The banks and politicians are accomplices. Stop the evictions!" read a banner held up by supporters of Rayo Vallecano, which plays in a working class district of Madrid.

Spain´s top banks (Santander, BBVA, La Caixa, Bankia, Popular, Sabadell, Bankinter and Banesto) have said that evictions are a last option.

Heads of the economy departments of both parties were expected to look at the possibility of granting moratoriums on mortgage payments for families in dire straits and to change the legal proceedings that lead up to an eviction.

Egana's death, and another eviction-related suicide in October, have intensified a popular backlash with many accusing the banks - some of which have received part of an up to 100 billion euro European bailout - of callous disregard for the effects of unemployment, which has hit 25 percent.

However, a number of banks themselves are in dire straits because of the failure of many borrowers, ranging from small homeowners to major property developers, to repay their debts.

Desperate homeowners

In the Basque Country, where Egana killed herself, other worried homeowners fear they too will be evicted soon.

"I am depressed, I feel bad, I can't sleep at night," said Fabian Herrera, an Ecuadorean immigrant.

"I wake up and go back to bed only thinking that tomorrow it might be us who have to leave our home and return it to the bank, and where are we going to live?" Herrera and his wife are out of work and have stopped paying their mortgage.

Basque mortgage lender Kutxabank announced earlier it was suspending repossessions.