I'm interested to know how people on here are coping with the apparent 'economic crisis' the world in general appears to be suffering. Finance minister, Pedro Solbes, declared last week that Spain was not heading for a recession or a depression, although he admitted to having to endure slower growth, but growth nonetheless.

How is it affecting the expat? Are you a pensioner recieving money from UK? Are you working but getting paid in Sterling? Are you so rich that it hasn't really affected you? Has your mortgage soared to unsustainable heights? Do you think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion by an overzealous press?

This is not a wind-up thread and I'm hoping to get some fairly good replies as I hope to use it as the basis for an article I'm working on.

We are on a small private pension so are feeling the pinch. The exchange rate is the biggest problem for us. Things have gone up in the shops but that means that you change what you buy as in cheaper brands or cut out some of the extras. Mortgage has gone up but it is not a large mortgage in the first place so still managable.

The young Spanish girl that I help with her English is on nearly double the money that we get and stills lives with family and she still complains about the increased prices.

Rosemary

As a general thing I used to transfer over about £1000 - £1200 a month living expenses, and that used to equate to €1500 - €1800 a month. That same transfer is now around €1250 - €1440 a month. That leaves me €250 - €350 a month worse off which is a huge difference. Plus if we make any purchases we transfer extra and lose on that. Fuel has increased from €0.91 when we arrived here to €1.25 a lit when I last filled up, and inflation here is about 4%.

So in conclusion yes, we are a lot worse off now than we were a year ago ...... luckily we have no mortgage so not effected by that. Next year my wifes pensions kick in, and we'll suffer there also unless the £/€ picks up. Spain aint as cheap as it used to be for us with Sterling incomes.

People I've spoken to say the same thing. That's the gamble, isn't it? A few years back, living in Spain whilst recieving money from the strong pound seemed a good idea....but of course exchange rates go the other way too.

I've found that young Spanish people are in trouble - but a lot of that is down to them overextending themselves and the banks letting them do it. People who are on very dubious employment conditions were taking out ridiculously high mortgages which they simply could not afford. I don't want to sound like an old fart, but surely what people always used to do was have a small first place, then build up to a bigger place over a lifetime. Young Spanish kids want to have their 5 bedroomed villas right now whilst still on €1000 a month - and the banks let them!! A girl, aged 26 but bought her 4 bed semi on a new estate when she was 23 and only worked as a waitress AND she was the only one named on her mortgage, has just had her place repossessed because her mortgage payment rose to €1360 a month. She was earning €1100. Her husband was only earning €1200. They have three kids, two cars and massive debt. But how in God's name were they ever allowed to get into that position?????

My first mortgage in Spain was 3.5%. I paid 57,000 ptas per month (about 300 euros). We upgraded to a slightly larger house 6 years ago and started paying 550 euros per month. I earn good money and the wife works 3 days per week. We are not struggling yet but it is getting tighter all the time. Our mortgage repayments now are 733 euros per month and if things stay the way they are it will go up to 800 euros when our review comes along in August. Not worried for the present but getting worried for the future as we have a young kid as well. Been trying to see if there are any better mortgage deals around but there doesnt seem to be.

sould add more on the poll ie my income is be affected have to tighten up
jurdy

What other options do you suggest and I'll add them

And really tough to get at the moment. Try banks that are small or new to your area as because they are desperate for new custom, they tend to be a bit more generous. In the Huelva area, Bancaja was great for a couple of years as they tried to take custom from the traditional banks. It's died off a bit now

Lloyds are just about to open a branch near us so i might go and have a word with them. Problem being is that it costs so much to change your mortgage here. When we changed banks 2 years ago it cost us 5,000 euros certainly wont be paying that again.

Of course, didn't think of that.

On th plus side, we don´t have any loans or credit card bills (that´s the Scottish comming out in me. lol.). The car is paid for and we just save up for anything we want so i suppose we are in a better situation than most.

Sure, prices have risen since we have been here, but I think you would of got the same rises maybe even worse no matter where you live.
It`s just part of life, when I think back, our first mortgage was 3,250 quid and how the hell am I going to pay all that back.
Laughable now, but at the time it was dramatic and I am sure in 35 years time all the modern prices will be laughable too, although dramatic to us now.

I lean towards the side that it is being a bit overblown, but I admit that certain sectors of the community have been affected. We haven't been affected at all really, and in our village nobody seems to be suffering at all. They are worried that the city slickers, who are being affected or because everyone's talking about it THINK they are being affected, will not come in great numbers this summer.

True, I work in the golf industry and we have seen a slight downturn this season. We will wait and see what summer brings.

A couple of years ago on Saturdays people were queuing for 20 minutes to get into their local shopping mall car park. Now there are plenty of spaces and no wait. Even if you have no debt, credit or mortgage and are not encumbered by exchange rates you are still going to feel the pinch. When I arrived in Spain diesel was 138pts (0.83€) and milk was 70pts (0.42€). Now they are 1.30€ and 0.75€ respectively. In the same period house prices have more than doubled.