Is Icesave Safe to invest my savings ?

ahll

I have searched on here and while I have found a few comments about Icesave I havn't found one that deals totally with my question. Like many others recently I have heard lots about the scares in the finicial market and seen the fate of Northern Rock and the reactions to that.

I am thinking of putting my savings(this years n a few previous years 9(nearly all my savings) into an ICESAVE isa and would be interested to hear what people have to say. Icesave is still apprearing in best tables as a good deal but I wanted to check it out first but I can't say I know alot about the financial markets.

I came across this review from Icesave itself which as would be expected said everything is safe and you have as much protection with them as any other UK bank.

http://www.reviewcentre.com/review351990.html

Just found this link on this site

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=834073&highlight=lemming

Oblivion

Well as you have obviously seen, the whole Icelandic savings scene has been done to death in these forums. Yes there's a risk as with any savings institution in these troubled times, and it could be argued that the Icelandic banks pose a bigger risk due to their stretched economy.

One of the issues with Icesave is that they use the 'Passport' system of guarantee, so if they did go under and you had to make a claim, you would first of all have to claim the first part of the £35,000 guarantee from the Icelandic banking system, and only when that was settled could you claim the rest from the UK banking system (FSCS).

This could make recovering your money a very protracted affair.

The other risk in such circumstances you need to consider is that you are proposing to put all your money in an IceSave ISA. So if all the signs are that the bank are about to go under, those like me who have an instant access savings account with them stand some chance of getting our money out before the scenario unfolds. Those with ISAs, however, are stuck with the options of either closing the ISA and, in your case, losing 9 years worth of taxless status, or face the prospects of an ISA transfer system that right now just aint working.

Dave.