Is my money safe in these banks? Credit Crunch

michaeldi

I currently have a lot of cash from the sale of my house and I have spread between new esaver accounts in mainly 33k junks between

• Birmingham Midshires
• Alliance & Lester,
• Nationwide
• (Premium bonds FULL for safety)SAFE
• (Natwest ISA full),

(As you can see ive already spread it to make it safer.)

However I cant help worrying with all this media stuff about banks and the credit crunch that I am likely to lose a lot because the bank will go bust and I wont notice.
My question is I don't really know how safe my money is in today's banking market and if the above banks are actually reasonable risk, high risk medium risk or what.
Does anybody know anything I should or any info on this. Or is it down to pot luck or unluck. Should I keep it all where it is for now???

dunstonh

However I cant help worrying with all this media stuff about banks and the credit crunch that I am likely to lose a lot because the bank will go bust and I wont notice.

There hasnt been a retail bank go under in over 100 years and there have been many worse times than this.

There is a silly amount of scaremongering going on by the media which is obviously working. You appear to be paranoid enough to be concerned with actual security of the money rather than the actual interest paid. In which case you should look at NS&I index linked certificates and other NS&I accounts. The two most financially secure banks are HSBC and LloydsTSB. Abbey probably isnt a bad bet either as their parent company is buying A&L and you dont do that if you are short of money.

You may also want to consider investments as they can have better protections than savings. It really depends on the amounts involved.

Milarky

(Nationwide isn't a 'bank' at all, of course. Keep £100 with them at all times..)

a7man

Yes it is safe, plus you are covered by a compensation scheme up to 35k per bank. If you are really worried about your money then invest with a huge bank like HSBC or Barclays. One thing I noticed though, you have an ISA with Natwest which have bad rates, I would consider switching to get an extra 1-1.5% interest.