sky = hbos - lloyds deal done!

Cranston_2

baby_boomer wrote: »

So the little people are going to have to pay for the mistakes and greed of people at the top, incompetent regulators and hedge funds.

This is not the fault of hedge funds.

This (HBOS) saga is mostly the fault of bad management by the bank. They lowered their lending standards and made risky loans.

karmarama

I escaped to Halifax after following advice from this very site when I set up a repayment plan with Lloyds just over a year ago for my current account and loan. Lloyds accepted my offer to repay monthly for these but I'm still sorting out the Mastercard repayment I had with them. I felt all safe and calm over at Halifax with their EasyCash account, now I'm worried it will all go to pot. Is there any other account like EasyCash with another bank that I can transfer to whilst I get myself together for the next few years??

baby_boomer

Why do you want to change now? It'll just take up your time which could better spent.

The Lloyds deal is designed to secure the future for 10s of millions of people in the UK.

karmarama

baby_boomer wrote: »

Why do you want to change now? It'll just take up your time which could better spent.

The Lloyds deal is designed to secure the future for 10s of millions of people in the UK.

When looking for advice when I got into trouble with Lloyds, I was advised on this site to detatch myself from them by opening up a new, simple account whilst I got myself sorted. I want a bank account thats simple with no access to any overdraft/loan facility which is what the Halifax EasyCash account offers for my day to day finances. I would like a similar account elsewhere now that is in no way connected to Lloyds...I was wondering if such a thing was possible or are Lloyds set taking over the world?

It really helped me to seperate myself and look at the problem of paying back the money to be 'seperate' from my debt on a daily, day to day basis. Am I crazy or has anyone else felt like this too?

baby_boomer

Makes sense.

Why not ask about another account on the debt or savings or banking sections of the site.

IMHO it'll take them more than a year to integrate the Lloyds and Halifax account systems, so it may not be an urgent matter. Wait until the queues die down.

Cranston wrote: »

This is not the fault of hedge funds.

I disagree. They played their role and I'm not convinced HBOS was so far out of order. The fact is that banks never have enough money to repay their depositors, so if hedge funds start a run, it becomes a crisis too easily.

The Times

This is about the US but describes what is happening more widely.

"....It is clear that most of the actions taken recently by regulators and governments have exacerbated the crisis. Instead of using his Government's unlimited financial firepower to defend the financial system, Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, turned his guns on his own side, wiping out long-term investors who tried to support leading financial institutions, while rewarding speculators who tried to bring them down. Mr Paulson was activating a financial Doomsday Machine, driven by a chain reaction of actions by stock market speculators, regulators, credit-rating agencies and accountants. The details of this mechanism are complex, but the gist is simple - if a bank's share price falls below a critical level, its credit is downgraded; it has to sell assets at fire-sale prices; this further weakens its capital, leading regulators to question its solvency; this drives down its share price and the vicious circle takes another turn. What Mr Paulson did ten days ago was to hand to stock market speculators the key to this Doomsday machine....."

BiggaThanBen wrote: »

LOL [about Howard riding the Black Horse]
Shouldn't it be the other way around ?

Today's Times Business section had the same idea. The Black horse is trampling Howard!

dannyboycey

It's obviously a quick fix to the current situation. However, once the markets eventually recover and a new cycle begins, we are left with what can only be described as a monopoly. They will have way too much influence over us all.

With every passing day, emmigrating from the UK gets more attractive. Scary times ahead...

baby_boomer

This "monopoly" issue can be addressed at our leisure, e.g. by a future sale of parts of the branch network.

There are more pressing matters at stake e.g. can we avoid the need to nationalise our banks. That would create an even bigger "monopoly" and I'd prefer doing business with Lloyds than with the UK Treasury .

FairyElephant_2

I note that the 'conspiracy theories' have started already on some websites - apparantly Lloyds started planning the takeover several weeks ago - before the general public were aware that there was any serious problem at HBOS, and def. before the shares plummetted....well who wouldv'e thought it?!? LOL......
Seriously though - It does occur to me that if we were not suffering from the 'credit cruch' (I'm really starting to hate that media-hyped phrase) then LLoyds would surely not have been able to get this past Monopolies & Mergers....so they really are cashing in on the situation.....

On a personal note, I bank with both - have been with LLoyds many many years (since I was 17!) and with Halifax for about 8 years.

The only problems I have with Lloyds are their call-centre staff (all foreign accents which I often find difficult to understand, and no one person can deal with all my queries, meaning I am promised 'call backs'; which never seem to happen...) and the local branch which doesn't open on Saturday mornings, is really busy every lunchtime (Q out of the door).

Halifax on the other hand have always been really efficient on the phone (and I can understand them!) and the branch is open longer hours than the Lloyds and on Sat mornings. I had just been contemplating moving all my accounts there and giving Lloyds the boot.....Oh well.

As the 2 branches are just down the road from each other, I doubt we'll get to keep both, and I bet the Lloyds will stay as it is slightly larger. Shame from my point of view.

Cranston_2

dannyboycey wrote: »

However, once the markets eventually recover and a new cycle begins, we are left with what can only be described as a monopoly. They will have way too much influence over us all.

.

We once had only 4 clearing banks in the UK. Today we have Lloyds, Abbey (A+L), HSBC (+FD), RBS(+NW), Barclays, Nationwide, Citibank. That's 7 banks that I know about providing cheque accounts. I don't think monopoly fears are real.

Many of the numbers quoted by the media may not be accurate as many people have accounts with both HBOS & Lloyds.

Cranston_2

FairyElephant wrote: »

I note that the 'conspiracy theories' have started already on some websites - apparantly Lloyds started planning the takeover several weeks ago - before the general public were aware that there was any serious problem at HBOS, and def. before the shares plummetted....well who wouldv'e thought it?!? LOL......
Seriously though - It does occur to me that if we were not suffering from the 'credit cruch' (I'm really starting to hate that media-hyped phrase) then LLoyds would surely not have been able to get this past Monopolies & Mergers....so they really are cashing in on the situation.....

I disagree with your reasoning.

Lloyds have been trying to buy something for years. They tried to get Abbey in 2001. And to assume they could get something cheap during the crunch is good planning on their part.

Banco Santander's management had been very public about using the credit crunch to buy something prior to A&L. So yes, I buy those theories.