My savings in B&B!

LongTermLurker

julio69 wrote: »

Sorry for my ignorance... but that's why I enter the forum... don't really think anyone's been scaremongering, but because I have my money with BBI based in Isle of Man, the compensation scheme that is under is not much good for me - I stand to lose 15,000GBP. I have also been reading news articles as they come in, every one says don't be worried as you will be covered by comp scheme, which suggests that the need for the scheme is a possibility - I won't be saved by the scheme under Isle of Man law. Reply to Katies' mum - am gonna try and take the whole lot out.

Julio69 - I think you should watch the news today before doing anything - they HAVE now been nationalised. One way or another, B&B are now safer than ever.

riad_2

Though the bank is being nationalised, surely there is still a concern on how people will access their money when there's talk of the B&B brand ceasing to exist and the savings then being sold on to another bank (e.g. Santander).

Personally, I'm just worried about the practicalities... e.g. if the B&B brand will disappear, I'm guessing the branch network won't be around, and I'll no longer have access to my e-savings through the B&B website.

No doubt if the B&B branch network was to close, people would be running to the buyer (e.g. Santander), checking their money is with the Abbey... who probably won't have a clue about all of this, or how to access "B&B account numbers".

And with regard to e-savings, will Santander issue me with a new username and password to access my savings BEFORE the closure of the B&B website?

No doubt there will be a horrendous delay between the point of B&B's website closure and the issuing of new instructions/passwords/account numbers for savers to log on.

Let's be honest, can we really expect the transfer of all these accounts to be performed seamlessly to another provider without any hiccups or loss of interest?

The sheer inconvenience of such possibilities I think would make people just think they might as well just put their money in the next best savings account. And in the era of e-savings this takes just 5 minutes!

Why bother with the alternative potential headaches and temporary loss of access that may arise leaving your money in B&B?

julio69

ad44downey wrote: »

!!!!!!, the government has guaranteed ALL B&B savers money, forget about the £35K limit thing, that was nonsense talk anyway.

I give up, you'll never convince some people. I reckon some people actually enjoy getting in a needless panic.

Well good luck with it, go ahead and panic. I hope there's pictures on the news tomorrow morning of you queuing outside your local B+B branch. So I can have a good laugh.

Ooohhh - ad44downey, why so angry... if you gave your source of information that guaranteed 100% that all my money was safe, then I wouldn't panic... 15,000-20000 is alot of money for me to risk losing.

edwinac_2

julio69 wrote: »

Ooohhh - ad44downey, why so angry... if you gave your source of information that guaranteed 100% that all my money was safe, then I wouldn't panic... 15,000-20000 is a lot of money for me to risk losing.

His claim has no basis in fact..

It stems from a loosely-worded Commons statement from the Government. The Treasury promised to temporarily guaranteed deposits in all banks, during the short time it took to nationalise the Northern Rock.

That 100% guarantee has long since expired.

I posted a recent article from the FT which warned that the 100% guarantee _for ALL banks_ was only temporary and had now expired.

You've got to wonder about the propagandists on this forum. None can be positively identified, and you can bet they will skulk off as soon as their job is done..

It's nothing unusual to find professionals working the internet forums. They call it "perception management".

The big drug companies are notorious for running internet PR teams to defend their products.

Quite often, their propagandists pose as patients.

Typically, they are desperate to tell the world how Wonder Drug X cured their cancer, or their depression, or their arthritis, and how it caused NO SIDE EFFECTS WHATSOEVER!!!

The more you delve, the more deceit you find.

As the caveat reads at the top of this forum: "Anyone can post so always exercise caution when acting on info."

Ain't that right, "ad44downey"?!

See: The fake persuaders - Corporations are inventing people to rubbish their opponents on the internet (Guardian, 14 May 2002)

See: Corporate phantoms - The web of deceit over GM food (Guardian, 29 May 2002)

ad44downey

edwinac wrote: »

His claim has no basis in fact..

It stems from a loosely-worded Commons statement from the Government. The Treasury promised to temporarily guaranteed deposits in all banks, during the short time it took to nationalise the Northern Rock.

That 100% guarantee has long since expired.

B+B has been nationalised . The government own it. And certain idiots are still going on about £35K guarantees,etc !!!!!!. You've got a 100% cast iron guarantee now from the UK government. What else do you want?

P.S. I don't work for B+B. If you search through my posts on this site you'll see that I've been advising people to sell B+B shares while they still could. I just hope they took my advice because they're going to get diddlysquat for their shares now!

ad44downey

julio69 wrote: »

Ooohhh - ad44downey, why so angry... if you gave your source of information that guaranteed 100% that all my money was safe, then I wouldn't panic... 15,000-20000 is alot of money for me to risk losing.

You haven't read or at least understood a single contribution written on this forum. You've only taken heed of the ones advising you to panic as these merely confirmed your own panic.

I hope to see you on the BBC news tomorrow morning in a long queue with the rest of the muppets! Now don't let me down now, will you?

EalingSaver

ad44downey wrote: »

You can't be serious. Since it's been nationalised your money is safer in B&B than any other bank. The level of ignorance on these boards is truly staggering at times....
Well you certainly succeeded in scaremongering julio69, etc....

I haven't read your other posts on other threads, but on this thread you certainly seem to have taken a mix of aggressive and dismissive tone with other contributors. At least myself and one other bothered to do a little bit of digging, establish that BBI was wholly owned subsidiary, and therefore address the issue that in the event of takeover/nationalisation it would be part of the B&B assets that would be taken on board. That was clearly meant/was a point of reassurance on an issue/concern that the OP had. Also the statement that it is up to an individual to weigh up how much something is preying on their mind, versus the very very unlikely risk of it happening, versus the impact if it did happen is also sane advice, and one which is offerring no judgement of what they should actually do.

Julio, now it HAS been nationalised for gawd sake leave it there. Its now cast iron. And if the savings part is going to be parked into another bank, it will bea major 'safe house' bank.

add44: For the record, I have 3 accounts with B&B and never had any intention of doing anything other than leaving them where they are. Perhaps a more careful reading of what people actually post on here would help to keep blood pressure down.

julio69

EalingSaver wrote: »

Link to their website information, but surely you know all this anyway?
http://www.bbi.co.im/bradford-and-bingley-international-BBI/

Summary. BBI is a wholly owned subsidiary of B&B. Therefore if B&B is taken over so would BBI be (its one of its 'assets'). If however BBI went bust in its own right, in theory B&B could let it do so. (I think - note I'm not a legal eagle). However, site also says that B&B has undertaken a legal obligation to cover BBIs liabilities in that event. But of course that is not your worry, your worry is over B&B itself.

Point1. Its extremely unlikely that a UK retail depositor will be allowed to go bust.
Point2. It could be taken over, though the fact that no-one has yet made an offer for it even though the cost of buying up its shares, even at a premiumu to current value, is now close to zero (relative to the assets/liabilities it has) suggests no one thinks its a particularly attractive purchase.
Point3. It could be taken over but with an injection of some sort from the government, (possibly what potential acquirers are waiting for).
Point4. It could be nationalised a la NR.
Point5. It might, extremely extremely unlikely, be allowed to go bust in some scenario must of us don't want to even think we'll ever get to.

Now, lets assume the last 2 scenarios here. A questoin I would ask is are you an Isle of Man resident....or are you using it for offshoring??

In the event that either scenario 4 or 5 happens. A question I would ask myself if I was in your position is this. IF, and again I think its unlikely, but if the government wanted to make any point or constrain the costs of rescue to the UK Taxpayer, what from a political perspective would they think would be a soft target? They may feel there is limited political fallout from 'offshorers' losing an element of money. Of course they would have to be weighed against the long term impact on the standing of the UK as a finanical powerhouse, but...

In summary I completely hate the scaremongering. I think the risk of you losing anything is extremely small. However, everyone has to weigh risks etc. and with this particular investment you may be in a slightly different position than a standard retail bank depositer (politically as well as in point of fact viz a viz the protectoin).

You seem to be getting very concerned about it. Only you can weigh up and balance how concerned you are, how much security of mind you want, how much of your savings this represents etc. and therefore what you should do. 'Losing' £550 versus the impact on your state of mind of a very very small risk of losing several thousands is only something you can weigh up.

Ealingsaver, your point re: offshorers being a possible soft target is the one that no-one else has addressed, and the point that worries me. Will carry on trying to find a definitive statement on this exact point. Until then, mind not completely made up on what I will do - sorry add44downey to disappoint, but don't want to be a muppet.

pizzagirl

It's too late now either way. The bank's been nationalised. Either your money is safe or it isn't. There's nothing you can do tomorrow to change that fact. If it isn't safe then you won't be able to withdraw it tomorrow anyway.

But why you're fretting is beyone me. It's been the headlines on every news story today, savers deposits are safe.

julio69

For anyone in my situation, ie offshore saver with the above:

http://www.bbi.co.im/offshore-savings-resources/offshore-savings-articles-news/articles/SeptemberFAQs.aspx

Thanks to all those that tried to help.