Icesave - next move?

Sideways

Hi

I have savings with Icesave and have been reading the numerous threads regarding the stability of the Icelandic economy and banking system.

I am tempted to transfer the money back to my UK account, I don’t want to fall victim to the growing hysteria, nor do I want to be last in the queue when it really is time to bail out.

I don’t work in the financial sector, that's why I come here. There are a number of regulars on this forum who seem to offer sensible, practical and informed advise, I think savers like me are now looking to you guys for the next move.

What do you think? Stay calm or get the hell out of Dodge?

isofa

I'm staying calm.

Read: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1188535

(except jp01s post - he's a spammer)

Reaper

Another Icesave thread?!

O well, here goes my view...

Icesave is not exposed to the sub prime market, they didn't get involved in it I'm happy to say.

They have a diferent problem - they and Kaupthing borrowed money from abroad to fund their expansion. Now that their currency has fallen those debts are costing them more, and of course it is harder to find people to renew them as everybody is reluctant to lend.

Of the two it is Kaupthing that is the more affected by this.

Icesave announced in July that it needed to borrow €850 million over the next 12 months and that it had all been agreed, so they have no pressing problems (though note that the currency has slid further since then).

To get those figures into perspective they have worldwide assets of €31.9 billion including liquid assets of €7.8 billion (figures from their web site)

A lot was made of their Moody credit rating being downgraded a few months ago but what people forget is that it is still has a good long term rating of A2, which is higher than it was in 2004. Moody briefly cranked up their rating to a rather ludicrous triple-A before putting it back down again.

It has to be said that the credit rating agencies haven't done very well in the current crisis, failing to spot those at risk. But that is because the sub-prime exposure is hard to see from the outside, whereas Icesave's finances are much more straight forward.

Can I tell you they won't fail? No. But that's true of every bank at the moment, irrespective of size.

home_alone

I am also sticking with icesave in fact I just opened another account with their icelandic buddies KE about 10 mins ago, spead the old dosh around a bit.

gary

magnabill

Check out the following link. It seems to put a lot of things into perpective.

http://www.icesave.co.uk/important-information.html

magpiejay

randomly, i bumped into someone on the train last year who works at a financial regulator. her specific job was to look into and plan for what would happen if Icesave went under. She told me that the UK 'powers that be' have an emergency plan in place and that (up to the usual £35k) we would be fine, and that it wouldn't be a protracted long drawn out 'claim a chunk from the uk fsa and some from iceland' scenario.

Now I know that's vague and probably no use to anyone, but it reassured me.

Plasticman

I have no more concerns about my savings with Icesave that I do about my savings with Nationwide, A&L or Natwest. I'm not withdrawing funds from anywhere - all are under £35K which gives me some reasurance. I also don't want to be part of a 'run' on any bank - they are unstable enough already without my help.

Anyway, what would I do with the cash? Shares? property?

Paul_Herring

Sideways wrote: »

Hi

I have savings with Icesave and have been reading the numerous threads regarding the stability of the Icelandic economy and banking system.

I am tempted to transfer the money back to my UK account,

Have you not been reading the numerous threads regarding the stability of the UK economy? :rolleyes:

steadysaver

I have cash with Icesave, and It is staying put.

One thing that does interest me is, in the very small chance (and it is small because government would save it anyway) that a bank fails and you hold cash ISA deposits, would you be able to put the money you recieved back in compensation straight back into an ISA, or would you have "lost" your built up allowance from past years.

Reaper

I'm guessing that they would actually set you up with another ISA at a different bank. That seems more sensible than sending a load of cheques through the post and losing people's ISA allowance. But like I say, it's a guess.

GeorgeHowell

Get out now. Even if guarantees are in place it could be major hassle for account holders to get their money back if it comes to it. may involve a bit of lost interest, but is it worth all the angst in the meantime ?

But most importantly, what is going to happen to West Ham United if Gudmundsson can't afford to stump up the £30 milllion that they are probably going to have to pay Sheffield United ?