Kaupthing Edge thread with a twist - who's not bothered?

EalingSaver

Thanks to the OP for startiung this thread. So far it appears to have not been subject to major hijack attempts.

campins

vishy01234 wrote: »

I have to agree - too much scaremongering going on. But to reassure worried folk, a statement has been released an hour or so ago from a Head Honcho at Kaupthing to allay fears: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7844570

Well the Guardian article seems positive enough anyway :beer: :j

jingle68

zaccy wrote: »

Have they allowed the transaction to go through ie debited your account by the amount you asked to withdraw and dated this transaction as 6 Oct 2008?

they did for me, 1 hour ago when i made a withdrawal, have done in the past when ive done transactions on a sunday.
Ive got upto the UK protected limit with KE & im not worried at all !!

codger

Some points:

1) I opened my savings account with Kaupthing Edge on the clear and unequivocal understanding that my deposit would be held by Kaupthing Edge's UK subsidiary, Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Ltd. Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Ltd is covered by the FSCS. Currently, the upper limit is £35k. From Tuesday, it's £50k.

2) I opened the savings account with KE for two co-equal reasons: (a) attractive rate of return; (b) UK FSCS 100% coverage of the savings amount I had deposited.

3) Prior to opening the account, I checked the "Help" section / Frequently Asked Questions. One question was of particular relevance, viz: what would happen if a contract was novated, and an account holder's savings were moved from KS&F Ltd to Kaupthing Edge itself?

4) The answer given to the question on the KE website is that in the "unlikely event" of novation, an account holder would be given at least 30 days' notice. 30 days' notice is more than good enough for me. So I signed up.

5) It has now been pointed out by some other MSErs that the actual Terms & Conditions governing a KE savings account make no mention at all of a 30 day notice period where novation is concerned.

6) In fact, the T&C's appear to state that novation is effective from date of notification. In which case, savings might feasibly be migrated out from under UK FSCS cover before the saver has any opportunity to react.

7) The T&Cs state elsewhere that KE will notify every account holder of any change where it affects interest rates, or variation of T&Cs, or where in the opinion of KE such change would materially disadvantage the account holder.

8) I, personally, would feel "materially disadvantaged" were the savings account I currently hold under 100% UK FSCS protection to be migrated to an Icelandic institution. Getting money back from any compensation scheme is likely to be time-consuming. Having to get it back from an Icelandic scheme, and then, perhaps, a UK scheme, doubly so. That kind of hassle, I don't need, because it's not what I signed up for in the first place.

9) KE, however, might equally feel that no "material disadvantaging" had occurred at all: if the worst did come to the worst, so what? The saver wouldn't lose out. So the novation question ceases to be an issue of fact and instead becomes an issue of opinion.


I have had a very happy experience as a KE customer. The interest rate is great, the service, superb, the website the best I've encountered for online account management.

But this ambiguity over the novation notification issue, and the fact that what is explicit in KE's Terms & Conditions legally over-rides any text, of any kind, that may appear in any "Frequently Asked Questions" panel, is unsettling.

Posters to a thread as supportive of KE as this one so plainly is might do well -- before blithely pronouncing "we're not bothered" -- to appreciate that there's more to saving than the large type print of an interest rate. There's the small print of contract, too.

As to whether or not I'm bothered, the answer has to be: until the novation notification issue is clarified, then yes. I am.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the replies guys - I didn't realise so many poeple, in general agreed!

isofa

Codger, perhaps you could raise the Novation clause with Martin, he could get a statement from Kaupthing and report back?

I agree it's a bit ambiguous, as as pointed out earlier, they don't have to give 30 days notice although this have been mooting. Nice to have some clarity.

FWIW, I'm still keeping my savings there.

elbe

Jake'sGran wrote: »

I have never invested with the two banks you mention either but today I am a bit concerned as, when I want to withdraw money from Kaupthing, I always do it on a Sunday (same with other banks too) so that it is activated on Monday mornings. Just tried to make a withdrawal with Kaupthing and they now say "Sunday is not a working day". In the past this message was not there.

I do the same and it always tells me I can't move money sat/sun so have to choose the next working day, a monday. Maybe you just didn't see it before. We're all seeing things that scare us these days.

nicholbb

Good thread.
A number of people have been quoting 3 months and 6 months. I think the confusion comes from the fact that the European guarnantee says 3 months and the FSA says within 6 months. The truth is that because no major bank has ever gone down with compensations schemes (and I'll be supprised if one does this time) no one really knows how long it would take.

I have to admit I look like a guilty lemming - I took a lot of my money out Sunday :eek: BUT only because I'm in process of changing my current account and linking a new account requires a statement (but not getting one for 3 months), not normally a problem but I may be making a large purchase soon so might need access. However, once new account linked I'll be putting the remaining cash back in:p .

Nala

Well I keep swaying from being not bothered, sensible, everything will be ok, to logging on here, reading some threads re Iceandic banks and wanting to take all my money away from KE and IceSave and putting it under the mattress.

Note to self....stop logging onto MSE

ad44downey

Nala wrote: »

reading some threads re Iceandic banks and wanting to take all my money away from KE and IceSave and putting it under the mattress.

under the floorboards is better