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

edwinac_2

Jake'sGran wrote: »

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.

It's not unusual for banks to freeze accounts to halt the flight of capital from a collapsing economy.

During the second Argentinian banking crisis of 2001-02, the Rua and Duhalde governments imposed economic measures known informally as the corralito.

It was hoped the corralito which literally means "child's playpen", would stem the bank runs.

The corralito almost completely froze bank accounts. Withdrawals were limited to 250 pesos a week (about US$60 at the time).

Depositors protesting frozen accounts
fearing they might lose value, or worse...
Feb 2002.

ebyard

Anyone just see C4 news?! Talk about scaremongering!

formulaonefan

ebyard wrote: »

Anyone just see C4 news?! Talk about scaremongering!

why is it scaremongering? I have savings with KE and I put in a withdrawl request on saturday and I sincerely hope I get my money back before S**t hits the fan!! Iceland's PM said on live tele that they will push for mergers or let them go bankrupt! That's not comforting is it?

benjdr

formulaonefan wrote: »

why is it scaremongering? I have savings with KE and I put in a withdrawl request on saturday and I sincerely hope I get my money back before S**t hits the fan!! Iceland's PM said on live tele that they will push for mergers or let them go bankrupt! That's not comforting is it?

Please back the above bolded words up with a reliable source.

codger

Well, if anyone was wondering why the title of this thread includes the phrase "with a twist", they certainly have their answer now -- the "twist" being the way utter juvenilia keeps being posted here in the guise of meaningful comment:

Imagine if these headless chickens had been around during the blitz. Germany would have won in a fortnight.

What with that and the rubbish spouted earlier about "lemmings" -- as well as the post about Channel 4's perfectly reasoned reporting tonight of the Iceland situation ("scaremongering") -- you have to wonder if some here are not so much likely to run short of money as to be already devoid of functioning brain cells.

So: here's the news. And it's not scare mongering.

As Babu said, if you're in any way worried about having any of your savings with an Icelandic-owned financial services provider, then stop worrying and close the account.

Otherwise: what the hell are you doing?

For the sake of argument, if you've £50,000 in KE Instant Access -- over which a serious novation question mark now hangs -- compared to £50,000 in, say, B&B's latest online savings account (over which no novation question exists at all) then is the after-tax difference between the return on KE and the return on B&B really worth whatever agonising you may be going through?

Of course it isn't. Unless you put a really, really low price on your peace of mind. As in: omigawd, I can't sleep at night, worrying over the thirtyfive quid I may make by gambling on a possibly novated savings account compared to keeping my deposit where the question of novation doesn't remotely arise.

Macho posts of the kind which too often feature here are about as infantile as they can get: the posters concerned can either have no money at all in KE (highly likely) or so little exposure to possible risk that the total sum they've placed on deposit barely reaches three digits -- or, in the words of a hoary old cliche, have far more money than sense.

More reasoned posts -- from people who are staying with KE, and after full consideration of the possible risks -- are appreciated. I wish 'em well.

But at the moment, with the question of KE account novation still unresolved -- and I seriously wonder if any of the macho posters here have the faintest notion of what 'novation' actually means -- then those who may have decided that the game simply isn't worth the candle are neither lemmings, nor doom mongers, nor headless chickens.

They're actually the stuff of this forum:

Money Savers.

ebyard

formulaonefan wrote: »

why is it scaremongering? I have savings with KE and I put in a withdrawl request on saturday and I sincerely hope I get my money back before S**t hits the fan!! Iceland's PM said on live tele that they will push for mergers or let them go bankrupt! That's not comforting is it?

I had £40k in KE and still have £3k in Icesave. I moved my money out of KE on Friday because NatWest are offering a very good rate, and also moving my ISA to NW will give me a higher income than KE+Icesave. I also bank with NW so all my accounts on one screen is good.

I am confident that KE will be fine - my mum has £15k as savings for an operation she needs. So that's confidence for you!

Situations change and I will keep it under review.

altocumulus

Just to clarify ... A novation must be agreed upon by all the parties to the original agreement.
The obligee, the person receiving the benefit of the bargain, must only be given notice.

The only issue with KE is their definition of "notice" as a timescale....

dudes_2

I have money in KE, and will be keeping it there.

codger

altocumulus wrote: »

Just to clarify ... A novation must be agreed upon by all the parties to the original agreement.
The obligee, the person receiving the benefit of the bargain, must only be given notice.

The only issue with KE is their definition of "notice" as a timescale....

KE online account holders cannot log into their accounts without first ticking the box which states they accept KE's Terms & Conditions.

Those T&Cs state that a saver's account can be transferred at the time of notice to the saver from KE's UK subsidiary to the Icelandic bank itself.

Acceptance of the T&Cs at account log-in is acceptance of the right of KE's UK subsidiary to transfer the saver's account to the Icelandic bank itself.

If the T&Cs on this particular, and crucial, clause mirrored the wording used by KE on its FAQ section -- "we will give 30 days' notice of novation" -- then that would be fine.

Unfortunately it doesn't. And legally, the T&Cs, to which every account holder agrees to accept, over-ride anything that may be said elsewhere about notification periods.

It's a shame this situation has occurred but I'm surprised that KE has allowed it to arise: if it wants UK savers to deposit funds with its UK subsidiary, then it should have taken care already to ensure that absolute clarity obtained.

Trollfever

Risk/Reward.

A premium of 0.5% on a balance of £50k is £250 p.a. or 68p a day.

Spend it wisely.