Icesave-please help/advice!!!!

Optimist

talltony_uk wrote: »

I'm totally gutted... I feel that it was this website that talked me into placing my life savings into an Icelandic bank... and for what a few extra pounds a month. I think Martin Lewis should have told everyone to transfer a week ago when this started hotting up, come on Martin what's your view on this, will we loose the first 16K of our savings if and when they fall?

Nobody talked you into anything you made your own decisions as did we all based on the information available at the time. Take responsibility for your own actions,

DigitalJedi

Easy to say that with hindsight but until the last week or two, who would have thought an entire country could go bankrupt over a compensation scheme.

cs15

Optimist wrote: »

Nobody talked you into anything you made your own decisions as did we all based on the information available at the time. Take responsibility for your own actions,

we put money in a bank not a risky share scheme, we expect our owned property back.

Optimist

cs15 wrote: »

we put money in a bank not a risky share scheme, we expect our owned property back.

Where does it say you wont get it back ?

casper_uk

fitnessqueen wrote: »

Thanks for that post-I am normally very cautious as a single mum with two boys to support. I needed somewhere to put money away for their university fees and I thought I had weighed up the pros and the cons. I was comforted by the statements that the Icelandic scheme would cover the first £16,000 and I needed a good rate. Maybe I was stupid but I never saw a situation where Iceland itself was at risk of bankruptcy.

Well firstly, Iceland are very close to other Nordic countries so may be able to get help that way to pay out. Secondly, it will look terrible if the EU let Iceland default and really the consequences of Iceland defaulting don't bare thinking about! (Iceland are a member of the EEA, European Economic Area). Lastly, according to the information out there they have a lot of assets which they can sell to try and raise funds to cover the scheme. A few points to consider which may help easy your worries.

Personally i think the schemes for banks are badly designed imo and will only work once maybe twice. As this will be the first true test of both countries schemes, i think they will fiddle it in such a way to pay people back this time.

Please, please, please when you get you money back look for a better well know provider and don't try to chase the best rate out there as they tend to be the once at risk, and in times like this it's better to play it safe. Both HSBC and Barclays offer 5.25% e-savers for example.

cs15

bet the swedes , norweigians etc are looking at this closely as they are supposed to bale out the icelandics if it comes to it

bazaarboy

Here's an interesting fact: Iceland's population is... 300,000 (July 2007 estimate)
Hmm - thats how many Brits stand to potentially lose savings.
How on Earth has such a tiny country gotten into so much financial debt? I agree that we're all responsible for our actions, but the FSA has been negligent in permitting Landsbanki / Icesave to venture in, collect £5Bn, and claim to offer "protection" - how could they guarantee this protection??

Scooby64

homer_J123 wrote: »

Would have been better to have it under one name and not jointly?

Only IF Iceland goes bankrupt - otherwise it makes no odds

And I know they aren't part of eupoe but they have signed the EEU agreement so they aren't going to just cut & run without a fight (hense the Russian loan)

Watch this space but I can see the other EU countries stepping in yet - perhaps that was the real reason for the weekend summit

bazster

Scooby64 wrote: »

I'm not here to defend Labour, but the scheme IS as good as the UK one, you can't blame the FSA because a Country might go bust!

No, but you can blame the FSA for accepting and approving a scheme backed by a country whose banking system they knew (or should have known) was massively overextended in comparison to the size of that country's economy.

Scooby64 wrote: »

I wouldn't feel much more confident about the UK scheme being able to cover its liabilities if several institutions collapse. As with all "insurance" schemes, they only function if most are prosperous and few trigger a claim. Reverse that and things get very unpleasent

The difference is that this insurance scheme is underwritten by the government, and unlike Iceland the UK economy is *not* dwarfed by the liabilities of it's banks.

Hardly anyone seems to understand that the UK scheme has *already* had to pay out, it has *already* been unable to find the money, and it has *already* been loaned the money by the government. I'm talking about B+B, where the compensation scheme was triggered but few noticed because the government/FSCS cleverly paid the compensation to Santander instead of making us all apply for it individually. The same thing could happen many times without bankrupting UK PLC, although we would all find that our pips were squeaking somewhat more than they already are!

wonky123

To all you dead clever financial historians - well done you!

I'm completely f**cked!! Excuse the language but I really could cry! I'm sorry, I'm not great with money, I'm obviously gullible as haven't considered the seagull v inhabitant population to decide whether I wanted an instant access safe savings account rather than a risky investment plan. I've found this website really handy to help me with my finances to get me on the right track. I don't have thousands of pounds which I'll need to wait for a potentially lengthy claims process. Instead I have £12k from a credit card on 0% which ends in November. I'm obviously really stupid cos I never realised there were any problems - why would they offer such high interest rates instead of dropping them? - made me think they were safer than anyone else. I just feel sick. Please please please someone buy them out, I promise never to try & be clever again & follow any money making ideas I read on websites, but I couldn't afford to pay the go to rate on that amount of cash next month