Icesave-please help/advice!!!!

King_Weasel

Another question - a general one:

If IceSave go into insolvency as the FSCS expect does this preclude a "B&B outcome" with another bank stepping in?

X123

King_Weasel wrote: »

Thanks - that was quick. I realise this. It may be that NatWest will simply void my application if Icesave melts. But if NatWest don't and if the compensation machinery starts grinding should I take the initiative and cancel with NatWest so as to pursue my own claim?

I would imagine that Icesave froze all transactions on Monday night.

I'd leave things as they are - tell Natwest what you have done and keep checking your account with them. If the money has left your Icesave a/c already then just keep checking your Natwest for the next few days before you take action.

Theres hope for us - don't forget the claims process hasn't started yet!!

X123

King_Weasel wrote: »

Another question - a general one:

If IceSave go into insolvency as the FSCS expect does this preclude a "B&B outcome" with another bank stepping in?

Who knows....which bank would want to buy it?! Landsbanki have been saved by the Icelandic govt and for domestic customers all is apparently ok. Methinks they are scraping the funds together to decide if to keep the Icesave division or not. I have heard mixed rpts - some saying the best thing is liquidation so that we can start the claims process, others not. I think this is a 1st so only time will tell.

steve_hill

I'm in for £12.5k with Icesave. Had a CHAPS payment 'processed' well before there was a shut down on their website but now they are saying that it didn't go through. Got married two weeks ago and have our first baby on the way; it is a huge hammer blow.

I am pretty much up to speed with all the developments and ramifications of what is happening and know that I need to sit tight and hope, along with the other 299,000 UK savers that we can get our money back. The outlook for those with more than the £50k FSCS guarantee in particular is not bright and I am gutted for all those people who are up for losing a substantial, maybe life-changing/ruining chunk of their life savings.

Reading around the various media coverage and here on the forum, there are many people in this who are not 'fat cats' or 'greedy rich looking for extra interest'; the vast majority are ordinary people who, like myself, felt that a 'savings' account with a bank cleared to operate in the UK by the FSA carried relatively small risk. Even if most of us agree that the perceived risk was slightly higher due to the passport system. I researched things extensively before placing my money with Icesave and read in several places that the passport system was actually better in some ways because the banks had to pay into it up front, whereas the FSCS system relied on gathering money from the banking sector once the default occured. Only post-collapse do we learn or are told that the passport compensation system in Iceland only has £88 million in it. This is certainly not a case of the rich crying over spilt milk...these are very real sums of money people have lost that, if they are not covered, will have a significant and lasting impact on ordinary people.

One thing is certain though, if we don't raise our voices, in the media, on forums like this one, at parliament with your MPs (you can find out who that is, if you don't know, and write to them at http://www.writetothem.com/ ) etc then the chances of us getting our money back in the event of the Icelandic government defaulting on their guarantee scheme will be greatly reduced. There are 300,000 people affected by this and we need to create pressure on the decision makers.

Obviously, things are not very clear right now about whether anyone else, be they Icelanders, Dutch, still have access to their Landsbanki/Icesave money. The fact that the bank has been nationalised means that, in effect, the Icelandic government have taken our money, our assets and have unlimited power as to what they do with that money. They nationalised Glitnir last week but have they frozen their accounts? I don't believe they have. They are talking about guaranteeing all Icelanders for their Landsbanki savings - where would that money come from? It would be our money they use to do that.

This isn't a simple case of a bank/company going to the wall and everyone being in the same boat with the company's assets up for grabs. This is a now a bank/company that has substantial assets - in Iceland, the UK and around the world - which are now in the throes of being sold off to possibly save one particular vested interest group, the Icelanders and the government there. Don't get me wrong, I feel incredibly sad for Icelanders, it is an incredibly beautiful country and the people are some of the most genuinely friendly you can meet. They are in dire straits too.

Iceland may well, as an economy, go bust, but the country/government will recover. They will get loans from somewhere eventually. They have shunned the IMF so far, because of the stigma attached to an IMF loan - frankly, they need to get over worrying about their public image right now, because it is pretty shot anyway. If the Icelandic government want to 'borrow' our money, by taking over Landsbanki, to help save the country then they should do everything within their power to pay that money back. Stealing it would be and should be a global outrage.

Who knows what today/tomorrow will bring on the Icesave front, but one thing is certain, if we raise our voices/concerns/worries/predicaments about this as widely and as collectively as possible, then we are giving ourselves the best possible chance of being heard and action being taken on our behalf.

Meadows

steve_hill wrote: »

I am pretty much up to speed with all the developments and ramifications of what is happening and know that I need to sit tight and hope, along with the other 299,000 UK savers that we can get our money back. The outlook for those with more than the £50k FSCS guarantee in particular is not bright and I am gutted for all those people who are up for losing a substantial, maybe life-changing/ruining chunk of their life savings.

Reading around the various media coverage and here on the forum, there are many people in this who are not 'fat cats' or 'greedy rich looking for extra interest'; the vast majority are ordinary people who, like myself, felt that a 'savings' account with a bank cleared to operate in the UK by the FSA carried relatively small risk. Even if most of us agree that the perceived risk was slightly higher due to the passport system. I researched things extensively before placing my money with Icesave and read in several places that the passport system was actually better in some ways because the banks had to pay into it up front, whereas the FSCS system relied on gathering money from the banking sector once the default occured. Only post-collapse do we learn or are told that the passport compensation system in Iceland only has £88 million in it. This is certainly not a case of the rich crying over spilt milk...these are very real sums of money people have lost that, if they are not covered, will have a significant and lasting impact on ordinary people.

Obviously, things are not very clear right now about whether anyone else, be they Icelanders, Dutch, still have access to their Landsbanki/Icesave money. The fact that the bank has been nationalised means that, in effect, the Icelandic government have taken our money, our assets and have unlimited power as to what they do with that money. They nationalised Glitnir last week but have they frozen their accounts? I don't believe they have. They are talking about guaranteeing all Icelanders for their Landsbanki savings - where would that money come from? It would be our money they use to do that.

This isn't a simple case of a bank/company going to the wall and everyone being in the same boat with the company's assets up for grabs. This is a now a bank/company that has substantial assets - in Iceland, the UK and around the world - which are now in the throes of being sold off to possibly save one particular vested interest group, the Icelanders and the government there. Don't get me wrong, I feel incredibly sad for Icelanders, it is an incredibly beautiful country and the people are some of the most genuinely friendly you can meet. They are in dire straits too.

Iceland may well, as an economy, go bust, but the country/government will recover. They will get loans from somewhere eventually. They have shunned the IMF so far, because of the stigma attached to an IMF loan - frankly, they need to get over worrying about their public image right now, because it is pretty shot anyway. If the Icelandic government want to 'borrow' our money, by taking over Landsbanki, to help save the country then they should do everything within their power to pay that money back. Stealing it would be and should be a global outrage.

Who knows what today/tomorrow will bring on the Icesave front, but one thing is certain, if we raise our voices/concerns/worries/predicaments about this as widely and as collectively as possible, then we are giving ourselves the best possible chance of being heard and action being taken on our behalf.

Very well put, stealing it would be and should be a global outrage. Our money was very welcome to the Iceland banks, I am sure they have enjoyed the benefits of it for the last two years, and as you say our money will most likely be used to pay back the Iceland customers, the total of their population only numbers the amount of investors in this country. (Population: 304,367 (July 2008 est).

If Icesave knew that transfers would not take place, why have they allowed the money to be deducted from the account and why are these transfers not reversed, to show the correct balances in our accounts!
Then at least people will feel a little more comfortable that at least all their saving are there (in black & white), even if there is no guarantee we will see any of it back!

[Deleted User]

lets hope today brings us some concrete news.

tom_foster_2

I have £37k with Icesave, which I tried to withdraw at lunchtime on Monday. I didn't feel too worried about the whole thing until this morning, just assuming that it would all be OK in time. However, the lack of communication is starting to make me feel rather concerned. I'm also surprised that a bank is able to stop an electronic transaction a day or so after it has been initiated - I assumed that once this process was initiated, the money would be 'between banks'.

I hope today brings some more helpful information from Iceland...

csiman

tom_foster wrote: »

I have £37k with Icesave, which I tried to withdraw at lunchtime on Monday. I didn't feel too worried about the whole thing until this morning, just assuming that it would all be OK in time. However, the lack of communication is starting to make me feel rather concerned. I'm also surprised that a bank is able to stop an electronic transaction a day or so after it has been initiated - I assumed that once this process was initiated, the money would be 'between banks'.

I hope today brings some more helpful information from Iceland...

How did you manage to withdraw yesterday? The accounts were locked.

Meadows

Just watched GMTV and they had Martin Lewis on, he was saying things were changing all the time and it looks as though we will get all back up to £50,000, under both schemes, could take as long as four months.
He was followed by Alister Darling, didn't hear all he had to say but it sounds as though they will do all they can to help the Iceland scheme.
So it's sit and wait, and until they fold then nothing can be done, so the sooner that happens the better.

Brett

I have to confess,I didn't see the article about Icesave and Icelandic Banks in General on the Channel 4 News the other night and BOY do I wish I had.

I have been onto my father for the last few weeks about him moving his large deposit in Icesave out. It was me who got him in there in the first place,but you know the 'older' generation,they are indeed stubborn!!I feel really guilty about doing that now. If the reports and rumours etc are true, he has lost a considerable amount of money and any compensation scheme by The British and/or Icelandic Governments,wont help him. His Life Savings will have gone up in smoke. Yes I know, we have been told again and again to not leave more than that covered by Governments in any compensation scheme in any one Financial Institution,but like someone else said on the Forum earlier, you dont believe that these things will ever happen in a real scenario!!!!

We both started the proceedure to transfer our ISA's out of ICESAVE some two weeks ago now to NAT WEST and RBS,as someonelse said,it can take up to a month for these kind of transaction to take place and Im worried that both of us now might be in a situation where the Door closed before that money got out too.

The Government said and has said repeatedly that it wouldn't see Depositors Funds affected in this Financial termoil and I read that as meaning any Bank Registered in the Uk...their word is their word...or is it!!!