'Icesave... angry, frustrated and upset...' blog discussion

psdie

Holy cr*p!

I literally opened a new Icesave ISA last week on the back of the MSE chart. I filled out the paperwork to transfer my life savings to them (reassured by the strongly emphasised FSA guarantee), plus scheduled a Direct Debit deposit for Monday 6th.

I read the rumours that Iceland is looking shakey at the weekend and contacted my bank to cancel the transfers in the nick of time. It was too late to cancel the DD however.

Just tonight read the news that the nightmare scenario has come true and broke into a cold sweat.

Rushed to check my AC - "Direct debit returned"! Seems someone is watching over me and Icesave stopped accepting deposits the same day my DD went through.

My heart goes out to those less lucky. It seems very unlikely that British savers will lose out permanently, thanks to the guarantees, but it's the hassle, loss of interest and worry about what could happen that will make this a horrible experience for savers.

Finally: no blame to Martin whatsoever - he provides well researched advice that I believe is genuinely motivated by a desire to help people make the most of their money.

The financial situation in Iceland is unheard of in modern times - an entire country on the brink of collapse. There could be argument that the article weighing up the risks of savings in Iceland/Icesave should have been revised last week, in the light of the increasing volatility in the region.

However, I accept Martin's point that there was a risk of worsening the run on Icelandic banks. It is a credit to Martin that this restraint was shown, rather than headline grabbing announcements.

DaveTheHedgehog

Hello fellow money savers. The wife and I had £23K in Icesave, which is inconvenient but not the end of the world.

I don't blame Martin at all. I am grateful for his help and think it is great that through his website we will at least be able to put pressure on authorities and keep the Icesave story in the media.

I'm fully responsible for all my actions! Good and bad!

cornubian

Martin - as you can see there will be a few sleepless nights as a result of the events of today - me for one. I know from posts i have seen on your site before you do take this personally. Perhaps as one saver has suggested we need to group together and ensure this does not get buried along with all the other bad news and the plight of 300,000 savers does not fade with the one week attention span of politicians. You might want to think about being the champion/advocate/voice of the 300,000 savers who need to come together and challenge what i believe to be an illegal act on behalf of the Icelandic Government.

Well said, and as I said previously:

When I opened my account in September 2007, this message was on the ICESAVE site:

”Deposits made with Icesave are protected under the Icelandic Deposit Guarantees and Investor-Compensation Scheme (details of this scheme may be obtained from https://www.landsbanki.com/legislation). Payments under this scheme are limited to the first €20,887 (or the sterling equivalent) of your total deposits held with us.

You have further protection from the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (https://www.fscs.org.uk). Payments under this scheme are limited to 100% of the first £2000 of all your deposits with us, plus 90% of the next £33,000 of your total deposits with us, less any payments made under the Icelandic scheme. This means that the maximum claim amount as at June 2006 is £31,700.”
http://www.icesave.co.uk/financial-protection.html

Quite clearly, the message is that my money had/has a double guarantee of safety. Now we are hearing that the FSCS only compensates for sums lost between €20,887 and £50,000.

The questions is, why did the UK FSA and FSCS allow ICESAVE to operate in the UK on the strength of misleading guarantee information and is there a degree of domestic liability here?

The answer must surely be Yes. And yes, the Icelandic banking institutions and Government are culpable for offering worthless guarantees, but so too are the UK monitoring agencies for allowing a bank to operate in the UK under a pretext which was plainly false. Not only was the pretext false, but the FSA and FCSC were aware that it was false, and are thus liable for the consequences.

Yes Martin could do himself a favour by championing out cause and spearhearding a savers protection group, but his attentions should be focussed not just on Iceland, but also on those Governmnet agencies closer to home which allowed the "obtaining money by deception" situation to exist.

I have emailed the FSA yesterday asking just what the hell they were playing at, and if they will honour the full 50K, but do not expect a hasty reply. Perhaps Martin, could try on our behalf.

From experience, it is better to unleash our collective firepower now rather than later for once Government [or any administrative body] has made a decision, it is incredibly difficult to reverse/overturn that decision.

IcesaveSteven

'It seems very unlikely that British savers will lose out permanently'

Not sure I understand this comment - I have £120,000 in a UK Reg Bank - Icesave - how do I get it ALL back?

This government have been pathetic in its achingly slow response to the crisis - it should show honour - and guarantee innocent British savers in this UK Reg bank! why should I lose £70,000? its been nationalised (same NR) by the Icelandic government and they should secure our deposits - back by UK government.

Took me years to earn that money and I cannot afford to lose it - bank are supposed to be safe! it's a national disgrace and the 'small' people should not be left in the lurch like this - come on Gordon show some backbone and honour!

ghostbusters

hello I like many others have savings with icesave so i understand the concerns being expressed..
I have a question .. in the statement this morning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7658307.stm
he refers to
'In addition the Government is establishing a facility, which will make available Tier 1 capital in appropriate form (expected to be preference shares or PIBS) to 'eligible institutions'. Eligible institutions are UK incorporated banks (including UK subsidiaries of foreign institutions) which have a substantial business in the UK and building societies. However applications are invited for inclusion as an eligible institution from any other UK incorporated bank (including UK subsidiaries of foreign institutions). In reviewing these applications the Government will give due regard to an institution's role in the UK banking system and the overall economy.'
I am afraid I don't really understand enough about banking to know if Icesave could also be covered by this if they choose to apply...is there anyone out there who could perhaps translate ..

ajqmarketing

I've got a little over £2000 of my VAT money in an Icesave Account, with a weekly transfer set up. I'm not desperate for the money (yet!) but am concerned that they'll keep taking money from me.

Any thoughts?

Markyt

john1950 wrote: »

... The guy is just not as bright as some here seem to think.

...I for one put money in Icesave on the back of Martin Lewis's reccommendation and I am not best pleased with Mr. Lewis. What he had to say at the time about the compensation scheme seemed fair enough until you yourself looked into the Icelandic financial situation.

So you looked at Martins advice, did your own research on the 'Icelandic financial situation', and went ahead and put your money in Icesave?

Either you made a poor judgement on the back of your own research, or you blindly followed someone elses advice. Either way, you got it wrong.

I assume you are one of those desperate for someone else to blame. You will also have a selective memory, in which you remember certain parts such as the recommendations and handily forget about the warnings that went with them, such as splitting money between banks and not going over the compensation limit with any single one.

cituk2001

Just listening to Alistair Darling being hounded by John Humphreys on Radio 4. He categorically stated that ALL money in ICESAVE will be guaranteed by the government and I think, implied that the savings might be transferred to another bank (may have that last big wrong!), so all sounds promising.

He said that the Iceland government have said they wont honour foreign money in ICESAVE but the UK government will.

billinge

Darling's just been on Radio 5 saying that the Icelandic government is going to default on their duty under their Financial Compensation Scheme for foreign account holders (ie us) but Mr.Darling says he can't let this happen, and although it shouldn't happen as it is a foreign bank, these are exceptional times, and he will ensure funds are protected. Now whether that means he will protect all funds, or just up to the £50k he did not say.
So long as my money is safe, and I will see it again at some point in the next few months then I'll be happy, not ecstatic, but it could be so much worse.

IcesaveSteven

He categorically stated that ALL money in ICESAVE will be guaranteed by the government and I think, implied that the savings might be transferred to another bank (may have that last big wrong!), so all sounds promising.

is this really TRUE? it would be a miracle! and restore some of my faith in the government - I have £120,000 in IceSave and retired - I really (really) can't afford to lose this