Very worrying stop press news re Anglo Irish

gozomark

I have savings with 5 banks, and although I'm concerned about the safety of all of them, the ones I'm least worried about are NR and Anglo Irish

masonic

melbury wrote: »

Surely though Anglo Irish must be inundated with people trying to get their money out and using all sorts of excuses. They must know that most of these excuses are bogus.

I'm sure there are and they do, but the worst they can do is call your bluff and say no. There's nothing to suggest they are doing that, though.

My OH tells me that I am completely over-reacting and that the money will be fine because basically if Ireland goes bankrupt then everyone will be in big trouble.

It's funny that when Anglo was nationalised, it had probably never been safer, yet it has triggered some people into panic. Those people are suffering a delayed reaction: they should have been panicking months ago and breathing a sigh of relief now. But the fact remains, regardless of how safe a bank is in point of fact, if you are worried about its safety then you have to ask yourself whether it's worth going through all that mental anguish for the sake of some additional interest on your deposits. Some people are able to make a rational decision about this situation and have the courage of their convictions to stand by it, whilst others don't have the confidence to do that. If you fall into the latter category, have the capacity to get your money out and are willing to pay the penalty, then that may be the right decision for you.

melbury

masonic wrote: »

I'm sure there are and they do, but the worst they can do is call your bluff and say no. There's nothing to suggest they are doing that, though.

It's funny that when Anglo was nationalised, it had probably never been safer, yet it has triggered some people into panic. Those people are suffering a delayed reaction: they should have been panicking months ago and breathing a sigh of relief now. But the fact remains, regardless of how safe a bank is in point of fact, if you are worried about its safety then you have to ask yourself whether it's worth going through all that mental anguish for the sake of some additional interest on your deposits. Some people are able to make a rational decision about this situation and have the courage of their convictions to stand by it, whilst others don't have the confidence to do that. If you fall into the latter category, have the capacity to get your money out and are willing to pay the penalty, then that may be the right decision for you.

I did stay completely calm when all of our savings were in Northern Rock, which was probably far more critical. It just didn't occur to me to panic and try and get the money out at any cost.

To be honest I didn't have a clue that Anglo Irish were in any kind of trouble until the last week or so, I was in blissful ignorance.:o

soulsaver

I needed to clarify a maturity date for one of my ftbs so talked to Anglo Irish UK yesterday. I got through after only a few rings. The girl was in no way flustered and didn't sound run off her feet; she sounded relaxed with absolutely no sign of frazzle and had time for pleasantries. They are not inundated in the UK, and half of their funds are UK deposits.

cepheus

This may be of some relevance to this thread

Part of "What happens if all UK banks default?" from This is money

What happens if all of the banks in Ireland fall into trouble? A large portion of UK savers have deposited cash in the Irish banking system due to the 100% guarantee offered by the Irish Government. In the unlikely event all of the Irish banks collapse, pushing their government into default, some external body would have to step in, such as the European Central Bank. The UK Government would be likely to step in to help UK savers as it did in the case of the Icelandic banks.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=469689&in_page_id=7&ct=5

cepheus

masonic wrote: »

Do you really expect that every time a Government makes a change to policy that adversely affects some people, they should explicitly warn all of those people personally? That just isn't practical. What happened was that the change was widely publicised in the national media. That is all that normally happens and all most people would expect.

Er Yes, I do and evidently this is an entirely reasonable expectation. I'm glad it is not me who is being unreasonable!

The Post Office has written to 500,000 account holders telling them their money is no longer covered by the UK savings protection scheme.


Instead, they will have to put their trust in the Irish version. But with banks there in as bad a state as our own - and the economy probably worse - is it time to bring your money home?

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=470413&in_page_id=7&ct=5

melbury

cepheus wrote: »

Er Yes, I do and evidently this is an entirely reasonable expectation. I'm glad it is not me who is being unreasonable!

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=470413&in_page_id=7&ct=5

Oh great! That has really cheered me up.

masonic

cepheus wrote: »

Er Yes, I do and evidently this is an entirely reasonable expectation. I'm glad it is not me who is being unreasonable!

If I were the sort of person to expect to be informed of such changes, I don't think I'd be very happy about waiting 4 months to be told about them, and then only if I was lucky enough to hold an account with a particular organisation amongst several others. It is clearly still a very bad idea to have an expectation that you will be told about such changes personally. However, I do hope the day comes when your expectation does become reasonable. On that day, you may quote that post of mine a third time, showing that hindsight is indeed always 20-20.

dwileflunker

melbury wrote: »

Surely though Anglo Irish must be inundated with people trying to get their money out and using all sorts of excuses. They must know that most of these excuses are bogus.

My OH tells me that I am completely over-reacting and that the money will be fine because basically if Ireland goes bankrupt then everyone will be in big trouble.

If Ireland goes belly up the EU will bail them out, but there's no guarantee they'll bail out UK savers. After all, despite all the rhetoric, the EU is no great friend of the UK or it's people.

melbury

dwileflunker wrote: »

If Ireland goes belly up the EU will bail them out, but there's no guarantee they'll bail out UK savers. After all, despite all the rhetoric, the EU is no great friend of the UK or it's people.

But surely if the EU bailed Ireland out, they would have to compensate the UK savers with money invested in Irish banks - wouldn't they??