Are there NO 'safe' banks?

eeja

simon_templar wrote: »

Santander has had none of the toxic debts like other banks. Q3 profits were up 695 million Euros. You never hear 'banking crisis', 'need govt bailout' about Santander.

Santander is a Spanish bank and Spain is in deep water being downgraded from AAA only yesterday.
Furthermore have been offered its bonds only last week offering over 11% yield ...meaning the market feels there is clearly a big risk there

ghostbusters

withnell wrote: »

I'm sure there's something in one of Martin's savings guides about NR being fully covered.

Alternatively why not use a couple of accounts with other institutions and take advantage of better rates with 100% protection also? (Just keep each under 50k)

At th moment I have saving accounts(or fixed rate bonds) with nationwide, birmingham midshires , halifax and ing diect ( kaupthing) , abbey. originally I put money into Icesave and Kaupthing beacuse of the £35k limits rather than keep it all in once place..at one point I need to bring it all together. The real pain is that every time I move any money around it takes a minimum of 5 days..

Northern rock seems like the best place if 100% covergae however based on what is happening now to our banking system I am not sure how long it would take the governement to pay back larger amounts over £50k..

Jake'sGran

SusansHusband wrote: »

I see today that the Government is having to pump even more of the taxpayers's cash into the banks. Is there not at least ONE bank somewhere who has run their business efficiently without exposing themselves to the global financial situation. I did think HSBC were fairly stable, but now even they seem to require an injection of cash.

Does it have to be a bank? Some of the building societies seem to be doing OK, e.g. Nationwide. I have been using Kent Reliance for some of my savings but they seem a bit behind the times. They have a trial on line service which I joined but I've not been able to access it this week. You could also look at Yorkshire, Skipton and B'ham Midshires. I have fixed rates with all of these but will have to find somewhere else when they mature next year.

malik999

I'm starting to think renting a safety deposit box and sticking all my cash in it would be the better option . No interest but.. it will save me a fortune in my time reading this and other financial websites for the latest updates not to mention the hassle/time involved in keep opening new accounts and moving money around

soulsaver

malik999 wrote: »

I'm starting to think renting a safety deposit box and sticking all my cash in it would be the better option . No interest but.. it will save me a fortune in my time reading this and other financial websites for the latest updates not to mention the hassle/time involved in keep opening new accounts and moving money around

And if inflation turns negative, and there is another interest rate cut it's just possible you could get more interest under the bed than in a bank...;)

robin_banks

Co-operative bank seem to be ok, as do Yorkshire bank.

soulsaver

BTW call me pedantic but the OP didn't ask 'where should I put my money...?' There is a 1000 other threads on that question. 'Are there any safe banks?' has different answers in my opinion....

Andrew64

I would say that the safest bank in Britain is the 100% government owned Northern Rock. No chance of NR going bust - unless the government goes bust!

Bredagh

We're in a position where we have over £50k to invest. I checked out with regards to Northern Rock and got the same message that it was 100% safe, however when I look at the website it only mentions the Government protection scheme up to £50k, and when I called them, I was told the same thing. I assume that legally they have to say this, but that the 100% safety is derived from the fact that the bank is nationalised, and as someone above mentioned, the Government would have to go bust before Northern Rock couldn't pay out. Are these correct assumptions? Any help appreciated.

soulsaver

Bredagh wrote: »

We're in a position where we have over £50k to invest. I checked out with regards to Northern Rock and got the same message that it was 100% safe, however when I look at the website it only mentions the Government protection scheme up to £50k, and when I called them, I was told the same thing. I assume that legally they have to say this, but that the 100% safety is derived from the fact that the bank is nationalised, and as someone above mentioned, the Government would have to go bust before Northern Rock couldn't pay out. Are these correct assumptions? Any help appreciated.

Yes those are correct assumptions. It does exist but HMG has agreed NR can't promote the 100% guarantee because it would be unfair competition to the other banks. It is also capped to a % (1.5?) take of bank deposits and has closed accounts to new business in the past when in danger of breaching those limits. So if you open an account and then decide to go elsewhere, don't close it; keep a bit in so if you want to go back later you'll not be blocked.