Moving savings into a foreign account

acarmine

Hello

I have about 4k in savings and I was wondering what the best (stable) foreign savings account there is. I have no confidence in natwest.

gozomark

do you mean an non-sterling account, or an account with a foreign bank ?

if non-sterling, what do you mean by stable ?

DiscoPaul_2

Why don't you have any confidence in Natwest? As far as i'm aware savings of up to £50k have been guaranteed by the gov't? So, apart from the low interest rates, you don't really have anything to worry about.

climbgirl

If you're talking about a non-sterling account, you're also taking a big risk on exchange rates. Trying to predict what currency rates will do is a bit like gazing into a crystal ball.

I too don't see why you'd move it away from NatWest. They're receiving govt funding, it's highly unlikely they'll actually go under. And if they did, your £4000 is covered by the FCSC guarantee.

So why move it?

acarmine

I was not aware of this 50k safety net. Thank you all for your advice.

DiscoPaul_2

Can't believe you haven't given me a thanks for that??? haha

:rotfl:

climbgirl

acarmine wrote: »

I was not aware of this 50k safety net. Thank you all for your advice.

Hmm no offence intended, but that's a little concerning given the recent coverage it's had in the press.

In the current market you ABSOLUTELY MUST check out the protection that your savings accounts and deposits have. As a general rule of thumb, UK banks will be covered by the FSCS in the event they go under, up to the level of £50k per banking institution.

BUT...a lot of accounts are offered by the same institution even though they have a different name so you must be careful. And not all accounts offered in the UK are from UK banks (ING for example is a Dutch bank and Anglo Irish is an Irish bank. These are not covered by the UK FSCS scheme.) Martin has a good list of what is covered on this site if you want to make sure.

Your money is safe in NatWest - it's unlikely (although not impossible!) that the govt will let it fail completely. And if it does, the FSCS will cover you up to £50k.

acarmine

Excellent.