Have the savers not learned nothing

bjorn_again

I find it slightly amusing that people who were saving with Icesace and Kaupthing Edge last year, are happy to offer ongoing advice to other savers on this forum.

john_s_2

I find it slightly amusing that people who were saving with Icesace and Kaupthing Edge last year, are happy to offer ongoing advice to other savers on this forum.

Don't forget KE was part of the FSCS. I wouldn't have touched it with a bargepole otherwise. And I pulled my dosh out of ING ASAP for the same reason.

ses6jwg

john_s wrote: »

Don't forget KE was part of the FSCS. I wouldn't have touched it with a bargepole otherwise. And I pulled my dosh out of ING ASAP for the same reason.

what makes you think the uk government is any more secure than the dutch?

john_s_2

ses6jwg wrote: »

what makes you think the uk government is any more secure than the dutch?

Nothing, I haven't a clue. But if a bank I'm with goes under I know which authorities I'd rather deal with.

Rollinghome

ses6jwg wrote: »

what makes you think the uk government is any more secure than the dutch?

That isn't really the point. The point that many failed to understand concerning the Icelandic banks, even when it was pointed out to them before the crunch, was that any government, foreign or otherwise, will put the interests of its own voters before those of foreigners. (That doesn't imply any comment on the specific banks now being mentioned.)

ses6jwg

was there any guarantee scheme in place before the crash?

D1zzy

ses6jwg wrote: »

was there any guarantee scheme in place before the crash?

Yes to £35K (I think) - the limit was raised to £50K in the middle of the crash

ses6jwg

hmmm, I've got 8k in ING, think I'll leave it in there for now, and just monitor economic news.

Baldur

D1zzy wrote: »

Yes to £35K (I think) - the limit was raised to £50K in the middle of the crash

It was raised from £35k to £50k on October 7th 2008.

samizdat

About Icesave - people with variable-rate accounts were not fully compensated - they received no interest while the compensation was being sorted out, which in some cases took many months.

On topic, I think the issue is that it is generally much safer to deposit money with an institution that is "too big to fail" than with one that isn't - for the obvious reason that, to spell it out, the big institution will not be allowed to fail, will be bailed out etc.

It is especially comforting if a national government has a large equity stake in the business, e.g. RBS, Lloyds Banking Group, Citigroup.

It could be worth chasing rates with large deposits (>£50k) in one of those banks.

Small, government-owned banks are also safe, e.g. Northern Rock. The one reservation I would have is for banks owned by small countries, especially those without their own currency, e.g. nationalised Irish banks. I am not saying they are unsafe; just less safe.