MSE News: Savings protection to rocket to £85,000

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Individual protection against a UK bank or building society going bust will rise from £50,000 to £85,000 on 31 December ..."

Read the full story:
Savings protection to rocket to £85,000

Comfortably_Numb

Thats a little bit of good news then.

neil324

Not like house prices then...

nzseries1

Great! Now I only have to split my £112,000,000 Euromillions win this weekend between 1,318 accounts, instead of between 2,240 accounts! Hooray!

nzseries1

nzseries1 wrote: »

Great! Now I only have to split my £112,000,000 Euromillions win this weekend between 1,318 accounts, instead of between 2,240 accounts! Hooray!

Oops sorry, I meant 1,318 financial institutions, not accounts... are there even that many?

Noble_Savage

MSE_Guy wrote: »

This

"Individual protection against a UK bank or building society going bust will rise from £50,000 to £85,000 on 31 December ..."

Erm. Not quite, Guy. The FSA has issued a consultation document on using £85k as the figure they use as an equivalent of the Euro figure. That's not the same as saying it will definitely be £85k.

A bit more responsibility, a little less sensationalism, and we'll all be better informed.

Gorgeous_George

Heaven help us if we ever need to rely on the 'guarantee'.

GG

alanq

Yet another non-story from MSE. The rate has not yet been fixed so we are in much the same situation that we have been for a while. A limit equivalent to €100,000 will be set at an exchange rate yet to be decided.

"The FSA has proposed setting the new FSCS deposit compensation limit for investors at £85,000 - but says it may revise this figure if the euro-sterling exchange rate deteriorates."
http://www.ifaonline.co.uk/ifaonline/news/1740712/fscs-compensation-limit-uk-set-gbp85k

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Wow !! That'll have a big effect on me then - NOT!!

Former_MSE_Guy

Hi Noble Savage,
The FSCS put out a press release yesterday to say the rise is DEFINITELY happening which is why we wrote this story.

We called to ask why it did this and the reason is because the industry is already in agreement, which means there is little stopping this happening despite the fact you rightly say it is still, technically speaking, subject to a consultation.

But we're told by the FSCS the only thing that could stop it is a very large swing in the value of the pound, which we state already in the story.

So I would counter your suggestion this is sensationalist. We have published an official statement from the horse's mouth, ie, the body that would pay out any compensation.

We have added a line to say that there is a consultation out to add an extra bit of detail but that doesn't change the fact that baring a miracle (or the pound doing something crazy - which in this economic climate you never know!) £85k will be the limit come the new year.

Thought I'd let you know the background.

Noble_Savage wrote: »

Erm. Not quite, Guy. The FSA has issued a consultation document on using £85k as the figure they use as an equivalent of the Euro figure. That's not the same as saying it will definitely be £85k.

A bit more responsibility, a little less sensationalism, and we'll all be better informed.

MSE_Martin

Just to echo Guy's points. The limit is now set at £85,000 - that doesn't mean it is impossible for it to change, but that the change would be a severe exception. The following is the FSCS's statement that started this and Guy spoke to them and they confirmed the limit was confirmed. This was a perfectly legitimately reported story.

"FSCS statement on change to compensation limit for deposits

Mark Neale, Chief Executive of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), said:

“We welcome the increase in compensation limits from £50,000 to £85,000 that will come into force from 31 December 2010. The increase will mean that almost 99% of FSA-authorised consumer deposits will be covered if their provider goes bust.

“Once the change comes into effect then we, alongside all deposit-taking institutions, have an important job to do to ensure that consumers are aware of the new limit. The rise to £85,000 is good for consumers and will bring greater stability, certainty and confidence to consumers.”