Santander Guaranteed Capital Plus investments

mhil258

My wife and I have cash invested in Santander Guaranteed Capital Imvestments. I understand now that this type of investment is not covered under the FSCS, although I was assured that it was when they were taken out. So, is Santander safe? How likely is Santander to go bust and would I lose all of my investment? Not sure whether I can cash in early?
Would appreciate it if anyone got any thoughts out there.

Arthurian

I think with investments you get the first £50,000 guaranteed if the company goes bust (£85,000 for savings). See the "Are Your Savings Safe?" section of this website and click on the section "Am I protected if my investment company goes bust?".

Someone with better knowledge than me will come along soon to give you a better answer, but maybe that will help for now.

Loughton_Monkey

My understanding is that it will be up to £50K per head, but only if Santander goes bust. Your investments themselves, however, will be spread over several other institutions. You will be carrying what's called 'counterparty' risk.

Personally I would not lose much sleep over anyone going bust. Your issues (if any) are more likely to be around costs of the product and its ultimate 'performance' - which is not an issue covered by compensation schemes.

dunstonh

The FSCS protection does not apply if the market counterparty fails. If the promoter fails, then FSCS protection can apply. I believe in the case of Santander, they are both.

Not sure whether I can cash in early?

You can but it may cost you. The product you have is naff but its a bit late now to do anything about it. Next time, do not get advice or buy investments from a bank. They can only sell their products and have a lower remit. For example, tied agents of Santander do not have to worry about financial solvency issues. IFAs do. No IFA would have touched the product you have