Santander safe? Worth pulling fund out while still can?

The-Joker

Is Santander safe? Is it worth pulling funds out while still can?

The bank runs in Greece seem to be spreading to Spain will Santander survive?

I got burnt with savings in Iceland dont want to lose any more money.

I know its supposed to be guaranteed this time, but how much hassel to try and get your money back?

ctdctd

If you have more than £85K in there, then be prudent and spread it about a bit.

If less, don't stress.

In my opinion anyway!

HTH

Onawingandaprayer

The-Joker wrote: »

I got burnt with savings in Iceland dont want to lose any more money.

How much did you lose?

notahopeinhell

I've heard a couple of experts on the radio in the last few days saying that Santander UK is pretty safe and has less exposure to foreign debt than many other "British" banks.

One said that the parent company in Spain could not draw funds from the UK operation other than profits and certainly not investors deposits, other than if the executives want to get themselves arrested!

The backstop is the FSA scheme which if you qualify is supposed to protect us.

I have money in a Santander ISA and am not planning to withdraw it. Having listened to them I am slightly more confident than I was a few days ago.

BettySpofkins

Martin has covered all of this in depth already:

http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2012/05/19/how-safe-is-santander-uk-what-i-really-think/

jimjames

Onawingandaprayer wrote: »

How much did you lose?

That is a good question. I thought that no-one lost anything other than some councils with money in those banks. Did individuals lose as well?

hermante

jimjames wrote: »

That is a good question. I thought that no-one lost anything other than some councils with money in those banks. Did individuals lose as well?

If they had more than 50K (the compensation at the time), or if their money was actually in Iceland as opposed to the UK regulated Icesave.

thumshie

hermante wrote: »

If they had more than 50K (the compensation at the time), or if their money was actually in Iceland as opposed to the UK regulated Icesave.

No, the government paid in full to retail customers, not to the fscs limit:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_172242

The Chancellor has put in place arrangements to ensure that all retail depositors in three Icelandic banks will receive their money in full:
Landsbanki, including Icesave
Heritable
Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander, including Kaupthing Edge

However the IoM and Channel Isles didn't payout.
(Also Icesave wasn't UK regulated.. Edge, were put Icesave used the 'passport' scheme..)

Onawingandaprayer

hermante wrote: »

If they had more than 50K (the compensation at the time), or if their money was actually in Iceland as opposed to the UK regulated Icesave.

My understanding is that no individual UK savers lost anything. And received the large majority of their interest. I speak from personal experience!

As I said in a post the other day, i just can't see the point of this scare-mongering - people have watched It's a Wonderful Life far too many times....

Reaper

The-Joker wrote: »

Is Santander safe? Is it worth pulling funds out while still can?

Best to do a search before posting, there have been numerous threads on the subject already.

The bank runs in Greece seem to be spreading to Spain will Santander survive?

No, there was a rumour of a run on Spanish bank Bankia (not Santander) which caused a sharp drop in its share price. The rumours were denied and the markets seem satisfied they were indeed false as the share price has fully recovered.

I got burnt with savings in Iceland dont want to lose any more money.

As posted previously that seems unlikely as UK retail investors were repaid in full.

I know its supposed to be guaranteed this time, but how much hassel to try and get your money back?

Icesave took a long time because of the complication that Iceland was meant to pay for part of the compensation but defaulted. If there is a next time it ought to be much simpler. Also remember many banks and building societies were taken over rather than allowed to fail (many by Santanader!) so the savers did not have to wait to get their money back.

Glen_Clark

I see negligible risk of losing deposits under £85K in Santander
But its not just that which concerns me. .
I got my savings out of Iceland the week before it went bust, and am glad I did because I would not feel comfortable watching foreign bankers run off with my savings, then me claiming them back from the British Taxpayer.
Its surprising to see people decry others for claiming disability benefits for example from the taxpayer, when they themselves have no qualms about claiming from the taxpayer what they have lost in a foreign bank.