Are your savings safe? article discussion

Rhona-g

Quick question- does anyone know what happens to interest not yet credited? Have had money in an Icesave account (woohoo) for just under a year and the interest is due in say just over a month- will this still happen, or is it covered by the protection limit?

Thanks!

old_bonezee_2

A close relative has savings with A&L, Abbey and B&B totalling more than £50K, which since the series of takeovers by Santander are now covered by one FSA authorisation. But, as I understand, these are locked-in with severe penalties for early withdrawals.

So the question is, are these lock-ins still valid after a forced takeover? Surely, a saver should not be penalised by the mergend FSA authorisation and the resultant need to move savings and lose interest or suffer early withdrawal penalties.

Any thoughts or clarification on this would be welcomed?

Former_MSE_Dan

Hi folks,

We have been updating our full safe savings guide all morning, but now we have official confirmation of this 100% guarantee, thought id post it in here too

STOP PRESS. Updated 12.15pm Wed 8 Oct. Icesave temporarily stops withdrawals.

Icesave is reported to have gone into technical receivership, meaning its assets have been taken over by the Icelandic government and it has effectively been nationalised (like Northern Rock was), see this FT article. It's likely it will be declared insolvent in the near future.

Crucially, this morning, Chancellor Alastair Darling said that ALL cash in Icesave will be guaranteed by the UK government i.e. not just the first £50k. This has now been confirmed by an official Treasury statement, including the following:

The UK authorities expect that Landsbanki will soon be declared in default. Should that occur, the Chancellor has put in place arrangements to ensure that no retail depositor will lose any money as a result of the closure of Icesave.


Read the full statement, and all updates will appear here and be included in the free weekly email.

tony242977

JUST CHECKED BOTH MY ACCOUNTS AND NOTICED THAT THEY HAVE ADDED THE INTEREST OWED UP UNTIL THE 8thOCT !

trojjer

I was thinking, "Oh ****!" when I heard Alistair Darling mention that Kaupthing's been liquidised "as of the last hour" after PM Questions today (12:57pm now). I hope they haven't lied to us! "We've been downgraded by Fitch recently, but so has everyone else..."

There's no mention of this in the "news room" section of their website. I was relieved that I hadn't put anything in Icesave, but now I'm a bit worried. I have £1000 in a 6-month bond with K Edge which is due to mature in March, and £500 instant access. I know I'm "covered" in theory, but will it all be okay? :S And if they're bought by ING, will the KE site still operate as normal?

nickc84

Anyone know about Abbey given they are spanish owned?

nowa

Hi all,

I've just called up the "Anlgo Irish Bank UK" and spoken to some account advisor who told me that even the UK residents opening up a savings account in "Anlgo Irish Bank UK" would be guaranteed 100% (safety) on their savings for 2 years.

Why is this "method" not mentioned in the MoneySavingExpert.com "Are your savings safe?" guide ?

The only options I found there were:

Northern Rock
National Savings and Investments (NS&I)

Please help, I'll be looking for a safe place to keep some money after selling a property...

cvd

I've just called up the "Anlgo Irish Bank UK" and spoken to some account advisor who told me that even the UK residents opening up a savings account in "Anlgo Irish Bank UK" would be guaranteed 100% (safety) on their savings for 2 years.

See here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c3a11a74-9498-11dd-953e-000077b07658.html
Which just shows you what a bunch of liars they are.

The Irish "guarantee" is a way of getting gullible UK voters to put money in Irish banks so that if an Irish bank collapses, they will be able to fully recompense Irish voters with the deposits of UK voters. That is how democratic governments work.
The "fine tuning" mentioned in the article will perhaps be that the guarantee only holds for Irish voters.

I agree with your choice of NR and NS&I. Otherwise, if you are risk averse, you need to spread your savings just like people spread their investments. A piece of fundamental advice which seems to be sadly missing from many of the so-called experts on this forum.

Rubyjones

trojjer wrote: »

I was thinking, "Oh ****!" when I heard Alistair Darling mention that Kaupthing's been liquidised "as of the last hour" after PM Questions today (12:57pm now). I hope they haven't lied to us! "We've been downgraded by Fitch recently, but so has everyone else..."

There's no mention of this in the "news room" section of their website. I was relieved that I hadn't put anything in Icesave, but now I'm a bit worried. I have £1000 in a 6-month bond with K Edge which is due to mature in March, and £500 instant access. I know I'm "covered" in theory, but will it all be okay? :S And if they're bought by ING, will the KE site still operate as normal?

I also have £1000 saved with Kaupthing. Does anyone know if we can still access out accounts on the web site as my account is internet only?

ewokuk

I have a question about ISA's in icesave. The government may well guarantee all deposits, so I will get the money back (eventually?), but what happens to the 2 years worth of ISAs I have in icesave? am I going to lose 2 years worth of tax free savings allowances which i can never get back? (which is going to add up to a lot several years down the line when all the tax free interest i would have got has been compounded).