More specifically... Should we now be avoiding all internet savings accounts and more our money to the big banks? I have money all over the show at the moment and don't want my money to go the way my IceSave did.

Aren't Egg owned by CitiBank? They don't come much bigger than that.

I think so... Cool, so it should be alright... Guess when I get my money back, I'm leaving it in there..

Notice I didn't say they don't come much safer than that ;)

yeah, Citi's balance sheet does not make pleasant reading. Whether it's in trouble is another thing. They refinanced via the Middle-East last year.
Also, Egg seemed to get rid of a lot of their 'good' credit card customers last year, so their debtor profile may be worse than some others in that regard.

I'd say, make sure you do not exceed the 50k deposit guarantee limit(and check Egg's status with regard to that-being US owned may mean the legal obligations are not as you assume a la Icesave)

I've got an old account with egg, couple of hundred in it. The problem is, it's an internet account without a branch, and it doesn't operate current accounts. It's backed by Citigroup, has a UK license, and I'm pretty sure if they went pop they pay out would come quickly.

However, I consider the safest accounts to be with large domestic banks/building socs that have branches and (most importantly) operate current accounts & business current accounts. These (i.e. Barclays, Lloyds, HBOS ) will, in my opinion, always get bailed out immediately, rather than be placed in administration or have any doubt over it's future (a la Icesave).

Egg offer a really neat system that I haven't seen anywhere else. They let you register logon details of all your other accounts (including certain kinds of investment accounts like Fidelity, and also Paypal) and show you all your balances on one screen. Then if you want to access any of your accounts, you just click on the name and the Egg system logs on for you - it's fascinating to watch the various bits of logon info being entered at breakneck speed as the account opens. Handy if you forget any of your logon details too.

I think it's called 'Egg Safe' or something similar. IMO, it's worth opening an Egg account and shoving a pound in it just to have this great facility at your disposal. With just a single logon you've got all your worldly goods listed on one screen. I'm surprised they don't market it more.

...so, they're a shell company?













I'll obtain my parka.

Remember not to keep all your baskets in one Egg ...er..I think.

Pulled my money out of Egg ages ago, when they were messing about with the credit card fiasco. That was a clear sign of a bank in trouble. I'm not going to end up with egg on my face, the yolk's on them.

Quite , I recently removed the cash I had in ING, Just in case they decided to switch the site off and I lost access.

Got to find somewhere to put it now. I suppose some more will go in NS & I.

I thought this press release two days back was pretty useful, better off accessing the fsa site but here's a dummy's list for now, strangely it doesn't mention EGG specifically;

The list below shows MoneyExpert.com's understanding of the current situation concerning several well-known brands.


Lloyds TSB - Acquisition of HBOS. Not decided - at the moment the banks are separate entities so have separate licences.

Lloyds TSB and C&G share authorisation.

Scottish Widows has a separate licence.

HBOS; to be acquired by Lloyds TSB. Not decided - at the moment the banks are separate entities so have separate licences. HBOS has one authorisation covering Halifax, Bank of Scotland, AA, Birmingham Midshires, Intelligent Finance and Saga.

Sainsbury's Bank which is 50% owned by HBOS has its own authorisation.

RBS and Natwest have separate authorisations but Direct Line shares authorisation with RBS.

Santander; bought Alliance & Leicester and savings business of Bradford & Bingley. Alliance & Leicester retains separate authorisation while Bradford & Bingley does not.

Cahoot is covered by Abbey's authorisation.

HSBC; HSBC and First Direct share authorisation.

Yorkshire & Clydesdale; one authorisation and one limit.

Barclays; has one brand.

Post Office; shares authorisation with Bank of Ireland.

Co-Op Bank; shares authorisation with Smile

http://firstrung.co.uk/articles.asp?pageid...&cat=44-0-0

Egg is safe .... it's the salmonella that's the problem.


(I've got me coat on already)

Safe as houses. (So you've only lost about 13% of your capital YoY).

after what i've seen this last fortnight, the thought of having any money in an internet-only bank scares me to death.

How about Tesco?
Dr Bubb posted about it on GEI.

I've been wondering whether small banks are better than big banks. I've never seen this discussed, so what do people think? If a small bank goes bust, then its fairly easy to nationalise it, or sell it to a bigger bank (Northern Rock and B&B being the examples). But if, say, LloydsTSB goes bust - then can the government afford to rescue it, or if it can, can it do it as quickly and painlessly as its done with Northern Rock & B&B.

Egg changed their terms and conditions a year ago allowing them to freeze accounts for up to 60 days if there was to be a run on the bank. The clause allows it to stop customers removing money if it thinks its "financial stability" is threatened. It says: "In order for us to run our business lawfully and with prudent liquidity levels, in exceptional circumstances, we may need to suspend your right to take money out of an account for a period of up to 60 days."

I have money in Icesave. On reflection I'm closing my Egg account today. I'm not using internet-only banks for the foreseeable future. Just my view. I don't like it when banks tell me they may need to suspend my rights. I've already had the Icelandic government pull that stunt on me this week.

I suspect you would have the same problem with a bank with branches. Short of holding it up with a shotgun, if they don't want to give you your money you won't get it.

Don't chicken out. See who cracks first.
It's easy to let current event scramble your thinking, but the building societies are just trying to poach your business.
The worst that can happen is they have custardy of your money for 60 days.
etc.

understandable.

Icesave taught me the following lessons (right or wrong):

The collapse of an internet-only bank does not get anywhere near as much media attention as the collapse of a branch-based bank like Northern Rock. There is no focus for the savers to apply pressure. There is less political leverage available to seek redress.

The Icelandic government bailed out Glitnir last week. It couldn't bail out Icesave this week. I'm very grateful to the British government for stepping in. I think I'm lucky that I've been affected relatively early on. If more banks go under I doubt those savers will get the same generous treatment.

Staying calm as confidence drains from a bank is NOT the thing to do. If you have legitimate concerns then move your money. Frankly any extra interest is negated by the extra stress, even if it proves to be unfounded. I hate to think how little I gained in interest for all the grief I've got from Icesave. It just isn't worth it. I probably won't get the interest anyway.

The promises of foreign governments are worthless. In the current climate it's every country for itself.

Public opinion has turned. When Northern Rock collapsed the debate was whether the shareholders should lose out. Now many people think that the savers themselves should lose out, even if there is a government guarantee. As unemployment and economic hardship rises this sentiment will increase. That will reduce the pressure on politicians to act to protect savers.

Don't expect to be able to see the bank collapse coming. I moved my money out of Icesave on Monday morning but by then it was way too late. If I had moved money on the previous Wednesday or Thursday I may have been lucky. Once you can see other people leaving the bank it may already too late to get out.

...... Egg is a perfectly reputable bank. I've saved with them for about 8 years. However, in these uncertain times they no longer match the risk profile I'm looking for. Their rates aren't anything special anyway.

My problem with Ice was my money wasn't liquid in there. It was stuck in a bond and it was meant to mature in December. So I could do nothing and just watch on the side lines the fall of the not-so-great IceSave.

I'm also thinking and please feel free to correct me but in these times, having a bond isn't such a good idea?

I was absolutely stuck and couldn't join the rush to extract the money. It however seems that some of us here got nailed when withdrawing their money, money stuck in Limbo. That would stress me out more and I do hope that money is located and not digested by those fish selling crooks in the North(don't know if this is un-PC or not, but they stole from the UK).

The only way you'll be absolutely safe is owe as much money to the bank as they owe you i.e. deposit £50k at the same time you take out a loan for the same amount. In the event that the bank goes under the two debts cancel out each other. You will of course be liable for charges on the interest.

Ehhh??? what do you do with the 50k you just borrowed?

Judging by this forum. Buy gold and put it under the bed, get a rottweiller for a wife and it's safe as houses.

Umm.... my insolvency law is a bit rusty (well,, VERY rusty) but I'm not sure it works like that. I've a nasty feeling that they can dun you for what you owe them, but you take your place in the queue for what they owe you.

They definitely have a right of set off with your dealings with them. If you fail to pay the debt, they can take from your cash accounts.

I've been reducing my egg holding for a while in favour for smile - more out of personal preference than concerns for safety.

However, despite egg's earlier encouragement I've never done the egg safe as I didn't think it a good thing to be sharing my bank details and passwords with one bank. Does anyone else agree this sounds dubious?

I'll be keeping my account going at a lower amount for now. Any further updates on egg appreciated.

Interesting to read the threat about Cahoot today. The site is down 'for maintenance' and people can't withdraw cash. I'm not saying for a moment that this isn't the case but it's telling to see how nervous savers have already started ringing customer services who are assuring them they're not going bust. The very nature of internet banks and their general reputation following Icesave makes them, IMO, more prone to a bank run.