HouseMadness

I don't think so. It could happen if Britain as a country (or the FSCS as the vehicle for making the payments) refuses to honour its obligations to other countries (as opposed to paying up in full at a level greater than agreed). If countries seize assets in order to demand more than what agreed, I think we will be entering a very dangerous political situation with far reaching consequences. Edit: rewrote my comment on the quote

The EA agreement guarantees only the first € 20k. Individual institutions then have the option to join the host country's Scheme to top up to the host country's minimum guarantee. This is what Icesave did in NL and UK. What is (was) the German minimun guarantee for local banks?

The original point made was not 100% correct. The way I understand it from various sources (please do correct me if I'm wrong!) is that Iceland is part of the Economic European Area (EEA = EU plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein). The agreement (all countries need to accept! It's not forced upon us by Brussles) containing this passport scheme was, to put it simply, set up to support the single market principle and allowed banks of the EEA members to operate in each other's countries without the host countries being liable for deposit guarantees. The countries who signed up to this basically committed to set up the Deposit Guarantee Schemes covering a minimum of € 20.000*. The scheme also, eg., contains the commitment to payout within three months of the Scheme being triggered due to the collapse of a financial institution. The issue we see with Iceland is that it can't (or doesn't want - as per the comments by the Icelandic government earlier in the week) to honour the obligations under the abovementioned agreement. * note the compensation is fixed in Euros, not Sterling or Icelandic Krona

Dutch government has reached agreement with the Icelandic government re the compensation of the first € 20.887 for the Dutch Icesave savers. The Dutch government has basically offered Iceland a loan which will be used to compensate the Dutch savers. The Dutch Central Bank will deal with the applications of all savers. Pretty quick handling of the situation (they supposedly only started talking with eachother on Wednesday or Thursday). How quick will our government sort it out with the Icelanders?

ING Direct does operate under the passport scheme in the UK, but it is a reputable globally operating bank from the Netherlands. ING's website contains the following profile description: ING Direct operates direct retail banking activities for customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Austria, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The main products offered are savings accounts and mortgages and increasingly also mutual funds and payment accounts.

I missed that too. Would be interested to know what the UK government will do for us. The Dutch government and the Dutch Central Bank are already in talks with the Icelandic government in order to secure the Dutch savers' (about 75.000 of them) deposits. The only comment I have seen in the UK so far was on the website of The Times, where HM Treasury basically states: it's not our problem (to secure the first € 20k), so don't expect our help. For completeness - Icesave operates in the same way in the Netherlands as it does over here and Dutch savers will still need to claim the first € 20k from Iceland, but at least their government is proactively seeking assurances from Iceland. Furthermore, there is an organisation called the National Incasso Bureau in the Netherlands who are now seizing Icesave Netherlands' Dutch assets on behalf of Dutch savers! and yes, I also have my ISA with Icesave. Transferred most of the easy access savings back to my current account yesterday morning and it does show as Processed... I did manage to log in throughout the day yesterday and did as some other posters have done: save Screenshots of the accounts overviews onto my PC! For now, we just wait and see...

The idea is good and standard practice in the USA (probably with the exception of the way the buyer's representative earns his money) where you register with an EA who will act on your behalf. All properties are marketed from a central database to which all EAs have access to. The idea of "bringing your own EA" has also been applied in the Netherlands more than 10 years ago, when I lived there. You could ensure that your "broker" gets the best deal by linking his commission / fee to the amount of savings achieved on original asking price. The more he negotiates off the price, the more he earns...

Bazzup, link doesn't work for me neither. I've started looking in Brockley (Crofton Park, Honor Oak area). I don't know much about the area at all, but asking prices seems not too bad to me (still higher than what I think is reasonable, but then everything here is overpriced) - I mean, it seems to be a bit better than Lewisham, Clatpon or Peckham and cheaper than East Dulwich / Peckham Rye. What are your thoughts?