Simon_Trinity Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 (edited) You've been here for a year. You cannot possibly have missed all the warnings about the Icelandic banks. They are only "banks" in the loosest sense of the word. They are/were really nothing more than hedge funds constituted as "banks" run by a dozen or so blokes from a tiny island nobody would otherwise lend to. Anyone that looks down a list of deposit takers, sees one offering a higher interest rate than everybody else, sees that it's offshore, sees that it's Iceland, sees that they are constantly in the press with question marks hanging over them, and still lends them "everything they've worked hard for" certainly deserves what they get. The people who didn't take these risks, erred on the side of caution, kept their cash in the UK, took a lower rate of interest, spread their cash around and so on, did it for a reason. That reason is now perfectly clear. You want to take bigger risks? Then take the consequences or don't do it. Regardless of how terribly 'right' you were I just don't see that now is the time to be smug and show off about it. Do you have no compassion for your fellow HPCer? Have you never been wrong or made a wrong decision? Are you planning to be right and know everything and make perfect judgements for the rest of your life, or do you think that one day it might be you suffering? On that day, do you expect those around you to kick you in the teeth and tell you they knew more than you and could have avoided it? [EDIT to add that FWIW I've been here a lot longer than a year but that I wasn't talking about myself anyway. Yes I've seen the warnings. I've also seen people telling me to buy gold, sell gold, stockpile food, buy a house, not buy a house, etc. etc. etc. Surprisingly I haven't done everything suggested on this site. And many of those affected won't even have seen the threads you're referring to.] Edited October 7, 2008 by Simon_Trinity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExecutiveSlaveBox Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 (edited) For those with money in Kaupthing Info here Yep, just withdrew all my cash out of Kaupthing about 2 days ago. Feel pretty bad about adding to all this sh*te that's going on but have been panicked by recent rumours. Just feel anything with the name Iceland associated with it might be in trouble fairly soon. My heart goes out to everyone on here who may have lost money with icesave... This is all playing out like a horrible version of prisoners dilemma. Edited October 7, 2008 by AuroraBorealis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbrown Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I'm mildly relieived that there are over 300,000 UK savers with Icesave. The FSCS ain't gonna let that many savers go to the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer466 Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Anyone transferred funds out in the last 24 - 72 hours? Times Article Q: I managed to withdraw my money from Icesave yesterday, but they say it takes four days to transfer. Will my money come through or will Icesave retain that cash because of today’s freeze on accounts?A: An Icesave spokeswoman said she did not know for certain, but as the transfer process takes several days and things came to a halt today, there is a sizeable chance that the money will be stuck in the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrashingisles Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I'm mildly relieived that there are over 300,000 UK savers with Icesave. The FSCS ain't gonna let that many savers go to the wall. 300,000 savers - one for every Icelander! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprouty76 Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Yep, just withdrew all my cash out of Kaupthing about 2 days ago. Feel pretty bad about adding to all this sh*te that's going on but have been panicked by recent rumours. Just feel anything with the name Iceland associated with it might be in trouble fairly soon.My heart goes out to everyone on here who may have lost money with icesave... This is all playing out like a horrible version of prisoners dilemma. That was my justification for taking my 100 quid out (the minimum to open the account in the first place - a few months ago I had planned to stash more cash there, but thought better of it), I don't believe Kaupthing are in particular trouble based on fundamentals, but recent events mean you don't just have to take fundamentals into account, you have to worry about sentiment too. Given what's happened and some of the statements this morning, I can definitely see a run on them so took the decision to "panic" first. I'm not desperate for the money, nor would I be in particular trouble if the money were lost completely, but that doesn't mean I would be happy losing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjones Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 300,000 savers - one for every Icelander! They could do an "adopt a saver" scheme, where each icelander selects a saver then works for many years until the saves debt is paid off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CviewUK Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 As Baugur has been mentioned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baugur_Group Check out the link to the FT at the bottom of the page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasket37 Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 some more information re. the compensation situation "If Iceland doesn’t pay, the FSCS will only pay out the excess over £16,100. (We checked this fact with the FSCS this morning.)" http://*******.com/3lr42x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Reaver Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Just emptied my Kaupthing Edge account - only had £100 in it and I don't need it immediately, but I decided to take advice and panic first Got about £15 in an Icesave account, but it was only a month ago I was contemplating an ISA with them - I decided to top up my NS&I one at a lower rate instead. 100 quid and panic sounds funny somehow when each day they are talking in trillions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonb Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 This does flag up the issue of whether, in this current climate, you opt for a fixed term bond with a good IR or prefer to keep it in an easy access but falling IR account? I think you will be fine if you keep the money in a British bank that has a reasonable number of branches, for example HBOS. Birmingham Midshires has reasonably good fixed rates, and you should probably be fine keeping your money there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selling up Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I just went to log on to my Icesave account... only to find that I withdrew everything and closed the account 3 weeks ago. I must have been drunk, because I have no memory of doing so. But the money's back in my Lloyd's current account. Long live drunken paranoia! Hope I didn't post anything here while in the same state! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icebroke Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I've finally (FINALLY!) managed to call IceSave. It might be useful for those of you in a similar position to me, i.e. closed their account and are waiting for the money to turn up. The question I asked was "I initiated a CHAPS transfer yesterday, it's gone from my account but not turned up at the other end." The woman on the other end was quite helpful, although given the circumstances she wasn't 100% certain what was going on. Apparently the CHAPS payments weren't made - i.e. they haven't left IceSave. There in step 1 of the queue, and should "bounce back" into the account (which will reopen if closed). Any payments experts here? It seems that the system goes Account -> CHAPS queue -> CHAPS system -> destination bank queue -> destination bank account. My money is in the CHAPS queue waiting for a batch job that's never going to be run Although, hopefully, this solves the audit-trail when it comes to claiming it back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boredwithforum Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 For those with money in Kaupthing Info here a few threads back " electronic bank runs " I think it was called, people were moving money out then, I cleared 2 accounts, cost me £60 in chaps 3 times, but may be worth it people have been WARNED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noyk Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Anyone transferred funds out in the last 24 - 72 hours?Times Article Yes yesterday PM, accounts show money has left, one was chaps the other bacs. If my chaps money appears i will update thread, but i'm not expecting it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sillybear2 Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Well, the FSCS passport scheme doesn't work like that, the £12k is not covered by the FSCS, only part of the £12k is. But in any case, there is always a risk when speculating in this way. It doesn't matter whether you put your money into property, gold, commodities or Icelandic banks, it's never 100% safe. The judgment to make is, does the return justify the risk. I disagree, physical gold is no one else liability, of course you could argue it isn't 100% safe as you need to store it somewhere. Even if you keep it under your pillow there's a 0.1% chance somebody might rob you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
housespider Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 We actually contemplated puting all of our house fund in there about a year ago, due to the very high rate of interest. Luckily I reverted to the well known saying "if it seems to good to be true"........ and so we didn't and the saying remains a very true one to me!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gel Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I transferred my last £3500 last week, left yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huw Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 The BBC article says that they will pay out up to their compensation limits on UK liabilities but that ""Domestic deposits are fully guaranteed, as declared by the government.".This seems to mean that if an Icelander has 100,000 quid in their account, the Icelandic government is guaranteeing the lot. If someone has 100,000 quid in Icesave, they get back 50,000 from the Iceland scheme and the FSA combined but Iceland does not cover the remaining 50,000. Correct me, if I've misread the BBC piece. Seems reasonable to me, as long as they do what they said they will do. Why should they go beyond that? Especially as the bulk of domestic accounts will be denominated in kronur; acquiring the necessary kronur will be much much easier than acquiring pounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormtreader Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 some more information re. the compensation situation"If Iceland doesn’t pay, the FSCS will only pay out the excess over £16,100. (We checked this fact with the FSCS this morning.)" http://*******.com/3lr42x So my hard-saved house deposit/pension of nearly 10k is potentially lost because the FSCS would only pay out over the 16k? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huw Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 They could do an "adopt a saver" scheme, where each icelander selects a saver then works for many years until the saves debt is paid off. Yeah, cos we're all the property of our national banks and should willingly accept enslavement to meet their liabilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Hun Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 (edited) Seems reasonable to me, as long as they do what they said they will do. Why should they go beyond that?Especially as the bulk of domestic accounts will be denominated in kronur; acquiring the necessary kronur will be much much easier than acquiring pounds Q: Suppose the worst happens and Icesave does collapse. What happens then?A: Savers would be entitled to compensation of up to £50,000 under the terms of the UK deposit guarantee scheme. However the sting in the tail is that the first €20,887 (£16,317) of any compensation would be the responsibility of the Icelandic scheme. Q: How likely is that scheme to be able to pay out, given the upheaval in the Icelandic banking system? A: Good question. The Icelandic scheme has only £88 million in the kitty to cover deposits totalling £13 billion. Edited October 7, 2008 by Peter Hun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orsino Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Yeah, cos we're all the property of our national banks and should willingly accept enslavement to meet their liabilities. If the Icelandic government cannot honour the guarantee they have made then I suggest we accept their fishing grounds as collateral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyMe Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 If the Icelandic government cannot honour the guarantee they have made then I suggest we accept their fishing grounds as collateral. No need to go that far, half the UK highstreet and content of shops thereof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Seems reasonable to me, as long as they do what they said they will do. Why should they go beyond that? Say there was a pyramid scheme, should the family of the guy who set it up get all their money back with all others only getting part of their money back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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