Santander - Next bank in line for mass withdrawals of savings?

[Digger]

Hmmm . . . Who are we recommending as a reasonably 'solid' bank then? I dont think I feel like risking it, so may well bail!

[Bluebarge]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Because they're offering the best interest rates? Like everything else it's a gamble I suppose....

Indeed. Do you want:
return on capital?
or
return of capital?

[QuackHandle]

Digger said:

What is the current protected limit? £80k?

£85k

[Digger]

Digger said:

Hmmm . . . Who are we recommending as a reasonably 'solid' bank then? I dont think I feel like risking it, so may well bail!

Or am i being over-reactive?

[davepoth]

Digger said:

Or am i being over-reactive?

HSBC are probably the solidest of the high street banks due to the diversity of their markets.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Bluebarge said:

Indeed. Do you want:
return on capital?
or
return of capital?

But what is the likely chance of the government not backing up the 85k FSCS protection?

[AJS-]

Got mine out of there today. Bit of a queue, but glad I got in before the panic bank run starts proper!

Applied for a mortgage too - you've got to be in it to win it.

[Digger]

AJS- said:

Got mine out of there today. Bit of a queue, but glad I got in before the panic bank run starts proper!

Applied for a mortgage too - you've got to be in it to win it.

Did you set up another current account elsewhere and just transfer across?

[anonymous-user]

AJS- said:

Got mine out of there today. Bit of a queue, but glad I got in before the panic bank run starts proper!

Applied for a mortgage too - you've got to be in it to win it.

When you say there was a queue, do you mean a 'normal' queue or a queue of people making complete withdrawals?

[0000]

98elise said:

My company account is in a santander off shoot . I assume that the protection scheme doesn't cover business accounts?

Time to look at moving accounts, or moving as much as possible to my personal account.

Edit...checked on my banks website, and it looks as if small business accounts are covered. No need to start emptying accounts and putting it under the matress.

Cater Allen? Has anyone got a link to where small business accounts are covered by the FSA scheme?

I really should've checked this before now.

[hornet]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

But what is the likely chance of the government not backing up the 85k FSCS protection?

Even if there's every chance of the system working, why risk it? I accept it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, but can you really blame people? I have a decent chunk of my savings in Santander for no other reason than they were the first institution (as Abbey National) I had an account with, but I have no real loyalty to them. In fact, of late they've been a right pain in the arse, so this is probably the nudge I needed to move. The rates are derisory wherever you save, so on that basis it's probably better to get a crap rate from a solvent institution than one that might be in for a bumpy ride. I know Santander UK is distinct from the Spanish parent, but if Greece leaves the euro, all eyes will surely turn to Spain and Portugal, and at that point I'm not sure I'd want to be anywhere near anything Santander related, UK or otherwise. Got caught up in Kaupthing going bang and don't want to go through that again.

[GC8]

Is Spain alone the root of Santanders problem, or were they heavily involved in Greece too?

I would sympathise but having had my B&B account transferred to them, I really couldnt give a monkeys.

[AJS-]

NinjaPower said:

When you say there was a queue, do you mean a 'normal' queue or a queue of people making complete withdrawals?

A bit bigger than normal, but nothing TV worthy.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

AJS- said:

NinjaPower said:

When you say there was a queue, do you mean a 'normal' queue or a queue of people making complete withdrawals?

A bit bigger than normal, but nothing TV worthy.

there was bugger all happening in the carlisle branch when i transfered my full isa allowance this morning, talk about bad timing.....

[LaurasOtherHalf]

hornet said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

But what is the likely chance of the government not backing up the 85k FSCS protection?

Even if there's every chance of the system working, why risk it? I accept it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, but can you really blame people? I have a decent chunk of my savings in Santander for no other reason than they were the first institution (as Abbey National) I had an account with, but I have no real loyalty to them. In fact, of late they've been a right pain in the arse, so this is probably the nudge I needed to move. The rates are derisory wherever you save, so on that basis it's probably better to get a crap rate from a solvent institution than one that might be in for a bumpy ride. I know Santander UK is distinct from the Spanish parent, but if Greece leaves the euro, all eyes will surely turn to Spain and Portugal, and at that point I'm not sure I'd want to be anywhere near anything Santander related, UK or otherwise. Got caught up in Kaupthing going bang and don't want to go through that again.

were you queing up to buy petrol the other month though?

[anonymous-user]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

there was bugger all happening in the carlisle branch when i transfered my full isa allowance this morning, talk about bad timing.....

Craig, do you have two login names on here?? You are confusing me!

[LaurasOtherHalf]

NinjaPower said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

there was bugger all happening in the carlisle branch when i transfered my full isa allowance this morning, talk about bad timing.....

Craig, do you have two login names on here?? You are confusing me!

no i changed it to this one

[Pickled Piper]

QuackHandle said:

Digger said:

What is the current protected limit? £80k?

£85k

Double that if it is a joint account.

pp

[Bluebarge]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

But what is the likely chance of the government not backing up the 85k FSCS protection?

Near zero I'd say. But if there is a massive Eurozone crisis, with countries falling out of the Euro, our biggest export market collapsing,investors pulling the rug from under Spanish, Italian and portugese banks or Uk banks needing extra taxpayer support because of their exposure to toxic S.European debt, they may just decide to make you wait for your money, or some of it, until things have calmed down and we know just how big a hole we have to climb out of.

Besides, why should the taxpayer have to rescue you from your bad investment decision? If a bank's looking shaky - GTFO, and if you're too lazy to do that - shouldn't you accept the consequences?

[bp1]

0000 said:

98elise said:

My company account is in a santander off shoot . I assume that the protection scheme doesn't cover business accounts?

Time to look at moving accounts, or moving as much as possible to my personal account.

Edit...checked on my banks website, and it looks as if small business accounts are covered. No need to start emptying accounts and putting it under the matress.

Cater Allen? Has anyone got a link to where small business accounts are covered by the FSA scheme?

I really should've checked this before now.

Me too, but last month you had to fill in an online form if you were a small business which qualified for the deposit protection. They sent out some letters with the link to the website and just a quick yes/no form.

Not sure whether to open another business account and transfer the money over. Been pretty happy with them so far.