What banks/building societys are likely to survive the credit crunch?Will Santander, Hsbc, and lloyds tsb, survive? also, my brother opend a trust account last month for his daughter for when shes 18, with alliance and lecister, and now alliance and lecister are facing problems, so how safe will the savings be in alliance and lecister be?, it was only opend last month so there... |
All banks and building societies will survive the credit crunch. However, some are choosing to merge to put themselves in a stronger position. If in the unlikely event the worse should happen, then the Government would step in, just like they did with Northern Rock.
Turmoil in the financial markets; naturally makes consumers worry about the safety of their savings but unless they have more than £35K with a savings provider then there is no need to fret.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme, covers 100% of the first £35K, per person, per deposit taking institution. Therefore, if you ensure that you don’t have more than this limit with any one provider, if in the unlikely event the worst should happen, you will get all your money back.
However, savers need to be vigilant as if the institutions are registered under one banking licence, they will only be covered once.
For example Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Birmingham Midshires, Intelligent Finance and SAGA are all covered under the Bank of Scotland banking licence. This means that if you had £35,000 with each of them, should they all have problems repaying your money, you would only receive £35,000 back from the FSCS, not £175,000. However, the Sainsbury Bank brand which is part of the HBOS group has a separate licence.
The situation varies from institution to institution. NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco Personal Finance, Ulster Bank and Coutts & Co are all part of the same group, but all have separate licences. Thus, if your money was with each of them, you would receive up to the full £35,000 back from each company.
In order to find out if the institutions where you savings are held are covered separately the best thing to do is to either log on to the FSA’s website and check if the firm is authorised. Alternatively, you could contact the FSA’s consumer website www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk or call their helpline on 0845 606 1234.
If you are planning on opening a new account with an institution, make sure you know which institutions your existing savings are with. Then when you contact the new institution, check with them that they are not part of the same group and covered by the same banking licence.
Merchants Bank makes and made very conservative investments with their client's CD accounts. Typically, banks that didn't hold so many accounts receivables... It is my understanding Merchants invested into Farm Commodities, but I insist that you investigate before you drop a dime...
Good luck...
** Warning, I must repeat - please investigate "YOUR" bank of choice. Just because some Yahoo like me says something, it doesn't make it true. Think with your head before you open the wallet...
LLoyds tsb,are ok they have pots of money,11,000,000 currant accounts in uk alone.I expect Abbey to either go under or be bought out by Nationwide or Hsbc.
You worry too much.
