Icesave Up Sh*t Creek - Expats In Trouble?

[JimsKnight]

I was warned on Saturday that Icelands banks had really gone in over their head on the borrowing and mortages side of things.

So heeding this I pulled about nearly 50,000 Euros out.

It was 'processed' on the Monday (yesterday).

I gets a phone call at 1000 hrs today telling me the 'news' bombshell:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle4898553.ece

I check Icesaves website which confirms everyones worst fears:

http://www.icesave.co.uk/

My moneys not even hit the otherside yet and I'm fearing it might be in a limbostate somewhere.

My Icesave account transaction history, reassuringly says its been 'processed'

What about the other expats out there? I would think that they'd be having kittens if they are relying on interest from this type of account!

Anyone affected by this in LOS / TV?

[Farma]

Skynews is saying the banking compensation scheme “expects Icesave to default” meaning 300,000 UK savers may need to claim compensation.

[cmsally]

So in effect doesn't that mean that the Icelandic govt. will default as they nationalised the bank?

[Farma]

The skynews story is here http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/...or_UK_Customers

This may be what they are worried about

"Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde warned on Monday that the country faced the "real possibility" of national bankruptcy, as its economy could be sucked into the "global banking swell".

[LaoPo]

I was warned on Saturday that Icelands banks had really gone in over their head on the borrowing and mortages side of things.

So heeding this I pulled about nearly 50,000 Euros out.

It was 'processed' on the Monday (yesterday).

I gets a phone call at 1000 hrs today telling me the 'news' bombshell:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle4898553.ece

I check Icesaves website which confirms everyones worst fears:

http://www.icesave.co.uk/

My moneys not even hit the otherside yet and I'm fearing it might be in a limbostate somewhere.

My Icesave account transaction history, reassuringly says its been 'processed'

What about the other expats out there? I would think that they'd be having kittens if they are relying on interest from this type of account!

Anyone affected by this in LOS / TV?

Did you read this and onwards ?:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/European-Ban...65#entry2260565

and this ?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Stash-Cash-t...48#entry2260948

I hope for your good sake it will turn out positive

LaoPo

[JimsKnight]

I've called the other bank (halifax) it seems that, save an extraordinary BACs recall (usually only used against moneylaundered and organised crime) my money should arrive from its escape pod tomorrow.

The guy started offering savings accounts there and then! The fly travels from one spiders web to another it seems!

I was listening to the Iceland PM and he was very pissd off with EU countries, but he reiterated that the Nordic countries were helping him greatly, but the none-norse countries were very disappointing.

Whether he classes the UK as a 'Nordic' country is debatable but when a pressman asked him if the UK 'helped' Iceland he said he wouldn't name individual countries.

[philstone]

I've called the other bank (halifax) it seems that, save an extraordinary BACs recall (usually only used against moneylaundered and organised crime) my money should arrive from its escape pod tomorrow.

The guy started offering savings accounts there and then! The fly travels from one spiders web to another it seems!

I was listening to the Iceland PM and he was very pissd off with EU countries, but he reiterated that the Nordic countries were helping him greatly, but the none-norse countries were very disappointing.

Whether he classes the UK as a 'Nordic' country is debatable but when a pressman asked him if the UK 'helped' Iceland he said he wouldn't name individual countries.

Why would someone put money in Iceland this must be a joke. Please put you money in America no depositor has ever lost money.

[LaoPo]

I've called the other bank (halifax) it seems that, save an extraordinary BACs recall (usually only used against moneylaundered and organised crime) my money should arrive from its escape pod tomorrow.

The guy started offering savings accounts there and then! The fly travels from one spiders web to another it seems!

I was listening to the Iceland PM and he was very pissd off with EU countries, but he reiterated that the Nordic countries were helping him greatly, but the none-norse countries were very disappointing.

Whether he classes the UK as a 'Nordic' country is debatable but when a pressman asked him if the UK 'helped' Iceland he said he wouldn't name individual countries.

Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde shouldn't be pissed off with the EU countries but merely with himself and his Central Bank and 2 or 3 large Icelandic Banks After all Iceland didn't want to belong to the EU in the first place so WHY being pissed of with the EU ?

It's a country with 300,000 people for Xsake...and they put themselves in <deleted>, nobody else did.

In The Netherlands they attracted some 50,000 people*** who stashed their savings with ICESAVE (lured by high interest rates) and contrary to what happened in the UK, ICESAVE Holland was not allowed to close their Bank-website ....BUT....showing some clients on television, it was IMPOSSIBLE for them to get access to the website in order to try and transfer money from their accounts into saver haven.

Iceland's Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde shouldn't blame others....but himself, his Central Bank and the regulators, controlling the other banks.

*** The Dutch clients of ICESAVE- Iceland are able to collect (lot of trouble, but still) the first € 20,000 savings from the Icelandic Goverment and the rest they're hopefully (for them) able to collect from the Dutch Government, which in fact, I find rather stupid; if you're that greedy to put your money on an iceberg and the iceberg melts...it's your own fault.

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

ICESAVE: OK, here's the latest news from Holland.

The Dutch Central bank as well as the Government are trying to collect more info from the Icelandic Government how far they will be able to pay off the Dutch clients/savers in case ICESAVE is not able to pay back the savings from those clients.

Iceland HAS TO pay back an amount of € 20,887 per Dutch client; they're obligated to do so. The rest, up to an amount of € 100,000 per Dutch client, will be guaranteed by the Dutch Government.

It is however uncertain if Iceland can meet their obligations at this stage; what will happen if not, is not known.

LaoPo

[bartender100]

I've got a nice selection of colored beads, if anyone wants to barter some of that paper money for a fire to get warm (year from now?)

[stephaniee]

do thai peeple have accounts in iceland?

[thaimate]

I was warned on Saturday that Icelands banks had really gone in over their head on the borrowing and mortages side of things.

So heeding this I pulled about nearly 50,000 Euros out.

It was 'processed' on the Monday (yesterday).

I gets a phone call at 1000 hrs today telling me the 'news' bombshell:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle4898553.ece

I check Icesaves website which confirms everyones worst fears:

http://www.icesave.co.uk/

My moneys not even hit the otherside yet and I'm fearing it might be in a limbostate somewhere.

My Icesave account transaction history, reassuringly says its been 'processed'

What about the other expats out there? I would think that they'd be having kittens if they are relying on interest from this type of account!

many moons ago i checked out this bank ,as it had high interest rates ,i then saw how high their insurance premiums were against say barclays and immediatly decided to go with the big boys in britain .seems i was right ,but hope you get your money ok.

Anyone affected by this in LOS / TV?

[siamamerican]

Why would someone put money in Iceland this must be a joke. Please put you money in America no depositor has ever lost money.

Prior to the FDIC (1934ish) many depositors lost everything. IMO, this will not happen this time around, unless America goes belly-up.

[R123]

Looks like good news for UK savers:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7658417.stm

Edited October 8, 2008 by R123

[TBWG]

I was warned on Saturday that Icelands banks had really gone in over their head on the borrowing and mortages side of things.

So heeding this I pulled about nearly 50,000 Euros out.

It was 'processed' on the Monday (yesterday).

I gets a phone call at 1000 hrs today telling me the 'news' bombshell:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle4898553.ece

I check Icesaves website which confirms everyones worst fears:

http://www.icesave.co.uk/

My moneys not even hit the otherside yet and I'm fearing it might be in a limbostate somewhere.

My Icesave account transaction history, reassuringly says its been 'processed'

What about the other expats out there? I would think that they'd be having kittens if they are relying on interest from this type of account!

Anyone affected by this in LOS / TV?

Hi JK

I too have an Icesave account and I am under the impression that if your item is marked processed then in fact you should be alright, this is certainly the the case on all the transactions I have made and after all they are computer transactions and once done unstoppable under normal circumstances.

Did you use CHAPS or BACS if the latter then your cash will be in limbo in the banking system for a few days, however, if you used CHAPS then in my experience it should all happen within 24 hours.

I also had a near miss as I was in Thailand early this year when the warning signs started to appear and missed them. However I got cold feet and removed all my cash last week when the Icelandic Gov't stepped in to rescue "Glitnir" the 3rd largest Icelandic bank.

The Icesave bank went t*ts up yesterday so savers are protected up to £50k as opposed to £35k if it had happened Monday! Roughly £16K is covered by the Icelandic authorities and then up to £50k by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) who in conjunction with the FSA will send every saver 1 form and collate all the recoveries, refunds are expected to take 3-4 months. If you have more than £50k in the account then it does not look good for the excess amount.

I spend 6 months in Thailand & 6 months in UK so I have a UK address and my account was linked to a Natwest account so I assume I am deemed a UK resident, how this affects people who live permanently overseas I do not know.

I thank Buddha as I had a narrow escape, I had a considerable amount in the account and would have lost an awful lot. Currently my account balance stands at £155 so not a problem. FYI I have moved all my cash into Northern Rock which has a 100% gtee from the UK gov't the only bank which does. But they have now been overwhelmed with depositors and have withdrawn the best rates so difficult times at present.

Hopefully by the time this is posted you have got your cash!!

Good Luck

TBWG

[chiang mai]

Looks like good news for UK savers:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7658417.stm

Indeed, Iceland savers in the UK get their money back from the UK government, good deal and the UK gets to sue Iceland. Who'd be from Iceland and living in the UK these days, Hi, my name is Karl and I'm from Reykjavik!!!

[TBWG]

Looks like good news for UK savers:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7658417.stm

Indeed, Iceland savers in the UK get their money back from the UK government, good deal and the UK gets to sue Iceland. Who'd be from Iceland and living in the UK these days, Hi, my name is Karl and I'm from Reykjavik!!!

Hi

That must be a relief for an awful lot of people, amazing what the gov't can do when its got its back against the wall and facing an election soon!

TBWG

[LaoPo]

ICESAVE: OK, here's the latest news from Holland.

The Dutch Central bank as well as the Government are trying to collect more info from the Icelandic Government how far they will be able to pay off the Dutch clients/savers in case ICESAVE is not able to pay back the savings from those clients.

Iceland HAS TO pay back an amount of € 20,887 per Dutch client; they're obligated to do so. The rest, up to an amount of € 100,000 per Dutch client, will be guaranteed by the Dutch Government.

It is however uncertain if Iceland can meet their obligations at this stage; what will happen if not, is not known.

LaoPo

UPDATE ICESAVE:

The Dutch website-Bank is closed now also and people are no longer able to withdraw/rebook money via internet.

The Dutch Government has assured the clients they will get their money back (up to the limits) from either the Icelandic Government (€ 20,887) and the rest from the Dutch Government.

The 300,000 ICESAVE UK clients have hope the UK government will pay them back or help them getting money back from Iceland....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7658277.stm

AND

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7657407.stm but this is ''news'' from yesterday, Oct. 7, 2008

LaoPo

[TBWG]

[

Why would someone put money in Iceland this must be a joke. Please put you money in America no depositor has ever lost money.

Huh

Would you have any faith in the US bankers and politicians that have got the whole world in this mess.

What with Bear Stearns, Indymac & Washington Mutual a lot of US savers are also having sleepless nights. A good reason to put your money anywhere but the US.

TBWG

[TBWG]

HI

A useful site ....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7657630.stm

TBWG

[simon43]

With all these banking crises, I'm in the fortunate (?) situation of not having to worry about anything because I have no money...

8 years ago I was a sterling millionaire (for a short period).

Funny how things can change so much - I'm still happy with life though

Hope no-one is affected too much by all these banking problems.

Simon

PS - Jimsknight - your 50,000 euro withdrawal is probably what sent IceSave under!!

Edited October 8, 2008 by simon43

[Naam]

[

Why would someone put money in Iceland this must be a joke. Please put you money in America no depositor has ever lost money.

Huh

Would you have any faith in the US bankers and politicians that have got the whole world in this mess.

What with Bear Stearns, Indymac & Washington Mutual a lot of US savers are also having sleepless nights. A good reason to put your money anywhere but the US.

TBWG

best place for cash was Lehman Bros. 100% yield. negative yield of course :D

[JimsKnight]

Cheers for the updates Learjet man and co.

I've still not got the escape pod from Icesave.

It definately got clear before the portculis came clunking down though.

According to Halifax (where the money is headed to) it should land in the account tomorrow.

It is good news about the government bailing out Icesave folk. I think they are even going to bailout over the £50k mark for the big money folk too.

The drawback is that this could take a long time. At least it's light at the end of the tunnel.

[TBWG]

Cheers for the updates Learjet man and co.

I've still not got the escape pod from Icesave.

It definately got clear before the portculis came clunking down though.

According to Halifax (where the money is headed to) it should land in the account tomorrow.

It is good news about the government bailing out Icesave folk. I think they are even going to bailout over the £50k mark for the big money folk too.

The drawback is that this could take a long time. At least it's light at the end of the tunnel.

Hi

Well it appears over 20 councils in the UK have over £120 million invested with Icesave and as commercial customers they do hot have the benefit of protection schemes.

At least 1 has its payroll account with them. Another had over £40 million in there. Not good.

TBWG

[somchai99]

With all these banking crises, I'm in the fortunate (?) situation of not having to worry about anything because I have no money...

8 years ago I was a sterling millionaire (for a short period).

Funny how things can change so much - I'm still happy with life though

Hope no-one is affected too much by all these banking problems.

Simon

PS - Jimsknight - your 50,000 euro withdrawal is probably what sent IceSave under!!

im all for the poor too

[LaoPo]

Icelandic Banks*** have a total of $ 61 Billion in debts and Iceland is facing a very severe recession. It remains to be seen if the Government can handle the situation and if it will be able to pay, partly or not, the clients of ICESAVE/Landsbanki.

*** Kaupthing Bank, being the largest, and second- and third-largest lenders, Glitnir Bank hf and Landsbanki Islands hf (ICESAVE).

Icelandic Regulator Takes Control of Kaupthing Bank

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

AND..............

Councils hit by Icelandic banks

A quarter of Welsh councils say they have investments worth millions of pounds in Icelandic banks which have gone into receivership.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7660300.stm

There are some 300,000 clients of ICESAVE in the UK, whilst Holland has around 120/125,000 with around € 1,5 Billion in savings...OUCH !

Note: Iceland has 300,000 citizens...

LaoPo

[esprit]

Why all the fuss ? Individuals or others who lodged deposits only did so because of the higher interest rates from the more conventional and safer own country instituitons. Wasn't enough for them so they looked elswhere - in other words greed. What goes round comes round.

All those highly paid investment specialists are perhaps not as clever or versed in fundamentals as perhaps they thought themselves to be.

[cmsally]

I remember a few posts on here a while back saying that anyone who took less interest from holding accounts with the larger more boring banks was in short pretty stupid. I must admit that I hold cash with some of the bigger more boring banks and have in turn looked at all these good offers from Iceland, Ireland, you name it. Only to pass them all up. My reasoning was that when it got to the end of the year, you were going to have to put an awful lot of money into one of these accounts to be worth it.

These banks are in fact now following a pattern, which is they have all at some time come at the top in a search at moneysupermarket.com for high interest rates. In which case my prediction for the next one to go has to be Anglo Irish.

They are all still up there or have been at some time, Landsbanki, B&B, HBOS, Northern Rock, Kaupthing et al.

Somehow I can see the Irish being the next to go.

[chiang mai]

I remember a few posts on here a while back saying that anyone who took less interest from holding accounts with the larger more boring banks was in short pretty stupid. I must admit that I hold cash with some of the bigger more boring banks and have in turn looked at all these good offers from Iceland, Ireland, you name it. Only to pass them all up. My reasoning was that when it got to the end of the year, you were going to have to put an awful lot of money into one of these accounts to be worth it.

These banks are in fact now following a pattern, which is they have all at some time come at the top in a search at moneysupermarket.com for high interest rates. In which case my prediction for the next one to go has to be Anglo Irish.

They are all still up there or have been at some time, Landsbanki, B&B, HBOS, Northern Rock, Kaupthing et al.

Somehow I can see the Irish being the next to go.

Somehow I can agree! I've changed my opinion on these things over the past few days and have now decided to shy away from AIB.

[Murgatroyd]

It starts... this is just the tip of the iceburg... and not just for Iceland. Once the runs begin, no financial institution anywher will be 100% safe or secure.

Guarantees (from anyone, banks, insurers, or governments) wont be worth the paper they're written on soon...