I think we may have to be grateful to get anything back, let alone interest!

jsb:

Ah but nobody has answered my earlier question:

What about any accrued interest on Fixed Interest accounts even up till today never mind interest lost while we wait for our money?

I don't really know, but I would expect any interest not already credited to the account to be lost. On the other hand, it is possible that interest will be credited up to the day that the bank is declared insolvent (it hasn't, as yet).

But for sure I would say that you should not expect any interest from the day the bank is declared insolvent, if that happens, while you (we) are waiting for your (our) money.

I confess I'm a little confused as to what happens to those with savings below the £16k guaranteed by the Icelandic compensation fund if it cannot pay, Iceland as a nation goes bust, the rest of Scandinavia fails to bail it out.

From what I'm reading, then those people lose all their money as the UK comp fund will only bail out those who have above 16k in savings up to a max of 50k ?

I hope to god I'm wrong there!

I have tried calling Icesave all day - getting through twice this morning only for the agent to say "hello? hello? anyone there?" and put the phone down despite me responding to them! I finally got through again about an hour ago and spoke to a very unfriendly and clueless individual (maybe thats unfair as I guess they must be equally worried about their jobs). I did solicit the response "I'm really sorry but you know more than we do!". Great.

It seems the best we can hope for is a Northern Rock style nationalisation (if Iceland itself remains solvent!).

Anyone any idea how long a compensation claim may take - assuming that the bank is declared insolvent and either the Icelandic or UK comp fund pays out?

If Gordy and Ali stopped dithering and guaranteed all savings then people wouldnt be desperate to withdraw their cash. It just seems they've dived for cover and havent a clue whats going on or what to do about it.

Vaughan:Hi Graeme, I see that the Telegraph have updated their article now and removed that quote from Clare. They have also added a 3-and-a-bit minute radio interview with a UK reporter who had just spoken with the Icelandic Prime Minister about the situation. Here is the link. Listen to what she says from the 3:00 minute mark onwards. The Icelandic Prime Minister has said that the foreign Landsbanki operations (including Icesave) are frozen because Landsbanki is going to be split, and Icesave and the other foreign operations are going to be separated from the domestic operations of Landsbanki!

I'm having trouble understanding how Landisbanki can be split into its various companies and then subsequently declare ICESAVE insolvent. Also, if Landisbank remains as a going concern, the Icelandic government must still be solvent and therefore able to pay compensation.

Agree with your last para. Whilst I'm sure that there are many scary implications in governments taking on massive public debt (in underwriting the banks), it might happen anyway if more banks go *** up (a technical term) and savers have to be bailed out to keep the economy afloat. If governments proactively & multilaterally offer a 100% guarantee, at least it might just stem the runs on the banks that are fuelling the collapsing dominoes. As Peston said earlier - the implications to public debt are a tomorrow problem - we need to address the crisis today.

Surely you don't think the Tories would prop up an Icelandic bank do you?

But my main point is.... why would anyone invest in an Icelandic bank in the first place???

As a tax payer I don't want my hard earned revenue being squandered on greedy people who should have had more sense!

As regards the banks, let these over-bloated financial monsters meet the end they deserve, and good riddance.

Greedy People? I'd like to think my modest £5k in a much touted "best buy" ISA didnt qualify me as greedy but rather prudent in making the most of savings for a rainy day.

More sense? I can only assume you mean we should have either invested in rock solid Gilts or Bonds, Gold, stuck it under a matress or just spent it all?

Your hard earned 'revenue'? What of those 300,000 other hard working tax payers, who have already subbed out Northern Rock and B&B savers?

I'd dearly love some of your pearls of wisdom red, as you sit there on your cloud frowning and sneering down at us mere mortals. If I'm lucky enough to recoup my modest £5k or part of, maybe you can direct me to a more 'sensible' and indeed less 'greedy' repository for it? The RSPCA perhaps?

I'm really cheesed off. I was in the process of transfering my ISA to a Northern Rock's fixed rate deal. It's not gone through. All I can say is that if we don't get our money back it's going to set a precedent. First bank to actually take people money and not give it back. All the other seems to have been bailed. I will never put a penny in anything to with Iceland again.

I feel redubderthebed has a lot to learn.

Firstly as a taxpayer, sadly you have no choice. This government runs the country as they feel fit, misguided, gutless and without a single decisive bone in a skeleton of political correctness and Quangos.

Secondly, yes they may be greedy monsters but we all need them for our day to day lives. They are more than banks they are our lifeblood. We use their cash machines, they pay our mortgage, they allow loans on our cars and help us to run our business.

We must look at the Icesave situation as a waiting game, difficult as it is. As the news flows stem,they change daily, hourly. At present there is a great deal of scaremongering out there. In my humble yet hopefully intelligent synopsis of this matter. The Icelandic government will not and cannot refuse to pay the full amounts out.An earlier poster noted correctly that they cannot just pay out the Icelandic people. Accounts are accounts at the end of the day, you cannot differentiate between nationalities in banking. They also cannot continue trading as a going concern and close Icesave UK/NL.

In this period of stress and uncertainty I am not alone in my situation. I had £101,000 invested up until Monday afternoon when I transferred £50,000 back to my UK account. On monday I managed to access it ok around 11.00am (Still awaiting clearance as others are) so I have £51,000 left in Icesave. Yes thats a lot, but whilst sad, agrieved and worried I think how lucky I am. There will be people out there with house deposits to pay, savings for school fees, tax bills, car loans, honeymoon/ travel bills, business savings etc As for me yes it was my life savings but we must all think positive in a time of crisis. Its a british trait to stand tall.Do this and tomorrow will come when the newsreader says " Icesave honours all accounts".

Good luck all, keep posting regular updates as and when we know.

As if things couldn't get any worse today I've just read about Heritable Bank. So not only have we got £10k+ in limbo with ICESAVE but another £3.5k with Heritable. Both products were "best buys" on this wonderful web site. Heritable did not even belong to Lansbanki (or whatever it's called) when we took out a 3 year fixed rate product 2 years ago !!!!!!!!

sheethappens:

I feel redubderthebed has a lot to learn.

Firstly as a taxpayer, sadly you have no choice. This government runs the country as they feel fit, misguided, gutless and without a single decisive bone in a skeleton of political correctness and Quangos.

Secondly, yes they may be greedy monsters but we all need them for our day to day lives. They are more than banks they are our lifeblood. We use their cash machines, they pay our mortgage, they allow loans on our cars and help us to run our business.

We must look at the Icesave situation as a waiting game, difficult as it is. As the news flows stem,they change daily, hourly. At present there is a great deal of scaremongering out there. In my humble yet hopefully intelligent synopsis of this matter. The Icelandic government will not and cannot refuse to pay the full amounts out.An earlier poster noted correctly that they cannot just pay out the Icelandic people. Accounts are accounts at the end of the day, you cannot differentiate between nationalities in banking. They also cannot continue trading as a going concern and close Icesave UK/NL.

In this period of stress and uncertainty I am not alone in my situation. I had £101,000 invested up until Monday afternoon when I transferred £50,000 back to my UK account. On monday I managed to access it ok around 11.00am (Still awaiting clearance as others are) so I have £51,000 left in Icesave. Yes thats a lot, but whilst sad, agrieved and worried I think how lucky I am. There will be people out there with house deposits to pay, savings for school fees, tax bills, car loans, honeymoon/ travel bills, business savings etc As for me yes it was my life savings but we must all think positive in a time of crisis. Its a british trait to stand tall.Do this and tomorrow will come when the newsreader says " Icesave honours all accounts".

Good luck all, keep posting regular updates as and when we know.

Good post - a bit of positive thought might well reap dividends yet !!

isioth wrote:

I confess I'm a little confused as to what happens to those with savings below the £16k guaranteed by the Icelandic compensation fund if it cannot pay, Iceland as a nation goes bust, the rest of Scandinavia fails to bail it out.

From what I'm reading, then those people lose all their money as the UK comp fund will only bail out those who have above 16k in savings up to a max of 50k ?

My reply: Exactly right. In that scenario, someone with up to £16k would get nothing back. Someone with say £50k would get £34k back. Someone with £100k would also only get £34k back.

Chineplate wrote:

I'm having trouble understanding how Landisbanki can be split into its various companies and then subsequently declare ICESAVE insolvent. Also, if Landisbank remains as a going concern, the Icelandic government must still be solvent and therefore able to pay compensation.

My reply: I agree. I don't know for sure, but it sounds to me that they are thinking of selling off the foreign operations as a going concern, which might mean that Icebank just continues with new owners (presumably bought by a different bank in a different nation). Then they end up with a nationalised domestic bank (what's left of Landsbanki), which will continue as it is now (after all it is still business as usual for Landsbanki's Iceland operations, even though it is in receivership).

redunderthebed wrote:

why would anyone invest in an Icelandic bank in the first place???

As a tax payer I don't want my hard earned revenue being squandered on greedy people who should have had more sense! As regards the banks, let these over-bloated financial monsters meet the end they deserve, and good riddance.

My reply: I think redunderthebed you are confusing an investor with a depositor. If we were shareholders in Landsbanki, then we have to suffer the loss of the bank since we invested in the bank by buying part of it. But we are not shareholders - we see no share of the profits of the bank - we are depositors. We trusted the bank with our money, for some interest payments, and they use our money for their own profit. We don't own the bank and are in no way responsible for its running and shouldn't have to care about its share price or debt exposure. I agree that a failing bank probably deserves to fail, and the shareholders will necessarily suffer in that case, but depositors should be protected.

Well its looking increasing like we are going to have to finally see how effective the FCSC are. That makes me worry, just hope they have more nous than Gordon.

The Iceland website http://www.tryggingarsjodur.is/Frett/7806/

says: -

News

From the Prime Minister of Iceland

Written 10/7/2008 at1:34 PM

In a press conference today Iceland's Prime Minister, Mr. Geir H. Haarde, said that if needed the Icelandic Government will support the Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund in raising the necessary funds, so that the Fund would be able to meet the minimum compensation limits in the event of a failure of an Icelandic bank.

The Icelandic banks have top up agreements in the following countries:

• United Kingdom
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Finland
• Sweden

Hi fellow Ice Savers

My partner is very level headed. i'm a panicker. She says its too early to know what is going to happen. I think we've lost anything. My partner and I have £91,000 with icesave. Whilst this money is joint savings we only registered the account in my name so will probably only be covered up to £50,000.

I wonder what the position would be, if I added my partners name to the account before Icesave fall over?

Well desperate times demand desperate measures. For those in a similar position, you should know that you can print off an additional account holder form by logging into your icesave account. I'm posting mine tonight with the requisite ID and hope that if and when I have to claim to the FSA the account will be shown as joint one and covered up to £100,000.

I suspect there is a serious flaw in my proposal ........... but just a suggestion!