I also think he said that he would pay out 100% of savers money.

I've just seen Alistair Darling on BBC Breakfast News too, where he repeated the assurances. He said that he wouldn't normally do this where a foreign bank was involved, but as these were exceptional times and Iceland wasn't paying, he felt he had to step in. He was asked if this only included the first £16,000 (that Iceland was responsible for) or the whole lot. He answered by saying he meant the whole amount.

Also just read this quote on Citywire News:

"Chancellor Alistair Darling has said that the Icelandic compensation scheme has no money to pay out to the savers who will lose out if Icesave defaults as expected, but that the British government will foot the bill.

The chancellor – scathing of the Icelandic government’s approach – said on the Today programme that he had spoken to Icelandic government who had told him they had no intention of paying UK savers money back."

Yes, the UK government is going to cover 100% of Icesave deposits, without any upper limits:

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

YAY! Relief. Gratitude to Alistair Darling and the UK government for standing by us. And disdain for Iceland as a nation since their government has turned out to be fly-by-nighters.

Well done all. As I said in my earlier post. (Whilst being in doubt of my own £101,000) that we should do as the British do and stand tall and think positive. However bad we feel for ourselves there is always people in a worse situation.

Gordon Brrown jus announced BBC NEWS09.34 that the "BRITISH GOVERNMENT WILL STAND BAY ALL UK ICESAVE CUSTOMERS"

Joy!

Wow thanks Vaughan... A little bit of relief when i was really panicking... Now i wonder what the next step is? I leave the UK in 2 months and really need the money that is in the ICESAVE ISA before i leave. I also have a Debit set up for more money to go into my Icesave account on the 20th of October, however because i can't get on the Website i can't cancel it. Does anyone know if the deposit will still go through? I don't want to give them anymore money!

Thank you UK Government and Vaughan for alerting us of the latest update. :-)

where does it say 100% of deposit will be covered?

Vaughan:Yes, the UK government is going to cover 100% of Icesave deposits, without any upper limits: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7658417.stm YAY! Relief. Gratitude to Alistair Darling and the UK government for standing by us. And disdain for Iceland as a nation since their government has turned out to be fly-by-nighters.

So, can I ask if all those morons who slagged off the government before they'd even had a chance to assess the situation will now publicly come back to this thread and congratulate them on their excellent handling of this whole crisis. I doubt it. The very thought of Labour handling the economy well and protecting British citizens which is exactly what it has done in the last 12 months fills some people with dread. The Tories would have let 'market forces' decide, where would we have been then? Whilst I disagree with the sentiments of REDUNDERTHEBED, it sickens me that people use a situation entirely out of Brown and Darling's hands to have a dig at the government. Thankfully, a lot of people are beginning to understand that experience is helping us come through a dreadful worldwide crisis. Well played Alistair and Gordon, long may you reign.

killean:

where does it say 100% of deposit will be covered?

Read the last two paragraphs. (It is a very short article, so I thought you would have read it all.)

Given the statement by the chancellor and the fact that the Icelandic government have "no intention" of meeting their obligations to UK customers, should the UK government not now be seizing all Icelandic assets in the UK? These assets could then be used to fund the money owed to UK savers (ahead of the FSCS and Taxpayer), or at least to cover what the Icelandic gov should be paying?? Why is this not happening??

I did read the whole article, it has since been updated, but it's got

"The British scheme would top that up to £50,000, but people over and above that would lose out," he added.

"But I have decided in these exceptional circumstances that we will stand behind those depositors so they get their money back."

It doesn't say "All" of the money back...

Vaughan:

killean:

where does it say 100% of deposit will be covered?

Read the last two paragraphs. (It is a very short article, so I thought you would have read it all.)

Dan, that is exactly what is happening according to the BBC article.

As part of its plan the UK government has frozen all the British assets of Landsbanki until the position of savers in the UK becomes clear.

Makes sense to me.

Does anyone know what the next step is? Who do we contact now? and how long will it take?

Thanks

As I put in my previous posting, I understood from what Alistair Darling said earlier on TV that the government would assure the whole amount.

See also the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/3156806/Financial-crisis-Alistair-Darling-guarantees-Icesave-savings.html (sorry I didn't know how to get hyper link) which also includes the following passage:

"The Chancellor’s guarantee means that savers will not lose out even if they have more than £50,000 in an Icesave account."

Good news on the protection at least we will get our money back

Lets hope that after all this iceland wont be able to attract any foreign investment and they go bust as i country

I never shopping at Iceland stores again lol !!!!

Yesterday was for most Icessave savers, a very worrying time, and I have to say that the opportunity to be able to share views and get answers was comforting and thanks to the team at Moneysupermarket.

Lets hope repayment of our savings is swift. Any ideas of time on this one.

Regards

Honeysuckle