Published on 29 November 2008 in Money, banks, credit crunch, Icelandic banking crisis, Icesave, money
So about two months ago, a substantial amount of my money ended up stuck in the British operation of a failed Icelandic bank, known in the UK as Icesave. Well after a bit of a wait - and nowhere near as long as most people originally expected - my cash has now been returned.
Published on 12 November 2008 in Money, banks, credit crunch, Icelandic banking crisis, ING Direct, Kaupthing Edge, money
Seems the whole Kaupthing Edge clean up continues. It’s taken them some time, but it finally came – the email that says “Yes, it may look like you opened a fixed term savings account, but you didn’t. Sorry.” It appears that whilst the Kaupthing Edge accounts were transferred to ING Direct, the actual physical infrastructure of the online banking system didn’t – it was kept by Kaupthing Edge’s parent, Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander. Technically opening a new account via the online banking system was therefore opening a new account with Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, who are in administration and therefore can’t accept new deposits. Apparently the money, when they get round to closing the account, will be deemed “never to have moved in the first place”. Presumably I’m not the only person to have tried this little game but it provides a lesson for failed banks (or at least the people trying to run failed banks) – lock off what you can, as soon as you can, even if it’s a crowbar approach. Cos if you don’t, someone may expect something to be possible that’s not, and you’ll waste more time sorting out the mess. One failed bank did do... View Article
Published on 10 November 2008 in Money, banks, credit crunch, Icelandic banking crisis, ING Direct, Kaupthing Edge, money
It's not so long ago that I wrote about failed bank Kaupthing Edge, and the fact that it's new owners hadn't reduced interest rates, nor removed its high paying fixed term rates for existing customers. It seems they've finally caught up on that front...
Published on 31 October 2008 in Money, banks, credit crunch, Icelandic banking crisis, ING Direct, Kaupthing Edge, money
The recent banking crisis has caused me a few issues here and there.
Published on 15 October 2008 in Money, banks, credit crunch, Icelandic banking crisis, Kaupthing Edge, money
The recent collapse of Icesave resulted in me pondering the future of my bank accounts.
Published on 9 October 2008 in Money, banks, credit crunch, Icelandic banking crisis, Kaupthing Edge, money
They say a week is a long time in politics. Maybe they should add a new one - a week is a long time in banking during a credit crunch.
Published on 7 October 2008 in Money, banks, credit crunch, Icelandic banking crisis, Icesave, money
I had hoped that my exposure to the whole credit crunch/banking crisis would be limited at watching my HBOS shares slide and slide before being effectively forced into agreeing to a takeover by Lloyds TSB. Shares I'd got for free - bar the fact that I'd decided things couldn't really get any worse, so why not take up the rights issue and grab a few more, cos in the long term...