I’ve been listening to the news over the last few weeks and struggling to work out whether I need to be worried or not.
I don’t have a mortgage. I don’t have any loans, nor am I looking for credit. My pension provision is basically negligible anyway. I can afford to pay my rent and bills and I have pretty limited fuel usage on a day to day basis. I do, however, have some savings in the bank and am dependent on gifts from other people whose money is, presumably, in the bank too.
Should I be at all worried that my high street bank (HSBC) might collapse? And, you know, it’s probably not going to keep me awake either way, because there’s nothing I can do about it. But I’d just like to understand the situation. At the moment everything’s happening within the City, isn’t it? So even Bradford and Bingley customers are going to be okay, I think?
And, just out of curiosity, what would happen if the banks keep collapsing. Do we end up with one winner who has all the money? Or none, and go back to bartering? Which would be good for anyone with real skills, rather than just corporate-speak nonsense.
Stumble It!
3 Comments
Don’t panic Ros.
If HSBC collapses, we will all be living in caves. If you have savings of fewer than £35,000, the government will guarantee them if your bank collapses. It’s almost tempting to wish your bank would collapse, so you finally get some comeback on all your taxes.
Excellent. I’m not noticeably panicking, but it’s nice to know. My savings are considerably lower than £35,000.
I would agree with your final statement but given the amount of taxes I’ve actually paid, it would be somewhat hypocritical.
Also, have I missed an announcement about baby Jeffers?
Ros, apart from Neil’s admirably perspicacious comment, you might like to take a look at Robert Peston’s blog, and particularly his latest post http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/10/nationalisation_by_stealth.html
for a pretty clear explanation of what’s going down…
In summary, if the banks keep on collapsing, we end up with one winner who has all the money (deposits) but also all the debt taken on by the high street banks (which is far greater than the deposits) and the lucky winner is…The Bank of England. So taxpayers in even more debt, over and above what Brown has landed the Government in already…eek.