I am currently in the process of distributing my liquid assets in such a way 
that I don't hold more than £35,000 in any one account.  How can I make 
absolutely sure that a bank I choose is definitely covered by the 
government's deposit guarantee.  To start with, I am planning to distribute 
over internet accounts from Ing, Alliance & Leicester & Citibank.

Many thanks for any advice.

On 19 Sep, 10:37, "Colonel Colt" 
wrote:
> I am currently in the process of distributing my liquid assets in such a way
> that I don't hold more than £35,000 in any one account.  How can I make
> absolutely sure that a bank I choose is definitely covered by the
> government's deposit guarantee.  To start with, I am planning to distribute
> over internet accounts from Ing, Alliance & Leicester & Citibank.
>
> Many thanks for any advice.

You Google for Financial Services Compensation Scheme and follow the
links, or go directly to:

http://www.fscs.org.uk/consumer/faqs/

On 19 Sep, 12:20, Ceres  wrote:
> On 19 Sep, 10:37, "Colonel Colt" 
> wrote:
>
> > I am currently in the process of distributing my liquid assets in such a way
> > that I don't hold more than £35,000 in any one account.  How can I make
> > absolutely sure that a bank I choose is definitely covered by the
> > government's deposit guarantee.  To start with, I am planning to distribute
> > over internet accounts from Ing, Alliance & Leicester & Citibank.
>
> > Many thanks for any advice.
>
> You Google for Financial Services Compensation Scheme and follow the
> links, or go directly to:
>
> http://www.fscs.org.uk/consumer/faqs/

You need to also be aware that you are not necessarily covered for
£35,000 in each separate bank. It depends who holds the bank licence
as deposit taker. eg. Birmingham Midshires and Intelligent Finance
operate under the Bank of Scotland licence. If the group get into
difficulty then you only have cover for £35,000 for your combined
saving in the three banks.
Similarly C&G Savings are covered by the Lloyds TSB licence, and
things could get more complex when and if there are any changes to the
licence for the new combined group.

Similarly, unless things have changed recently, it is not clear what
would happen under the scheme if there was general meltdown. The FSCS
has very finite limits. It is funded by a levy on the members and can
come up with just over £4bn per annum. (Retail ie savers deposits in
Northern Rock were £20) If several major banks failed then the
losses could be considerable and presumably the levy base would be
smaller if the major players were not themselves contributing to it.

I've never seen these issues of the limits of funding addressed, and
neither of the two government ministers I've seen be asked, has
answered 'yes' when asked if all savers can rest assured they have
guaranteed cover to £35,000 in all circumstances. I doubt that any
scheme or government could guarantee cover for the potential losses in
the current circumstances.

Toom

Ceres wrote:

> On 19 Sep, 10:37, "Colonel Colt" 
> wrote:
>> I am currently in the process of distributing my liquid assets in such a
>> way that I don't hold more than £35,000 in any one account.  How can I
>> make absolutely sure that a bank I choose is definitely covered by the
>> government's deposit guarantee.  To start with, I am planning to
>> distribute over internet accounts from Ing, Alliance & Leicester &
>> Citibank.
>>
>> Many thanks for any advice.
> 
> You Google for Financial Services Compensation Scheme and follow the
> links, or go directly to:
> 
> http://www.fscs.org.uk/consumer/faqs/

You need to check their FSA registration numbers, and make sure it is not
more than £35k per FSA registration number.  Different banks in the same
group can have the same FSA number, but not always.  For example Bank of
Scotland, Halifax, Birmingham Midshires, Intelligent Finance, AA and SAGA
share an FSA registration, but Sainsburys Bank has a separate registration.

Cheltenham & Gloucester shares a registration with Lloyds TSB, but Lloyds
TSB Scotland is a separate registration, as is Scottish Widows.

These two are going to merge at some point, so there could well be future
reorganisations of their FSA registrations.

Alliance & Leicester is going to be taken over by Banco Santander, who also
owns Abbey, so there could be a reorganisation there.

There are a few people that share a registration with Royal Bank of
Scotland.  Natwest and Ulster Bank however do not.

Colonel Colt wrote:
> I am currently in the process of distributing my liquid assets in such a way 
> that I don't hold more than £35,000 in any one account.  How can I make 
> absolutely sure that a bank I choose is definitely covered by the 
> government's deposit guarantee.  To start with, I am planning to distribute 
> over internet accounts from Ing, Alliance & Leicester & Citibank.

There's a handy guide here, with a table at the end to assist with
distribution.

  http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings

Chris