At this time of year despite the good cheer, festive fun and great memories in the making a lot of us will be thinking about money with the festive season sometimes being a drain on our savings. Don’t you sometimes wish you could have a crash helmet for your savings? Protection that you might never use but it’s there just in case?
Many of us remember the infamous run on the Northern Rock bank in 2007 after it emerged that the bank was unable to secure loans from other banks and sought emergency financial support from the Bank of England. When the Northern Rock website crashed its customers took to the streets, finding their local branch and attempting to withdraw their savings in a panic believing their money may disappear. No-one wants to be in that position.
Luckily there is a free scheme backed by government in place which automatically secures your hard earned savings if anything happens to your bank, building society or credit union: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)is a which automatically refunds savings up to £85,000 within 7 days. Having been established over 10 years ago the FSCS has helped more than 4½ million people and paid out more than £26 billion in compensation.
It is understood that the majority (98%) of the UK population quality to use this protection scheme, having less than £85,000 in savings.
Your savings are FSCS protected if:
- Your savings amount to less than £85,000
- Your savings are held with banks, building societies or credit unions authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)
Your savings might not be FSCS protected if:
- Your savings are with banks, building societies or credit unions which are not authorised by the PRA
- Your savings amount to more than £85,000 as an individual or more than £170,000 in a joint account
- You have more than £85,000 (or £170,000 in joint accounts) split across banks, building societies and credit unions which share a banking authorisation
There are over 900 banks protected by The FSCS. To find out if your banks, building societies and credit unions are covered use the FSCS Protection Checker.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme is a way of ensuring that your finances are secure despite the economic climate so that you and your family may continue to enjoy the festivities of the season without worrying.
