Deciding where to put money

[Coldicote]

If someone splits up their bank savings (and perhaps has already done so) to put part into another bank or building society, how can they know which are in the same financial 'group' and should be avoided for the purpose of the guaranteed safe sum?

[dundurn]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/interactive/20 08/sep/25/savings.providers

Remember that Abbey/cahoot / Bradford & Bingley (all owned by Santander) will also incorporate Alliance & Leicester should the proposed merger go through. On the other hand Santander as a group is one of the safest around. Thanks to Spain's regulatory system it is practically untouched by "toxic" investments and has only around 1% of buy to let mortgages.

[Coldicote]

Thanks dundurn. A very interesting reference that others could find useful.

[factor-fiction]

The following article is also excellen- it includes details of which banks are part of others, and it also answers the following questions:

� What type of savings are protected?
� Will my bank/building society go bust?
� What protection do i have?
� What counts as a bank?
� Do foreign bank get the same protection?
� Is the FSCS big enough to cope?
� Can I get 100% safety?

[factor-fiction]

Oops. Missing link:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe- savings

[Coldicote]

These answers are very helpful, thank you. I've heard many discussions on the subject and feel sure a lot of people don't know the information available here.

But isn't it a crazy world, with people moving money around from one place to another, and others probably moving theirs in the opposite direction for the same reason! In total it's the same amount of money just being scattered around in different places.