Safest option for Savings?

From reading numerous posts here, it is apparent that a lot of people are concerned that the government's bank guarantee scheme may implode.

Some posters feel that depositing savings with AIB or Irish Nationwide may ultimately be an unwise move.

Am I wiser to keep my savings lodged with my credit union? Or can anyone recommend which banks are the safest to lodge deposits with?

Saving with my credit union has yielded little interest for me, but I'd rather gain little interest than lose the entire amount of my savings!

Thanks in advance.

I would advise you consider a bank with a guarantee scheme offered by a non Irish government such as Rabobank, Nationwide, Northern Rock, Ulster Bank, Postbank, Investec etc

I went with Investec recently after some research. They are good for lump sum deposits but not for regular savings. Depends how much you have to save.
http://www.investec.com/Ireland

Also check these sites for comparing interest rates

http://www.irishdeposits.ie/rates_100k.htm
http://www.itsyourmoney.ie/lumpsumdepositcomparison

If one is worried about the ability of the Irish Government to make good the guarantee on bank deposits then the answer is clearly to open several accounts with banks where the parent company is not domiciled in Ireland.

Of course care needs to be taken where different banks are all part of the same group so for example an account with Halifax and an account with Bank of Scotland count as being with the same banking group for the purposes of the UK compensation rules and are not treated as separate investments.

For the cautious saver planning to keep a lump sum on deposit for more than a few years, another risk to consider is that of inflation.

See my post here for possible alternatives that a cautious saver might wish to consider to reduce the risk to their savings:

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=107356

shellie_13 said:

I went with Investec recently after some research. They are good for lump sum deposits but not for regular savings. Depends how much you have to save.
http://www.investec.com/Ireland

Also check these sites for comparing interest rates

http://www.irishdeposits.ie/rates_100k.htm
http://www.itsyourmoney.ie/lumpsumdepositcomparison

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Or the excellent best buys here, which IMHO is easy to navigate and usually updated rapidly when there is a change of rate.

padraig38 said:

I would advise you consider a bank with a guarantee scheme offered by a non Irish government such as Rabobank, Nationwide, Northern Rock, Ulster Bank, Postbank, Investec etc

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Postbank appears to be covered under the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
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Happy Girl said:

Postbank appears to be covered under the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
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Yes, they are covered.

Postbank is not a 100% non Irish deposit as such it is owned by An Post and Fortis.

Paulk said:

From reading numerous posts here, it is apparent that a lot of people are concerned that the government's bank guarantee scheme may implode.

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Well if safety is your top priority with the interest rate been a minor concern than I imagine RaboDirect (http://www.rabodirect.ie/) should be one of the first places you should consider.

While they aren't popular with AAM members who are looking for competitive returns for deposits (of which I am), I doubt any here can realistically question the safety of the bank.

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RaboDirect has always been conservative to say the least so their exposure to the subprime crisis was minimum and so have little if any toxic assets on their balance sheets (open to correction on this).

Aside from the AAA rating been good for the safety of deposits it also means RaboDirect has an edge in the international markets when it comes to raising funds.