‘I could have to live on £5 a week’
Tuesday 14th October 2008, 2:59PM BST.
A MATURE student’s future at university is in jeopardy as a result of the Icelandic-owned Guernsey bank Landsbanki being placed into administration.
Jerseywoman Samantha Andrews (28) has just started studying for a Conservation Biology and Ecology degree at the University of Exeter. And she said that her financial situation is now so dire that she could end up with £5 a week to live on unless she gets emergency support. ‘I just don’t know how I am going to do this,’ she said.
Miss Andrews has been saving for the past three years to do the course and placed most of the funds she had – including an award from the charitable Strasser Foundation – into an account with Landsbanki. She banked about £18,000 in Landsbanki, money she earned from working in Jersey at Royal Bank of Scotland International and at the States’ Population Office.
She was intending to use the interest from the Landsbanki account to cover travel expenses to go to Canada as part of her course in 2010 to gain experience in her field of study. But her dreams are hanging in the balance and like many other Islanders, she is trying to establish exactly what the position with Landsbanki is.
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I don’t think this is anybody else’s problem. Loads of people have lost money, but there is a rescue package being worked on and we should really wait and see.
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hope your ok hun. havent seen you for an age. i hope this gets sorted for you!
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Keith im sure you wouldnt be saying that if it was you in that situation!
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Yes Keith, it would be great if everyone had the money and time to sit and wait to see what the rescue package is.
If there are loads of people who have lost money then I would be interested to know their stories as well. Good on Sam who is actually making a stand and speaking out about how this has affected those who don’t make hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in banking and who is trying to further her career.
Its sad that there are people who make such an effort to tell others how something is ‘not anybody else’s problem’ than putting their energies into doing something about injustice, whether it be directly related to them or not.
Maybe it was selfish ‘not my problem’ attitudes helped cause the current issues with the banks in the first place?
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Keith, it could be argued that anybody’s problems arent anyone elses problems. But with that attitude then we wouldnt have the social support system which I am sure you have and indeed will benefit from. Lets make this clear that this is not to say i expect to be bailed out for this by the States-if i wanted handouts from the States I would have never bothered to save any money at all. All the depositors want is our money back. Its not dissappeared. It is there, albeit not all in Guernsey.
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There was a reason that Landsbanki were offering such high rates. The more interest you are paid the higher the risk. I hope the situation is resolved soon but people do need to think before chasing the highest rate
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It’s all very sad. I am in the situation of having potentially lost all my hard-earned life savings and although it is not a matter of life and death it is going to mean, for me, people not getting paid.
No man is an island, even on this island, where it seems from some remarks that ‘selfish’ and ‘self-centred’ is an aspiration. My money was in a building society! It COULD happen to you.
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In fairness to Keith I suspect it was the phrase “unless she gets emergency support” in the article that gave the suggestion that this was an individual request for a bailout, which is no doubt the writer’s fault and not Samantha Andrews.
I feel for her I really do, but unfortunately it is a ‘wait and see’ situation, there isn’t any other option. Nobody can step in and ‘bail people out’, how can they? Some of us have worked hard all our lives but could never have dreamt of being able to save this amount of money (due to salaries not remotely reflecting the level of responsibility in our job rather than our incapability to do a mentally demanding job), and we are paying for our own University education also, if someone is to step in and help those that have been able to save they would have to also help those that genuinely couldn’t due to greedy bosses paying themselves ridiculous salaries while we do all the work and cover for their ineptitude. THAT is also a great injustice and one that no Government body anywhere in the world seems willing to tackle head on.
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Is there an Aldi near you in Exeter? If so then its do-able. Do the wealthy States of Jersey not provide any sort of grant?
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This young lady is not the only person who has been swindled by this bank, but they are starting to blame people for their greed in going for the bigger interest rates. As they say you pays ya money and you take your chances.
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