With all these holiday companies collapsing....

[cmcrick1980]

....do you ever worry that someting like Moneybookers could suddenly go belly up? I dread to think how many thousands some people have sitting in their balance doing their Matched Betting! Is it a safe place to hold all your funds or do you err on the side of caution and withdraw all funds above a certain balance?

[wobbler]

Funny you should say that because I have been thinking similar thoughts, but not about Moneybookers, but about Betfair.

I don't have a Moneybookers account (long story) but I do have a Neteller. Rather than keep large amounts in there (as I think Neteller are almost as shonky as Moneybookers) I prefer to keep it in Betfair as I think out of the two it is the safer option.

Having said that how safe are any of these?? We've seen the s**t hit the fan a good few times. Betfair is supposedly ring-fenced but what use would that be in a massive collapse??

I guess we are all exposed to some degree, probably best to spread your money about mate just to be on the safe side. Money in a bonafide bank (eg the big four and indeed most others in the UK) are protected up to 50k I think, pre-paid cards (like the Maestro and Master Card ones that are about) are not protected at all so if you also use one of them be careful not to have too much on it.

[fraser]

Well, Neteller's parent company are regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority. Doesn't that give the same level of customer protection (ie £50000) as the banks do?

Note that I AM NOT CERTAIN ABOUT THIS. Just thought I'd read it somewhere is all. Other opinions are obviously welcome.

FWIW, Moneybookers are regulated by those guys as well so the protection would apply there too if I'm right.

[Dazzler]

Interesting post - have just removed a good chunk of my moneybookers balance.

Surely betfair is a licence to print money operation though, it's everyone else's money in their and they slim off 5% as well as the interest.

[munk]

Betfair were supposed to be floating on the stock exchange too as well soon weren't they so they wouldn't be in a hurry to fall over if they could help it at any cost, probably manage to scrape finance together somehow worst ever came to the worst (not that it would). I don't know for sure but imagine stock exchange listed companies probably stand a better chance of being rescued as well via buyouts/mergers etc, not sure how much extra 'safety' that gives to money held in accounts there... but is something.

[wobbler]

Surely betfair is a licence to print money operation though, it's everyone else's money in their and they slim off 5% as well as the interest.

I would say that out of pretty much all of the places that I have money Betfair is the place I feel most comfortable with for the reasons you have just pointed out.

I have a feeling we will be seeing more collapses in the future too, we just have to hope that the bookmaking sector is OK. As the saying goes "you never see a poor bookmaker" and our biggest worry is ponzi scheme type of bookies.

[Andy]

Surely betfair is a licence to print money operation though, it's everyone else's money in their and they slim off 5% as well as the interest.

People said the same about SportingOptions and look what happened there.

I am spread pretty much all over the place, I dont think any one financial institution is safer than any other as such, even Icelandic banks can go bust.

I am not worried about it though, it may happen, but it is not likely. There is no point worrying about everything that "could" go wrong you would never cross the street. Factor it in, yes, be aware of it, yes, but dont worry about it too much that is what I do as a rule.

[m0ns00n]

Interesting post - have just removed a good chunk of my moneybookers balance.

Surely betfair is a licence to print money operation though, it's everyone else's money in their and they slim off 5% as well as the interest.

Exactly what I was thinking about Betfair!

It's like eBay - they don't really have to put anything of their own at stake, while creaming off the %'s of other people's profits.

Wish I could think up something like this!

[nixonite]

Exactly what I was thinking about Betfair!

It's like eBay - they don't really have to put anything of their own at stake, while creaming off the %'s of other people's profits.

Wish I could think up something like this!

Problem is this kind of business model relies solely on people actually using your product/ website. If enough people moved away from betfair or eBay, they wouldn't be able to pay their admin costs and go belly up. Same with most businesses but this kind of model is more susceptible to it.

Andy's way is the best though. Keep money in as many (secure) places as possible so that even if one does run into problems, the overall impact for you is small.

[BigPlayer]

I'm not sure what's more worrying - this or the concurrent US bank failures...8 went down just this Friday.
There may be an institution to re-buy them but what if it comes to a point when there's no other institution to buy the fallen ones...
I'm beginning to think we've not seen the last of recessions in the close future.