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The Government officially nationalised the bulk of Bradford & Bingley this morning, seizing £50 billion of assets and bankrolling the deposit protection lifeboat to ensure the ordinary 2.6 million depositors will not lose out.
Banco Santander, the Spanish bank that owns Abbey National, has bought the £20 billion deposit business and the network of 200 branches.
Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, revealed that the immediate cost to taxpayers would be a £4 billion payment to Abbey and a £14 billion government loan to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the permanent lifeboat scheme.
Branches would open normally this morning, the Chancellor said, but share trading in B&B has been suspended. It would be "business as usual" for the branches, call centres and internet operations of B&B, the Treasury said.
The remaining assets and liabilities of the former building society, including its £41 billion mortgage book, personal loan book, Yorkshire headquarters, treasury assets and wholesale liabilities will be taken into public ownership by the transfer of all shares to the Treasury, Mr Darling said.
The Government had acted immediately, on the advice of the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, "to maintain financial stability and protect depositors, while minimising the exposure to taxpayers," it said in a formal statement.
Shareholders and customers of other banks appear ultimately destined to pay for B&B's mistakes unless the stricken bank's assets prove sufficient to cover all liabilities during what is likely to be a lengthy wind-up process. The FSCS is normally financed by levies on all financial services companies.
Shareholders, including more than 800,000 small private investors, will initially receive nothing. It was not immediately clear what steps would be taken to consider compensation, if any.
The Financial Services Authority, which supervises British banks, concluded on Saturday that B&B no longer met threshold conditions for operating as a deposit taker, the Treasury said.
"Savers' money remains absolutely safe and secure," the Treasury said. "Borrowers should continue to make their payments in the normal way."
Banco Santander today declined to rule out job losses and branch closures in the wake of its £612 million purchase of B&B's savings business and branch network.
The owner of Abbey, having just acquired Alliance & Leicester and now the B&B branches, has overlapping branches in hundreds of UK high streets. Analysts said some of the 1,300 branches were bound to be closed eventually.
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Not a penny for the shareholders, despite vast property assets going spare. Are we in the UK o the USSR?
Ross, Jakarta, Indonesia
Terry, Radstock, England. Of course there has been corruption. The FSA I believe is also investigating it.However, "People like me" don;t take 100% mortgages or more. "People like me" don't lie about their income. "People like me" don't buy everything on credit.
Kris, Bristol,
Furthermore...it is the lesser ot two evils. If B&B really collapsed then what would be the fall out? People like you Terry don't understand that fact. You see things as black and white. Also worth noting that even healthy banks can collapse due to lack of funds on the market. Is that their fault?
kris, Bristol,
While everyone is attacking the banks.... i would like to make one thing known..... even though it is the bank as an organisation or part of the reason that things are falling apart... dont be fooled as the people you see on a day to day basis get nothing from this. we are in the same boat as you.
D, Dartmouth, UK
This is not the end.With the RBS advertising at the Formula 1 in Singapore,which must have cost a fortune,they will go bust next - and they are a Bank!
I hope Natwest will be hived off and returned to it's original status.
Whose money do RBS think they are spending in Singapore? Scots mist again?
james allen, manchester, england
As a saver, I always liked Bradford & Bingley. They were dependable, reliable and dare I say honest. I can't think of many ohter financial organisations I can say that about particularly nowerdays. They didn't try to confuse, over complicate or entrap!
colin, wolverhampton, UK
HOW FAR CAN WE GO?
OK bail out B & B but at what cost to essential services? Health and the care of old people many of whom have never owned a house or have been able to save money because they worked hard on low incomes. Who pays? Low income? Pensioners who have saved? Get real!
Yvonne, Derby, England
I love it when the Scots taxpayer forgets that the Bank of Scotland and RBS took over our so called ailing English banks and turned them into spectactular failures
andy, rotherham, uk
I would hope that the B&B executive and directorate will be given the boot without compensation and not be allowed into the banking world again.
David, Poole,
So another greedy board of Directors make a huge mistake and over-commit their Bank in order to earn huge bonuses, and the other Banks, who didn't behave so recklessly, have to pick up the first £15bn in losses? Madness I tell ya, madness! That's like Asda having to cover any losses at Tesco! Crazy!
Mark, Bedford,
'Just why should the Scots taxpayer be asked to pay for yet another failed English bank?'
Just wait until we find out what Halifax Bank of SCOTLAND was hiding. That will dwarf them all, mark my words.
eric campbell, harrogate, uk
What needs to be done is to pull up all the Non Status cases that have gone wrong and check on the info given. Those who have mislead the lender should be sued for deception. Questions might need to be asked of the Introdcer with a view to legal action.
WHY SHOULD WE SUBSIDISE SUCH PEOPLE
V Cooper, Somerset, UK
What I would like to know is who is going to support those hundreds of thousands who are going to loose their jobs and have no savings because they've spent it all.The taxpayer again?
Not a good time to be anyone who does have savings and drives a car I suspect.
Andy, Bristol, UK
Spanish property companies are going down drain, Spanish propert y prices are in free-fall. But Santander is able to buy Abbey, then Alliance and Leicester and now B and B!
Scuse me but I smell a rat,
How come this bank is so flush with funds and apparently devoid of debt and no liquidity worries?
john, Kouvola, Finland
Ummm ... excuse me for asking the obvious question ...
Where will this magic £50 billion come from?
David Michael, London, UK
Bill, Ramsey- live in the real world. There's loads of properties empty, 'cos B-T-Letters wont reduce their rent demands 'cos their mortgage repayments are inflated due to the property price boom. BTL created the high price of renting, which props up the price of buying - it's a vicious circle
Phil, Walsall,
Where has the money from the recent rights issue in both Bradford and Bingley and HBOS gone?
Will anyone be compensated because undoubtedly the senior management knew the companies were in a perilous position at the time of these rights issues. Wake up to the biggest fraud ever.
rob, ashbourne, uk
Please think that ordinary taxpayers that default on loans will have this hanging over their head for many years to come. It's blind stupidty to blame ordinary people...they have been enticed into the homeowner dream. If banks acted sensibly, they could set lower rates to tide them over at no loss.
Adrian Jones, Whitehill, GB
William,
It is an old myth and nothing more, but one that still seems readily to come to hand when it suits and to propogate the usual untruths.
Andrew, Inverness, Scotland
Shall we ask 'Gordon Brown' where he keeps his money?
Ann, Enfield , United Kingdom
If your house is repossessed by the government will they sell it in a falling market and lose money or turn it into council housing, if they lose money on it I presume they will come after the borrower for the losses which will be huge and then leave people with 1 choice, bankruptcy?
Pete , Eastbourne,
Can anyone clarify what would happen to the debt of "sensible borrowers" if these banks were to go bankrupt? If this group was treated fairly I say let these banks and the irresponsible borrowers go down with a bang.
Stephen, lake district,
What will UK taxpayers receive in return for taking on billions of pounds of toxic debt from this irresponsible bank? NOTHING. Not one new hospital or school will be built. Not one job of value to society will be created. The execs will walk off into the sunset immune from prosecution.
harry, halifax, England
How can the government guarantee the accounts of B & B savers in the future now that Santander own them? I would not leave a penny in a B & B Santander account - it is more vulnerable now than ever - at least it had Gov £35,000 before - now what???
Janet Wood, Penrith, UK
Deposits from customers are liabilities, because the company has to repay them, but loans to customers are assets, as money flows in to the company. The government has nationalised an asset not a debt and can now wait for repayment.If the loans go bad the properties will be sold.
Good move.
glenn, warrington, england
Does this now mean the tax man can look at all those "self certs" and tie them up to the incomes (tax receipts ) people said they had. With those that were wrong?faked being charged with fraud and or tax evasion?
I bet the government will be too scared to face the truth!
andy, winchester,
Dave, London. I think you mean voluntary reposession so yes a BTL owner could effectively hand the keys in & walk away. Would be very difficult to get another mtg after though. You cannot reposess his home as this was not the property that was used as security for the loan.
Carol, Leicester, UK
Breathe in we will all have to tighten our belts now. This is not the end of it like Nero, Darling and BOOM BUST BROWN fiddle whilst the City of London burns. A third of our economy going up in smoke and you and I will have to pay for it.
Britain will become once again one of Europe's poor nations.
Richard , Nottingham,
Abolish the 10p tax band so that taxpayers can buy shares in the NBGB (the National Bank of Gordon Brown). A bankrupt bank created by a bankrupt party led by a bankrupt leader who "abolished" the boom and bust cycle.
On yer bike McBroon!
Nigel Wroe, Doncaster,
The people who get the bail out are reckless borrowers who took out loans, cc's and mgages they had no hope of repaying and the bosses who let this happen and walked away with millions. Many sholders are hardworking taxpayers like myself who took no part in this debt binge but saved instead.
Neil Hewitt, Leeds, UK
Well, Andrew, you don't object to money from English tax payers being spent in Scotland, so you can hardly object when you have to pay part of the bill.
William Moriarty, Ilford, Essex
Phil, Walsall, you seem unaware that sensible BTL investors will only do so where there is demand for rental housing. That's what the L is there for. It's not Buy To Keep Empty.
The bad debts will come from self-certification (ie income exagerration) mortgages & silly salary multiples
Bill, Ramsey,
Keep your eye on the directorships to be given by the new GOVBANKS..a lot of soon to be unemployed ex MPs are on the look out for another gravy train trip !
Tony, Derby, UK
well nicholas the basic notion of democracy is selling of part of your liberty for protection. Well nobody seemed to have a probleme with clearly selling their freedom with the patriot act why would they have a problem now!!!! I guess its the ''american dream''
Alex , Geneva, Switzerland
Note that all the so called 'banks' that are going bust are the demutualised building societies. It took 150 years to build up these organisations and only 20 to destroy them. Where is the pressure group now who wanted to demutualise the Nationwide - are they prepared to recant ?
ROD WRIGHT, BROMLEY, ENGLAND
The bankers can be happy. Surely, next year's bonuses will top last year's bonuses. The money the city invested in our politicians, Labour, Tories, LibDems all alike, pays back handsomely now. The bonus bonanza can go on, and the stupid taxpayers pay it this time! Yippee!
Peter, Liverpool, UK
The old model for mortgages was Savers = interest, Mortgage = debts that is assessed for risk. This means you load what you can afford at a rate that balances risk.
New model = borrow 9 times the debts and hope no-one defaults.
Think executives and FSA are liable for incompetence.
Joe, Edinburgh, Scotland
So does this mean anyone who took out a mortgage with Northern Rock or B&B is actually living in the modern day equivalent of a council house? Albeit with much higher rent to pay. Gabriel Garcia Marquez had it right in 'hundred years..' we carry on repeating the same mistakes in society
Sebastian Cargutt, Leeds,
No point taxing buy to let landlords now, that would mean less being able to pay off their mortgages and getting us in more debt. Many of the buy to letters can't even fire sell because they would be in negative equity and owe the banks even more. It's all a bloody spiral of doom.
dan, Nottingham, UK
Er, haven't we just nationalised B&b'S debt? And let the Spanish have its assets?
Booth, London,
I wonder how the European Bank would have treated the UK banking system if we had joined the Euro?
Richard, Thame, UK
Just why should the Scots taxpayer be asked to pay for yet another failed English bank?
Andrew, inverness, scotland
"The lesser of two evils",Kris Bristol? More like being allowed to chose how to die. In America the FBI is investigating corruption in the banking sector, here we have politicians and people like you telling the taxpayer to accept responsibility. There is and has been massive corruption.
Terry, Radstock, England
Could someone explain the secret formula used by Santander - All over the world banks are strugglingly. We're told Spain has its own property meltdown, yet a bank which I can only assume does some business in Spain, continues on its way, serene as ever, buying anything it can get its hands on.
Zdarma Smith, Cambs, UK
Why are we (and the US) spending all this money to bail out an industry model which has failed so catastrophically, thereby encouraging the people who caused the problem to do it again?
We should just let the rotten parts of the system go bust and start again with a much smaller banking sector.
Steve, Dunstable,
As long as this greed is allowed to continue by the whole nation; we are all doomed. Why don't we start by means testing those with lower incomes (but a proven working record, not a sponging one) to pay a lower set rate of council tax, energy bills, which could help them onto the property ladder?
Brice Cairo, Cairo, Egypt,
Brown is the ultimate example of rewarding failure, in this country.
He spent 10 years in charge of Britain's finance, and then when it started to fall apart, the Labour party rewarded him to be leader.
And now they say he is the best person for the job.
Can so one explain why: without lying?
A Walton, Leicester, England
Andrew in Inverness; How about; "Because Englnd and its long surrering taxpayers have been subsidising Scotland since time immemorial?"
Mark, London, UK
Santander Bank are being really usefull buying up our smaller, less than successful, ex- building societys.
Might one ask the question:- Just how rock solid is Santander Bank?
W D Toulman, WALKINGTON East Yorkshire, United Kingdom
This is nothing to do with buy to let and all about poor decisions by the bank. Research has shown that BTL has had no significant effect on property prices. BTL allows those who do not need to buy a property (eg young professionals who want flexibility) to rent. To rent there has to be a landlord
Howard Jones, Macclesfield,
How safe is Santander, though??
Colin, Leeds, England
If the cute girls from the telly advert gets made redundant, can I have her please in compensation for the shares that I've lost.
Chris, Derby,
I agree with the comments regarding the application of a bit of reality to the BTL amateurs who plague the UK. As a Abbey shareholder, I also advocate shutting every B&B branch asap and providing Abbey passbooks and accounts. I'm not here to subsidise imcompetent B&B with my savings !
Roarke, Wembley, UK
Instead of bailing out the rich try useing the money to build social housing for the needy. Thus creating jobs in the industry that needs them the most not supporting the rich who created this problem with their greed in the first place.
Adrian, Downham market,
Icelandic bank Glitnir has just gone belly up. The government there has taken a 75% stake to keep it alive.
No interest to UK?
Kaupthing Edge - highest interest rates mean highest risk.
Icesave - West Ham Utd & XL chums!
And when they go down will HM government bail out an overseas bank?
Jon Jonsson, Reykjavik, Iceland
And if Santander goes bust will it be the Spanish or British Government which has to nationalise the British remnants. Spain could in theory just walk away from its British holdings.Things get more dangerous by the moment. Do we Brits own anything except everyone's debt.
eric campbell, harrogate, uk
thara = No
You have 2000 Shares in a FAILED Company.
What makes you think you should get anything ?
That's why they say the value of shares can down as well as up.
Stephen, Llantwit Fardre, Wales
By all means nationalise the so-called "toxic" debts but why the giveaway of viable assets? Surely the logic of nationalisation would be to incorporate the viable assets, i.e. the savings, into National Savings & Investments to the benefit of the counrty and the taxpayer.
G Lambert, Sutton in Ashfield, UK
3 people to blame for this mess - the government for not regulating it, the banks for not pricing risks and the least talked about group, the people for lending more than they can afford.
Now we must all pay for the mess that these 3 groups have created through our tax, jobs and pension funds
Matt, Cardiff,
Why should Scottish taxpayers and Scottish oil money have to bail out the second English bank to fail?
Andrew, Inverness, Scotland
another example of British succesful business ability...
riccardo, brussels,
I hope the 1m BB shareholders remember the government's incompetence when it comes to the election, not to mention the 20m pension savers who see their pension funds plummet. Sadly Cameron and Clegg appear not much better.
David, London,
Get this bloody government out now.
Sheer theft from those who are not responsible, given to those who are.
These continued nationalisations of shareholder-owned firms are some of the biggest scandals, and legalised thefts from the British people, this nation has ever known.
Laura Roberts, London, UK
Sadly, Dave in Cannock, there's nowhere for them to go to. Better to weather the storm in Blighty than find yourself down and out in any other country. And no country is going to be spared this meltdown.
Mac, Andover, UK
Pete, St Albans, you are absolutely spot on. The whole housing market mess was caused by buy-to-let. There is no shortage of housing in this country, there's plenty of empty properties being treated as investments artificially keeping housing prices [to buy or to let] high.
Phil Burton, Walsall,
Stephen Jones might have hit on more than a coincidence.Labour Government (Brown,Darling and Browne) based in the north also going bust due to mismanagement.
Bryn Garn, Greenwich, UK
the number of ignorant comments from people knowing very little or nothing about economics is bewildering. The concept of "the lesser of two evils" is very much appropriate here.
Kris, Bristol,
The capitalist structures are being destroyed by the same forces that brought down communism - greed and incompetence. Both systems are fine in their way but do not allow for the avarice and pure greed of those who are supposed to be in charge. Will we learn anything from this crisis - I doubt it.
Vernon Butcher, basingstoke, england
Usually if I sell something I receive money from the buyer.How come with a Labour government when they sell part of B & B they (we the UK tax payer) hands over £4bn to the buyer Santander ? I thought the savings and branches were supposed to be an asset that had value ! You couldnt make it up !
Notters, Mars,
All the regulators effort and vast budget should be directed at getting the financial system as stable as possible in as short a time as is practicable. Did Mr Tiner see this coming? If he did why was he allowed to leave with a clean sheet? If he and his colleagues didn't then why have regulators?
Evan Owen, Harlech, Wales
Excuse me GH, NY, USA....your outline of where blame lies is totally wrong like the mortgage backed securities traded! Jo Bloggs had no idea of the levels of complexity behind mortgages that were heavily marketed. Its the IB that produced these intruments and supposedly employ risk analysts!
Miss Angry, W Yorkshire, england
Absolutely right Pete, St Albans. Crank the tax up on buy to let and lets get social responsibility back into the UK. The government should have put the boot in on BTL long ago but they did not because they do not care about the ordinary people of this land.
Chris, Chipping Norton,
thara, london, uk
Why should you. You took a gamble and lost. Why look to me to bail you out?
Phill , The Wirral, England
Fixed.
Done.
Sorted.
SHAFTED.
This government should be prosecuted.
Tom Franklin, London, UK
Another domino has fallen and they sell the good bits to a Spanish bank at a knock-down price. It should be used to shore up the next domino so that the tax-payer is not stung again. I am sure Spanish taxpayers are laughing all the way to the bank. This is the worst form of blinkered short-termism.
Bruce, London, UK
George above has hit the nail on the head, sell the assets of B&B by Public Auction, those who live by the sword should die by the sword.
Les, Pontefract, UK
This makes me think that the Rights issue this year was a way for the Gov't to reduce the UK taxpayers losses! Being both a small shareholder and a saver I feel mislead by both the Bank and FSA over the last few months. They should keep the Bank in one piece, rather than sell the silverware only!
Alan King, Leeds, UK
When are people going to look at IFAs who encouraged people to lie (bend the truth) on self certs to be able to borrow vast sums to buy what they could not afford. It happened here as well as the US. Stop only blaming the traders and go to the grass routes. These people were reckless also.
andy, winchester,
Here's a question. Who picks up the bill when Santander goes bust? Us or Spain?
eric campbell, harrogate, uk
Steven Jones, No, this is not a Northern problem. The mututals were sound businesses, lending wisely and with long term growth. It all went wrong when they got over-excited, turned into banks, and had to attract City investors' money. It's City short-term-ism that's done for them.
Tom Paul, Harrogate, England
The four pillars of Government are:-
1) Religion
2) Treasure
3) Justice
4) Counsel
We have kicked away the first two and with our justice system under pressure & a lack of trust in our political establishment, the two remaining pillars look very weak. Social breakdown needs to be avoided!
Stephen Marchant, Newton Abbot, UK
The temples (banks) of the capitalist system are been nationalised using marxist policies. What next? Collapse of the incompetent capitalist system?
NICHOLAS , LARNACA, c
The failure of this bank is a huge hole in the credibility of the FSA clearly this quango is long past its sell by date. The height of its expertise is to run around after financial advisers ensuring every i is dotted and every t crossed while not having the first clue about the banks
Darrell monteith, Omagh, Northern Ireland
Is this a Northern problem?
Halifax - Bust - based in North
Bank of Scotland - Bust - based in North
Northern Rock - Bust - based in North
Bradford and Bingley - Bust - based in North
Alliance & Leicester - Bust - based in North
A coincidence or revelation of foolish management in North?
Stephen R Jones, Holborn, London, UK
When an ordinary company goes bust the assets are sold of at a discount to the people, when a bank goes bust the people have additional costs levied upon them by the Government.
Heads you win tails I lose is the order of the day.
Make the shareholders pay.
Bob Lomas, Whaley Bridge, England
If Gordon is so experienced on economics/the financial markets & running the economy, how come he let it get into this mess? Don't tell me is all the USA bankers fault - it isn't. He allowed & encouraged the debt bubble here; & destroyed pensions which fuelled buy to let. He isn't the man to fix it.
Donna Walker, Effingham, England
In nationalization why a freebe to a Spanish bank - all asset savings and no debt? or is Abbey National in styme also - smoke screens + wishfull thinking - who in their right mind would take on debt in falling markets - only bad debters - who have no choice = good money after bad - not a good omen.
graham topp, toulouse, france
Is it not highly amusing that this company who actively encouraged "buy to let" has folded. Buy to let artificially kept house prices up. Hope all buy to let owners are suffering badly. A house is a home to live in, not an investment.
To stop this, bang on 60% tax on second home earnings!
Pete, St Albans, England
i have about 2000 shares.what is going to happen.? am i get anything?
thara, london, uk
An utter disaster for the British taxpayer. If you're under 30 you should be looking to get out of this country right now. Labour won't be going after the rich to pay the bill, they'll be coming after you.
dave, Cannock , England
this is a disgrace. absolutely no chance of any tax breaks or elief from the burden of debt in the uk now..get out while you can, I hear Zimbabwe is nice this time of year....
patrick, Singapore, Singapore
There are reasons the govt has to bail out failing banks. 1) If thousands of people lost their homes, the party concerned would be unelectable for decades 2) Central government can't exist without central banking - if peoples pay stops arriving, there would be anarchy.
Doesn't make it palatable tho
W Smith, Manchester,
WE must get away from the culture of rewarding failure. I see the executives are walking away with reasonable handshakes instead of being hauled in front of the courts for mis-management of their companies which the tax payer now has to fund.
Louis Blanc, Liverpool, UK
Can a BTL owner just walk away? I think in most cases that they will have their own home which could be repossed, is this the case?
Dave, London,
GB took away all the tax brakes for saving and raised tax by more than inflation here and there. Council tax has gone up above inflation but is not in the inflation number?If he used the money to help the poor they could pay there bills and bring back tax brakes on savings to help the banks
Paul, London, UK
The latest economic model appearing now in your text books: privatise the profits and nationalise the debt. sack the worker who fails and hand loadamoney to the failing executives
bob holmes, axbridge, England
Most B&B shareholders are as much victims here as anyone else - as a minority shareholder you have very little control over the company. The people who should be held responsible are the executives and those who held the controlling stake.
Still, the british public shouldn't have to pay for this.
Derrick, London, UK
I forgot the children's grandparents had opened an account and they had B&B shares. I will have to give a lesson in capitalism. Remember the phrase: 'Employ a teenager while the still know everything'. I will add the phrase 'to continue knowing everything become a Labour cabinet politician!'
Alan, Luton,
Now that the rich have taken from the poor everything that can be taken, it's the turn of people on middle incomes to hand over their dosh to the rich.
Adam Addis, Lancaster, UK
I notice the belgiums took 49% for their bale out how many % of the B&B and we getting? fora our 50 billion's worth? B&B should have just been aloud to colapse people will start new banks, mabye even peopel who know what they are doing, I am sick of the goverment telling me its in my intrest. LIE
MR W Jones, Liverpool, England
The bottom line is the Finance Industry conjured value out of nothing. Now that it has been found out it is the ordinary people that are left to find the money to fill the 'nothing' element so that those who made a fantastic living out dealing in assets of no real value can continue to be wealthy!
Alan C, Chorley, UK
I found it surprising that B&B were still running their tv ads a few weeks ago but amazed that they were stilll running this weekend - presumably we're the ones paying for these ads!
Jim, Hayling Island, UK
This sends the green light to the greedy banks that they can carry on with their dubious business practices because the tax payer will bail them out.
Banks need to be punished for behaving irresponsibly.
Stephen Holmes, Withington, UK
So, we sell the cherries to Santander and keep the stones!
Needs a man of experience to do such a deal!
Howard, Chester,
Alan from Southampton, you're wrong I'm afraid. As a shareholder you make a profit because of the risk you take when you invest. Shares can go down as well as up. If they go down, instead of blaming the government, you should take responsibility for your own decisions.
JS, Tokyo, Japan
The Taxpayer as usual is always the ultimate scapegoat for all government faux pas(s) pass, present and those yet to be determined. It therefore follows he/she is the only qualified candidate to pull the institutions out of the crapper!
Mike O Connor, Plymouth,
I would like to know, why a taxpayer who is hard up, and earning the minimum wage, should be called upon to pay "extra" to bale out people who bought to loot - and still pay rent to the BTL landlord?
All Brown is doing is stopping Mr and Mrs min wage get on the ladder by mopping up some BTL
Damien, Moncengladbach, Germany
Well now that B & B ( Botch and Bungle) is in the govts hands we can all relax,,,,With HSBC and Barclays raising their mortgage rates the housing crisis is going to get worse in the UK. People will have to realise that mortgages should be set to long term govt bonds. Misselling wouldnt of occured
michael, singapore, singapore
Maybe if the the authorities did not be so quick to bail out their fellow public school friends who have controlled the banks then maybe someone would be able to sue them over their failures in running these banks and the share holders could get some of their money back off these people instead ?
paddy conroy, newcastle upon tyne, england
Every decade or so they get bailed out in some form or other and oddly enough each decade the bail outs get bigger. I believe it is called moral hazard.
We are now facing the mother of all bail outs. We need to make them stand on their own so that they look after their business properly.
chris, Stockport,
Ethically and economically totally wrong - liar loans now being subsidised by taxpayers!
Paul, Coventry,
Who are "them" James? the prople who borrowed from B&B and are now defaulting? The people who loaned money at B&B and kept the mortgages on their books by funding in the wholesale markets? The investment bankers who securitised mortages and sold them on to investors? The MPC who kept rates too low?
GH, NY, USA
More public money going into the back pockets of Government chronies. Let them fail.
Paul Downes, Milton Keynes, UK
Shareholders are also savers and have been encouraged to invest by government. Why is it that shareholders are also not protected especially those who are small shareholders and pensioners.
Gordon and Alistair you got us into this mess. Yvette Cooper is the biggest novice
Alan, Southampton,
When are the people who agreed loans to high risk customers going to be held the answer for the chaos they have so heavily contributed towards ? Its time those who enjoyed the benefits i e the share holders dividends and hugh bonuses , were stripped of the finacial gains they have enjoyed.
Stewart , Newcaslte, uk
This is the greatest disgrace and missuse of public money of all time.
People knowingly lied and gambled on buying property for investment that they could ill afford.
This is like putting a plaster on a gunshot wound and will only be a temporary fix.
Buy GOLD! All paper money is worthless.
James Currie, Marbella, Spain
Anyone want to buy my debt for £1? Oh wait, it's only the big banks that have over paid their staff and recklessly lent that get let off the hook.
Farrukh, Woking,
Why should taxpayers bail out a badly run bank that has gone to the wall? If any one of us cannot pay our mortgage, Bradford & Bingley (and Northern Rock) would not hesitate to repossess the property and take you to court for any shortfall and would make you bankrupt. Bailout is wrong and corrupt.
George, London, UK
What concerns me is what safeguards they are going to put on Finance to make sure we dont have to bail them out again. Noises are being made but I want to see hard facts and figures.
James , Brighton, England
Warren Buffett invested heavily in Wall St just before the bail-out. Of course hes going to promote it, its all part of the plan.
L McKay, North Shields, uk