Posted on 12/18/2011 6:21:15 PM PST by kristinn
......are Hit by Financial Oblivion
Evacuation plans for British expats stranded in Spain and Portugal if their banking systems collapse are being drawn up by the Foreign Office.
The contingency plans are being put in place to help thousands of Britons if they were unable to get to their money in the event of a catastrophic banking collapse in two of the most vulnerable eurozone economies.
Around one million British expats live in Spain, particularly around Marbella and Malaga, and some 50,000 in Portugal.
The Foreign Office is concerned that those who have invested savings in their adopted countries would face losing their homes if banks called in loans and they were unable to access money.
Last week ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded 10 Spanish banks, including Banco Popular.
Among options being considered for a 'nightmare scenario' include sending planes, ships and coaches to evacuate expats - some through Gibraltar.
Small loans could also be made available to stranded Britons and pressure would be exerted on the Spanish and Portuguese governments to allow access to funds to pay for everyday essentials.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
...and I don’t recall the location details, sorry.
Long term, that would help, and medium term, it might help. Short term, when the ATMs and banks are closed, and the banking networks are offline, so your Barclays Bank debit card won't work on the Iberian Peninsula, even though you have Pounds Sterling in your Barclays account, back in Britain, it won't make a bit of difference.
You live on the Iberian Peninsula and leave yourself SHORT of funds? You forget when the bank closes? You don't have a stash of cash in a safe in your cheaper-than-dirt Iberian Peninsula home? You have NO friends to borrow a few bucks from? You rely on a DEBIT CARD in Spain or Portugal? You have no credit card with which you can buy food, gas or medicine? You have NO ONE to call in Britain to say: Get me the HELL outta here....no money available!! No plan B?? No gold jewelry to barter with? All expats have some barter-gold!
Too dumb to live. No sympathy.
Attentions will turn to our US debt again next year, and next year comes very quickly.
I don't think you understand. If the wheels come off the Euro suddenly, there may be a period where neither plastic, nor cash, at least Euros, is accepted. Calling won't help when the person you call cannot wire you money, or make a credit card payment for you, because the banking/credit card networks are shut down in Spain. And no, the million plus expats don't have a couple of billion Pounds in cash in the pocket of their winter coats. Some will make adequate provisions, many will not. And leaving them take their chances in Spanish bread lines won't win the Government any votes.
Are they gonna evacuate them out of Gibraltar ?
Really? Are you serious?
By that reasoning, ANYBODY making 25K a year at age 20 can be considered a millionaire, as they will make that much by age 60.
I like your thinking.......EVERYBODY is a millionaire.......let the good times roll!
I wouldn't expect as much from U.S. pols. "Yer on yer own. Too bad, so sad."
I have been saying for decades, that gold will not be so valuble. It is lead that will be more valuble, the kind with a powder charge behind it.
They're 100% Conservative voters, that's why.
why? Because most Brits settled in Galicia etc. for the lovely weather. It’s like they moved completely there — there are British colonies!
Gee whiz, some of my ancestors Moved To Galicia about 2700 years ago, then a bunch from there went to Scota and Britain 300 or so years later, then a bunch moved from there to Brittany about 900 years later, then back to Spain about 300 years after that, then to America 800 years later, and never looked back ~ but you’re right about the climate around the Bay of Biscay ~ it’s a tad nicer than Scotland or someplace like that Fur Shur.
why did they move from Brittany to Spain in the year 800?
I believe there are limits on the total amounts of some currencies you can transfer internationally, or the frequency.
I know if you are working overseas from the US, you want to keep all of your money local, so you can control what Uncle Barak will tax.
There's a fellow in Valladolid with a surname similar to my own ~ and he lives next to the royal palace. I gather his ancestors came there from both Cornwall and Brittany. Numerous Spanish surnames are actually complete sentences in Gaelic ~ usually related to what position you would take in an advancing line of knights on the field of battle.
Simplest example is "SALINAS" At first it looks like it has something to do with "salt" because of the "Salin" part. In reality it's "Sa" = Flag, and "Linas" = Line of March. This is the noble who would hold the marker flag at the END of the line as the heavily armed knights rode into the fray.
Eventually enough "French", "Breton" and "Cornish" knights came to Spain to kill Moslems that they won, and by the time Ferdinand and Isabella came around (themselves descendants of French noble families heavily intermarried with the Breton nobility) the Christian forces made one last push and crushed the Moslem resistance.
That ended in 1492, Columbus got his financing, America's discovery was announced, and that's where we come into the picture.
I do understand. Now you've just UPPED the discussion of Brit expats having some cash problems into a European-wide crisis. That's NOT what my point was about.
Any expat with ANY modicum of brains who leaves his homeland to buy in another country ahouls always have enough financial advice from all concerned to know what lies ahead and to plan accordingly.
Brits AND Americans have been buying places for a LONG time and they actually DO have things figured out. I know it might be hard for you to believe it, but they do.
At least the Brits are going to Spain where there are first class doctors and medical facilities. Many Americans retire and buy in Mexico. I would put my pennies into Spain before Mexico.
But, ya never know, a huge asteroid may hit Spain and ALL the banks would close!!! My gawd, hennypenny, what would they do then?
The wheels come off the Euro suddenly???? What ARE you thinking? Watch out! The sky is falling!!
1. I can understand moving to warmer climes.
2. My opinion is that the Brits do well living overseas. They have had a lot of history doing that...and they stick together
Well, financially dicey or not, Britain is a first-class nation where people do well enough to have the opportunity to retire to another country. A country has to be pretty stable for that.
As for "standard-of-comparison" -- I don't know what you mean. The Brits may NOT move their assets to Spain. They may hedge their bets. I imagine there are all sorts of deals and management schemes to keep their funds, retirements, etc. safe. At least they have retirement. Mexico does NOT have the concept of retirement. When you stop working, you stop getting money.
The tax code there in Britain is a bear. It's the main reason why the British colonists rebelled and became America...if I remember the Declaration and the King George part with taxes.
From what I've read the Brits are the biggest investors in the USA. They know a good thing when they see it.
2. —> yes, for the permanent Brit settlers who’ve moved there, these are generally elder folks, and dare I say it, among the more cultured. The itinerant Brits who visit the continent tend to be drunken yobs who come there to drink and be drunk for a weekend or two and then head back. The ones we’re talking about here are those who in a way wanted to escape these yobs OR some who cater to those yobs (bar owners etc)
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