Credit Crunch

Over the last few months it has been reported that a number of people in the UK have lost money due to the collapse of Icelandic banks.

For Katie Watts this has meant the end of her dreams of retiring to Leicester to be nearer her family.

Just under five years ago Katie moved from Leicester to the Isle of Mann to work as a youth worker.

After recently retiring she sold her house on the island in the hope of moving back to her home town.

She sought advice from a solicitor and was swayed by a particular bank's 100 per cent guarantee.

Katie said she expected money to be with the banks for only about two months until she bought a house and used the rest of the money to retire on:

"I was always under the impression that banks were a safe place to put your money.

"I was just an ordinary depositor who wasn't there to earn great amounts of money - it was there to be safe until I bought my house."

In Crisis

However before Katie had removed her money the bank went into liquidation and she was told that her money had not been protected as she expected:

"Everything I owned, which was a house, was put into this particular bank. Now because the bank has gone into liquidation I'm left with no money whatsoever."

Frustratingly for Katie, people who had deposited money in the bank's parent company have been supported by the government but her Isle of Mann branch is not covered under this.

The situation has caused her stress levels to rise dramatically and she is now on a course of medication:

"The shock of this has left me virtually personally incapable of doing anything.

"Family and friends; I don't know what I'd do without them, they have been absolutely first class. At times like this you really do find out who your friends are."

Katie is really not sure what the future now holds for her.