Chesham Building Society

Advantages: Competitive Rates
Disadvantages: Only A Few Branches

...When I decided to open a savings account I had a good look around at the various options available and eventually settled for an account at the Barnsley Building Society. There were various factors why I chose to open an account with a rather small, and relatively unknown Building Society, which I will detail during the course of this review. First however I will begin with a little bit of background information first. THE HISTORY The Barnsley Building Society has a long history. In fact it was established way back in 1853 as the Barnsley Permanent Benefit Building Society. The initial aim of the company was to enable local people to buy their own residences or other freehold or leasehold property. The Barnsley Permanent Benefit Building Society became incorporated under the Building Society Act of 1874, but at this time... Read review

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Advantages: Save and help the environment
Disadvantages: Not as many packages available

...What do you do? You want to save some money but how can you wade through all of the conflicting claims of the various Building Societies? They tell you how much you can earn with your money, but very rarely do they tell you the cost of your savings. Cost? What do I mean by cost? The ecological cost of investing your money with one organisation or company than with another. It's all very well saving money for a rainy day, but what if your money is being used to finance a project that you personally might find offensive or you could not agree with? With the Ecology Building Society, you do not have to worry yourself about that because would be safe in the knowledge that your money is being used wisely and greenly. So exactly what IS the Ecology Building Society? In it's own words: " The Ecology is a mutual building society... Read review

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Advantages: Always putting memers first
Disadvantages: It's popular so you may find branches busy!!

...it is a popular branch so there is usually a queue, but even then Nationwide has come up with an innovative machine, the "fast cash atm" that deals with the majority of transactions that a cashier can thus easing the queue. This shows Nationwides dedication to offering customers the best service possible. Many of the remaining building societys are being put under great pressure to change over to banks, and members of the public are made to believe that it would be to their advantage for Nationwide to do so too. STOP. Please think very carefully about what it would mean if we lost one of our last big Building Societys. I strongly believe that a lot of these benefits will be lost if Nationwide changes to a bank, and what would I get in return?? A small lump sum payout to compensate for increased charges and lower savings rates??... Read review

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