Advantages: Good personal service and good rates
Disadvantages: No branch in my hometown of Walsall

...About four years ago I received the annual statement from Sun Life Assurance regarding my mortgage endowment and, being an accountant, I did a few calculations to see roughly what the final figure would be at the end of the term. I was horrified by what appeared to be quite a shortfall in endowment to mortgage outstanding! Since the returns from the policy were not going to be enough to pay off the mortgage at the end of the term I had a choice to either take out a further policy or change my mortgage. I decided to change my mortgage from an endowment mortgage to a repayment mortgage. I shopped around and found that the best deal would be with the Britannia Building Society, as they would give me a discounted interest rate whilst I remained a member of my trade union, Unison. I have also continued paying my policy with Sun Life... Read review

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Advantages: Good products, excellent customer service and honest advice.
Disadvantages: Does not offer debit card facilities (to my knowledge).

...The Britannia Building Society is only a small building society, but prides itself on being a mutual society. They are a small operation compared to the big banks, but despite this it’s a far more friendly society. Through their commitment to members they plough the money that has been invested straight back for the benefit of their members. This is why I like the Britannia and choose to save my money there. I have actually had an insight into way the Britannia works and what it is all about. Having done a week’s work experience there this year I have seen the way that they deal with their customers. There is always a smiling face and helpful advice from the staff. I was even told by the manager, who was dealing with an insurance quotation, that if the policy did not suit the customer or if he or she would not be saving... Read review

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Advantages: Mutual society means cashback, excelletn customer care
Disadvantages: Savings and mortgage rates are a bit average

...Britannia is a mutual building society, with branches in most towns. I have both a mortgage and a savings account with them and have been in several branches near where I live recently, for one reason and another, so I thought I'd tell you all about it! THE MUTUAL BUILDING SOCIETY What this means is that Britannia are not a PLC, and beholden to their shareholders, they are a society owned by the members. so when they make a profit, they distribute a portion of that as fairly as possible to all the members. The way they have devised is a loyalty scheme, whereby once you've been a member for two years (with either a mortgage, a savings account, a credit card etc) you get your share of the profits via a points scheme. The more points you have, the more profit you get, up to a maximum of £500 a year. You accumulate points by having... Read review

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Advantages: Extra bonus payment upto £500 a YEAR
Disadvantages: None

...I have been a member of Britannia Building Society for the last four and a half years. The customer experiance which I have had during that time is second to none. Other banks and indeed larger building societys (such as Nationwide) are always so impersonal, always with much busier branches the staff have less time for me and I always feel rushed. Britannia is the exception to this the branch staff are always friendly and very helpful, and I always leave feeling valued. As I have been with the society for four years I qualify for the membership reward scheme, this was explained to me just the other day when I reviewed my accounts. Basically how it works is Britannia give me a share of the profits through a bonus payment each year if I had a mortgage as well as a saving account I could earn up to £500 a year. Well worth giving the local... Read review

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Advantages: Attractive Rates of Interest, Friend Staff & Cool Passbook.
Disadvantages: Lack of Branches as there usually only in major towns.

...::::Introduction::::::::Introduction:::: Britannia Building Society attracted me when I was in town and walked passed there branch, which was advertising "SAFC Junior Savers/247 savings account". This was clearly targeted for Sunderland Football Club Fans (which was fine, because I do support them!) but I also wanted to know the interest rates. So I went home and looked it up on the internet, and it paid a very competitive 5.25% P.A. Gross! Another Good Thing About this account was because it's a Sunderland AFC account Britannia designed a passbook with the SAFC crest on it and red & white theme. Nice! ::::Opening the Account:::: Opening the account was such a breeze and took less than 15 minutes. I went to the branch with my bank account statement (off Barclays - also reviewed by me!) & birth certificate so that I wouldn't have... Read review

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Advantages: Good selection of financial products
Disadvantages: If your requesting a transfer don't expect it to be easy

...As a loyal Portman Building Society Customer I was a little sceptical as to what to expect when they were bought out by Nationwide Building Society. Nationwide claim they are "Proud to be different", and they certainly are. Although they supply a large number of high interest savings accounts, fixed rate ISA's at a whopping 6.15 percent and great value deals on mortgages I noticed a couple of downfalls as well. With specialised savings accounts customers are normally issued a passbook to track their investment records. Nationwide's Passbook is dark blue in complexion with the Nationwide logo emblazoned on the front in gold. The pages inside in my opinion are not of very good quality especially compared to the offerings of the Yorkshire Building Society and Britannia. In a passbook I like to be able to clearly see my transactions... Read review

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Advantages: Friendly - good value
Disadvantages: Limited branches

...Me and my partner have been with Britannia for almost 3 years now with their mortgage (and home insurance). We were first-time buyers back in May 2003 and they were incredibly helpful and friendly. Having a legal background I was familiar with the process, my girlfriend (at the time) was less so. Britannia explained how everything would go and their advice on mortgages was outstanding. We had toured all the usual suspects (HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland in particular, as we held accounts with those) but were very much treated like a cash cow - they were decidedly unfriendly and on occasion pushy. We finally plumped for a 2 year fixed rate discount mortgage (3.35% for 2 years - then onto their base rate) as we hadn't lived together before and didn't want huge financial penalties should things not work out. (1st year... Read review

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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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