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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Advantages: local friendly mutual
Disadvantages: have to be in area for investment accounts. could get swallowed up by a greedy PLC

...I am a member of the Staffordshire and am unashamed to say I am a fan of almost everything they do. This profile, partly my own and some bits from their website should give prospective customers an insight. The Staffordshire Building Society is a "determined mutual", although nearly 100 years old, it is recognised for its progressive use of Multimedia, and is successfully managing to ride the wave of advancing technology. The Staffordshire seem to believe in the traditional values of excellent customer service, quality products and most of all delivering value for money. Although it is a medium sized regional society its combined call centre and postal operation effectively serve customers nationally. It invests heavily in its local communities and every year asks its members to decided how sponsorship monies should be distributed... 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: Very efficient and helpful
Disadvantages: No branches in London

...The Newcastle Building Society is great for mortgages. We have never had any problems with them and the service when I have phoned up with queries is very good. We have had our mortgage with the Newcastle Building Society for about 5 years (taken out via a broker) and have re-mortgaged with them twice since the mortgage was originally taken out. We live in London and there aren't any branches of the Newcastle Building Society here but this hasn't been a problem since the call centre is so good. The mortgage rates from the Newcastle Building Society are very competitive. When we took the original mortgage deal out everything was dealt with very efficiently and the paperwork was done quickly. Since then when we have re-mortgaged, again all paperwork was done very quickly and efficiently. I would definitely recommend... Read review

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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: Very friendly staff, always prepared to help
Disadvantages: Mistakes happen freqently.

...Sorry but I could not think of a witty title, so I left it very simple! I started banking with the Nationwide Building Society around 7 years ago, me and my now husband decided to open a joint account as we had been together a year by then and were ready to settle down. He already had a savings account with them so we decided it would be easier and then we could keep the savings account open as well. We had to make an appointment as we had to take in documents to prove our identity and a utility bill. Off we went on the day of the appointment fully armed with documents and ready to open our first joint account together, oh if only life could be simple! Now there are several different accounts you can open with the Nationwide Building Society. Flex Account being the main on although there are basic flex accounts... Read review

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Advantages: great small building society with a good range of accounts
Disadvantages: none

...The yorkshie building society is a traditional building society which really does seem to be there for its members not only in the range of accounts competitive intrest rates on mortgages and savings accounts but on that old fashioned thing called costomer care. I have been saving with them for a number of years and when one of my accounts became an obselte one I was alerted to the fact practically straight away and changed to the new higher interest account. This is not a building society for the carpet baggers! you sign away your rights when you open your account these days... Read review

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Advantages: over the counter transactions
Disadvantages: little reward, especially for long term savers

...I joined the Nationwide Building Society ( a mutual building society) in 1973, originally with the prospect of obtainging a mortgage when I got married. I am still a member today. The interest rate I recieve on my account is around 1% (before tax). I also have an account with Direct Line bank (a non - mutual) and obtain almost the same amount in interest from Direct Line for £6 in one account than I do for £100 in Nationwide. Although its not quite comparing like for like, (direct line takes three days to transfer money to my account, and Nationwide is over the counter, it still shows the different interest rate that can be obtained. As a member of Nationwide for almost 30 years I do not consider myself to be a "carpetbagger", but I think it's time for Nationwide to convert to a bank, allowing me to be given a reward for the years... Read review

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