Brittania Building Society

Mrsmoneypenny

My kids all have Britannia savings account, they have about 250-300 each in their accounts and have had the accounts with varying amounts in for 17-25 years. They have told me that there is talk of them becoming part of another building society and wanted to know whether they would be getting a bonus from them.

When they say bonus, I think that could be interpreted as cash/shares.

Is there any news on this? To be honest I havent seen or heard that there is a take over, but I havent got an account with them. However, I do think that at this particular time it would be a very brave bank/building society that gave away money.

quietishone

This was quite big news about a week ago. There will not be any bonuses paid if it goes ahead however. More information here- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7841581.stm

Milarky

There's the small matter of the vote that has to be approved by Britannia members first - something which the heads of both organisations are clearly taking for granted when they glibly talk about this proposed merger as if it already a done deal.

(Of course they'll get the votes - because the average building society member always votes in line with what the management tells them is in their best interests)

baby_boomer

Not only will you not be getting a bonus / winfall, the current rate on your kids' accounts is a pathetic 1.75% which they can easily beat elsewhere - and should, ASAP.

thor

Milarky wrote: »

There's the small matter of the vote that has to be approved by Britannia members first - something which the heads of both organisations are clearly taking for granted when they glibly talk about this proposed merger as if it already a done deal.

(Of course they'll get the votes - because the average building society member always votes in line with what the management tells them is in their best interests)

They will ensure they win by changing the rules(i.e. altering the percentage vote required) and/or making the voting form so confusing that most members won't know hat they are voting for - like the Nationwide did when they did not want to demutalise a few years ago to keep their directors on their gravy trains.

rb10

Milarky wrote: »

(Of course they'll get the votes - because the average building society member always votes in line with what the management tells them is in their best interests)

I think this is very true. When I get the Nationwide forms, I have no idea whether candidate A is better than candidate B. We (by this I mean the average building society member, like myself) don't know these people, don't keep track of every move they make, so it's very hard to know who to vote for.

Cozworth806

Also membership of the co-op is not the same as of a BS, as you can buy the card from any co-op for a quid, so keeping any cash in there if it goes through will be redundant.
My wife has £100 in there (had the account for best part of 15 years) but will close it if this does go through as found out that the rate is about 0.1%

sons_2

Cozworth806 wrote: »

Also membership of the co-op is not the same as of a BS, as you can buy the card from any co-op for a quid, so keeping any cash in there if it goes through will be redundant.
My wife has £100 in there (had the account for best part of 15 years) but will close it if this does go through as found out that the rate is about 0.1%

So why keep it if it doesn't go through if your interest rate is so low.