Mutual building societies

itgoodson

Hi everyone.

My father-in-law suggests my wife and I open an ISA each before thee dn of the tax year with a mutual building society in case they should de-mutualise and and then we would benefit from a windfall payout.

However, I have tried to find some mutual societies on the internet, but those tat i have looked in to all want me to sign away any potential windfall to a charity fund. Fair enough, they want to stop speculators, and the charities are great

My question is however, does anyone know of a mutual building society that either a) doesn't require one to sign away any potential windfall or b) only asks that you sign away the windfall for a period, e.g. 5 years, before becoming a full member.

Or does anyone think this is a waste of time, and we should stick with the best accounts from the big-name socities e.g. Halifax

Thanks for your help

Ian

Bernard_Coleslaw

Hi

Sorry to say it, but your father-in-law is about 10 years late with that one.

Yes, there are BSocs out there that will potentially convert, however these would be the larger ones that tend to have signaways. The smaller ones may be swallowed up by others, but I'd say any potential windfall would be small. Plus a lot of the smaller BSocs would only allow local customers to open accounts in any case, or would insist on a high opening balance.

All these restrictions (signaways, high opening balances, "local customers only") have been imposed directly as a result of attempted carpetbagging by people wanting to open accounts only for windfall purposes, over the last 10 years or so.

My advice to you would be to select your savings provider solely on the basis of product. What rate is it, for what term, what guarantees, etc. If this happens to be a BSoc, fine, but if it's not, don't lose any sleep over it. It's not worth investing your hard-earned somewhere for a lower rate on the off-chance that you might get a windfall in the distant future.

Cheers

BC

davelewis

I've got some cash in the Principality Building Society for this reason!!!! Only a small amount that i can forget about. You never know - I did read the jargon sent to me and i can't find a carpet bagging clause!!

Bernard_Coleslaw

Principality has had a signaway clause in place since mid-2000.

They're an interesting example - IMO too small to go plc and too "niche" to be taken over by another Society. They're the largest BSoc in Wales and very well tied-in to the local community - can't see them being run from outside Wales.

Carpetbagging these days is not in line with MoneySaving. Why lose money by saving at a lower rate because of something that might happen?

BC

MiserlyMartin

I agree with Bernard 100% on this one. Select your product based on rate and product, if you did strike lucky with a building society that did convert then it would be a bonus, but so unlikely to happen nowadays its not worth worrying about.

Extractthecash

Try rpoints

https://www.rpoints.com - they have a mutual discussion board which is full of carpet baggers...

Not sure if the charity clauses really mean anything. If a society wants to convert to a plc, chances are they will relax the clause to get your vote. I believe that for societies that have been taken over the clause is not valid..

I'm sure someone else here may know more about this though

Hope that's helpful..

Think rpoints have a useful list of building societies, but not been on for ages, so not sure..