Carpetbagging

Jake'sGran

jeffers1969 wrote: »

so in other words opinion is to close them down!! as very little hope for the future!

On Radio 4 Today programme today an American financial guru
(not Mr Buffet but can't remember his name) says that in his opinion the big companies like GM and banks should have been allowed to fail. He has moved to Singapore because of the situation in the US.

samizdat

Jake'sGran wrote: »

On Radio 4 Today programme today an American financial guru
(not Mr Buffet but can't remember his name) says that in his opinion the big companies like GM and banks should have been allowed to fail. He has moved to Singapore because of the situation in the US.

That has to be the most irrelevant comment I have seen for a while.

On topic, I would say it is worth remaining an enfranchised member of Nationwide (i.e. a member before new members had to sign away their potential demutualisation benefits). Nationwide, uniquely among the Building Societies, is a large and fairly successful enterprise. There is no immediate prospect of it demutualising or being taken over but, in the long term, I think it is very possible.

I would expect also, if you were prepared to do some research, you would probably find some smaller societies that might actually be worth something and might have a greater prospect of being taken over.

By the way, I was at one time an enfranchised member of Nationwide but I briefly allowed the balance in my member account to fall below £100 a few years ago. I seem to recall from previous demutualisations that, in order to benefit, one had to have maintained a balance over £100 in a qualifying account. Does anyone know if I've blown it? (Yes, I was desperate for money!)

Speculator

No, you've not blown it. Just increase the balance back to £100.00.

samizdat

Speculator wrote: »

No, you've not blown it. Just increase the balance back to £100.00.

Are you just telling me what I want to hear?! It's very soothing. But do you _really_ know?

Speculator

As long as you've not closed your account and reopened it, you're fine. You need £100 to become a voting member and qualify for any possible windfalls.

EarthBoy

samizdat wrote: »

It's very soothing. But do you _really_ know?

Yes he does. The £100 minimum balance gives you voting rights. At the moment you don't have such a right, but increase your balance and you will be entitled to vote next year. The minimum is important because building societies only pay windfalls to members who are entitled to vote in order to make sure that they do. There's no point in paying out anything to members who can't vote as they have no power to influence the ballot either way.

samizdat

Thanks. I actually put it back over £100 a couple of years ago.

Carpet-bagging is an interesting phenomenon, morally. I won't pretend I'm not in it for the money but I also think that the Nationwide directors talk a lot of BS about the benefits of mutuality while basically feathering their own nests in the absence of any real accountability to their members. The disenfranchisement thing has created a situation where members have no real incentive to take an interest in how the business is managed (unless they are extremely "engaged citizens").

Mardrew

Message deleted - realised I had asked a similar question a few months ago and found that thread.