Carpetbagging - which b.s accounts to keep open?

ath007

i have a number of small amounts invested in Building Societies and was wondering if its worth keeping some of them open, especially the ones that have since merged.

As i understand it Nationwide swallowed up the Cheshire and Derbyshire so is it worth keeping the cheshire and Derbyshire accounts? I was thinking that if the nationwide floated then it would only give one payout to its members under the 'Nationwide' Umbrella.

Anyone agree?

Do i keep my Brittania account now its under the 'co-op' Umbrella?

Do i keep my Coventry open or Shroud and swindon??

Yorkshire or Chelsea, - not sure who the lead B.S is here.

I have others!

Arthur

neil324

What's the position with Nationwide, i know they made new members sign away rights or something but if you joined before a certain time, 1996 i think you still get a bung if they convert, any one if this is correct.

talexuser

Yorkshire bailed out the Chelsea which was going bust, so no need to keep Chelsea. No chance of anything from Britannia, waste of space. I closed both of those long time ago. Stroud and Swindon is merged with Coventry with no payout so no use keeping Stroud.

I also still have around 10 accounts with £100 or £500 in them, having made some really stupendous zero risk profits from the demuts and takeovers in the past.

Since all the societies that went public failed I can't see any societies doing so again for a generation, until fresh people are around who don't know the mistakes of the past... cf the crash of the 30s and now!!! Also they are wise to takeovers and unlikely to give out bonuses since most "mergers" are actually rescues now.

As far as I can see the only one worth keeping is Nationwide, just maybe Yorkshire, just because of the size.

I should really close the rest of mine but don't need that money so need to take my own advice

DavidHayton

ath007 wrote: »

i have a number of small amounts invested in Building Societies and was wondering if its worth keeping some of them open, especially the ones that have since merged.

Probably not. All the demutualised BS have failed in one way or another. I can't see any of the rest running to join them.

ath007 wrote: »

As i understand it Nationwide swallowed up the Cheshire and Derbyshire so is it worth keeping the cheshire and Derbyshire accounts? I was thinking that if the nationwide floated then it would only give one payout to its members under the 'Nationwide' Umbrella.

Agreed. Keep one of them open, if you want, but you can ditch the rest

ath007 wrote: »

Do i keep my Brittania account now its under the 'co-op' Umbrella?

No

ath007 wrote: »

Do i keep my Coventry open or Shroud and swindon??

Doesn't matter. If you want to keep one, then choose the one paying the better rate.

ath007 wrote: »

Yorkshire or Chelsea, - not sure who the lead B.S is here.

See above ... keep the one that is paying the better rate.

ath007 wrote: »

I have others!
Arthur

So do I, but after the Kent Reliance members effectively gave away their society to JC Flowers, I think that it is a lost cause.

Best wishes
David

dwsjarcmcd

I agree that there is no chance of getting a payout if a B.S demutualises, on top that the other reason to ditch these accounts is that they are usually branch based accounts paying paltry interest rates (even by todays standards) so they are costing you money to hold them. Ditch them and put the proceeds into a half decent (probably online) account.

laird

The answer lies in part in when you opened the accounts, generally the society with which you have the longest standing membership would be the one to keep for carpetbagging.
That is unless the newer account has better terms, if you are looking at carpetbagging then it would be a case of trying to pick one the one with the most generous windfall clause terms.

I think there could also be an argument for keeping Barnsley with other Yorkshire accounts as there was supposed to be some distribution if they did get the money back from Iceland - or has my memory failed me? Were there any other similar things to consider?

If savings or mortgages are of interest it might be worth keeping the account open as the rates applied even on accounts within the same group do vary so being able to claim membership of the more generous of the merged building societies could be good? That of course finishes once the merger is fully through, buildings rebranded and computers changed over.

sham63

When I had a clear out of my carpetbagging accounts last year, I decided to keep £100 in a couple of the 'biggies' in case they offer good rates in the future - this saves having to go through the process of providing ID to open an new account.

ath007

As a result of your kind feedback i am going to do the following. Please reply if you disagree or have suggestions... i have also taken some gen from

here.. http://www.bsa.org.uk/docs/consumerpdfs/assetslist.pdf

and here http://www.bsa.org.uk/faq/mergers.htm

so

1. keeping Nationwide(no brainer) but closing Derbyshire and
Cheshire.

2. Keeping Yorkshire and closing Chelsea.

3. keeping Coventry and closing Stroud and Swindon.

4. my co-op account is closed so i will keep the Brittania open(only £100 in it and you never know)

5. keeping Skipton, Leeds(holbeck), west bromwich, principality, newcastle, Norwich and peterborough(in merger talks at present i believe)

Arthur;)

roddydogs

"All" demutuals have "failed??

Old_Slaphead

ath007 wrote: »

1. keeping Nationwide(no brainer) but closing Derbyshire and
Cheshire.

2. Keeping Yorkshire and closing Chelsea.

3. keeping Coventry and closing Stroud and Swindon.

4. my co-op account is closed so i will keep the Brittania open(only £100 in it and you never know)

5. keeping Skipton, Leeds(holbeck), west bromwich, principality, newcastle, Norwich and peterborough(in merger talks at present i believe)

Arthur;)

Personally I'm not keeping WB, N&P or Brit but AM keeping Nat Counties

Mids_Costcutter

laird wrote: »

I think there could also be an argument for keeping Barnsley with other Yorkshire accounts as there was supposed to be some distribution if they did get the money back from Iceland - or has my memory failed me? Were there any other similar things to consider?

I have a Barnsley BS account and the message 2 years ago was that an ex-gratia payment could be made following takeover by Yorkshire BS (if funds can be claimed back from Icelandic banks).

And just an hour ago there was an announcement that Iceland's parliament has voted yes to a new plan to repay the UK and the Netherlands the 4bn euros (£3.1bn) they lost when the Icesave bank collapsed:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12485819

So let's wait and see what happens.