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carpetbagging is it still worth it
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Even before the charity clause came in NW dummies voted "No" to conversion!!.(but i still keep £100 in)0
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That vote was allegedly a huge democratic scandal. Voting boxes in branches, with staff *helping* little old ladies fill in their forms........don't get me started......illegitimi non carborundum0
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p00hsticks wrote: »Britannia has now merged with the Co-op.
And sadly missed. As a long-time Britannia customer I used to get a couple of hundred quid a year 'membership bonus' (or whatever they called it), this year I got a £1.50 co-op voucher and 40p off a packet of Andrex (seriously)
I assume it was either nearly bust and had to have a shotgun marriage with Co-op or members got seriously ripped off...0 -
It will be a cold day in hell before Nationwide privatises -- it's against its whole ethos. All the previous ones have of course been failures, mostly ranging from disaster to catastrophe. Like almost every example of privatisation in this country, the customer has suffered whilst a few fat cats and (often foreign) shareholders benefited.
I voted against every privatisation (Halifax, Abbey Nat etc), ended up on the losing side every time, accepted the shares, and sold them immediately. The remaining building societies probably (rightly) think that they have a competitive advantage in remaining mutual, because the commercial banks are so unpopular and their service, especially from the former building societies, is generally so abject. I would think it extremely unlikely that any of them try a de-mutualisation any time soon. Certainly there's no point in leaving money there just for that possibility.
The people who voted in favour are probably mostly worse off as a result -- the value of the windfall having been eroded away over time by a combination of lower savings interest rates and higher charges in order to satisfy shareholders and higher pay and bonuses for senior employees -- not to mention what happened to those who actually hung onto the shares.No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions. He had money as well.
The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
Margaret Thatcher0 -
Even before the charity clause came in NW dummies voted "No" to conversion!!
Why do you think they were dummies?GeorgeHowell wrote: »It will be a cold day in hell before Nationwide privatises
I do hope so!0 -
GeorgeHowell wrote: »The people who voted in favour are probably mostly worse off as a result -- the value of the windfall having been eroded away over time by a combination of lower savings interest rates and higher charges in order to satisfy shareholders and higher pay and bonuses for senior employees -- not to mention what happened to those who actually hung onto the shares.
Nope. £20k up as a rough estimate. Money in the bank......closed the account.illegitimi non carborundum0 -
Nope. £20k up as a rough estimate. Money in the bank......closed the account.
That case may or may not be typical, but over a significant period, for the average punter, the drip feed penalty of lower rates and higher charges, and higher taxes we are all paying for the banking bale out (bigger than it would have been had demutualisation not taken place) may well outweigh the short term benefit. We have no way of knowing because we don't know what the market conditions would have been if many major mutuals had remained in competition with the banks. For me there is no doubt that the economy as a whole is far worse off as a result of demutualisation (and I say that as someone who did indeed benefit in the short term to the tune of a tidy few K). If a number of individuals have no qualms about that, because they see themselves having been smart enough to have made a bit of a killing out of it then so be it. But then they are the sort of individuals whom it is comforting and fortuitous only to have to make acquaintance fleetingly, via an internet forum.No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions. He had money as well.
The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
Margaret Thatcher0 -
I'm holding out for a merger between Nationwide and the Co-op Bank. It would still be mutual, but a different sort of mutual."It will take, five, 10, 15 years to get back to where we need to be. But it's no longer the individual banks that are in the wrong, it's the banking industry as a whole." - Steven Cooper, head of personal and business banking at Barclays, talking to Martin Lewis0
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.........................................Why do you think they were dummies?
Because they missed the chance of several hundred pounds, dont get me wrong I like NW and have A/cs with them, but Id rather have had say £800 several years ago. NW is no better now, than say Halifax, same old queues, same old trying to push you to take out stuff, etc.......................What NW is good at is the old "Mutual is best" PR.
I do hope so!0 -
GeorgeHowell wrote: »It will be a cold day in hell before Nationwide privatises
I do hope so!Even before the charity clause came in NW dummies voted "No" to conversion!!
Why do you think they were dummies?Because they missed the chance of several hundred pounds, dont get me wrong I like NW and have A/cs with them, but Id rather have had say £800 several years ago. NW is no better now, than say Halifax, same old queues, same old trying to push you to take out stuff, etc.......................What NW is good at is the old "Mutual is best" PR.
What happened to all the building societies that did convert?0
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