Is it worth keeping my old Building Society Accounts

Bejay1

I have several Building Society accounts, each with very little on deposit but before I decide to close them I wondered if they might be worth hanging on to.

Is there any likelihood of the return of big payouts by Building Societies when they convert to banks or merge as used to be the case in the good old days back in early 2000's.

I suppose the same applies to my two small insurance bonds, which I had thought about cashing in after 10 years.

le_loup

Oh yes. The Building Society movement's conversion to banks was so successful and the Banking Industry so strong that I should think that you could become a millionaire by this time next year!

evenasus

Bejay1 wrote: »

Is there any likelihood of the return of big payouts by Building Societies when they convert to banks or merge as used to be the case in the good old days back in early 2000's.

Highly unlikely.

Just look at what happened to the building societies that did convert.

kidmugsy

We've been closing our little 'uns, which go back to the days when deposit protection at 100% was on only the first £2000 and even a £100 balance might be like a tombola ticket. The greater simplicity has been very welcome.

d63

assuming there is no actual financial disadvantage associated with leaving a few pounds in an account to keep it open, there seems to me little point in actually closing it as well.
for then if (1) in the future they were to come up with a new account offering a good rate of interest, likely there will be less effort involved in proving ones identity in order to open it,
and (2) since it can often confer you with voting rights, it can thereby provide you a way to get a small measure of satisfaction by putting a big X in the box against approving the directors inevitable annual rise in remuneration no matter how poor their actual performance may be.

grey_gym_sock

OTOH, keeping accounts open will create more work for your executors when you die.

Old_Slaphead

IMHO no.

I 'bagged' most BSs but now I'm down to just Nationwide and Coventry - and that's only because they offer the services I want.

ses6jwg

I think you've probably got more chance of the moon exploding than any building society de-mutualising of their own accord any time soon.

talexuser

In the latter 90s I must have had 15 or 16 small accounts and got windfalls from maybe half of them. I closed everything some years ago keeping only the Nationwide, since they are the biggest, and the National Counties, since they are the relative richest. If you have electronic id verification ok it is not worth keeping them, since I have opened and closed numerous best buys since then never having to confirm id.

Bejay1

Thank you for your replies. There was also a very informative thread 8 March 2012. Points taken I'll keep them.