Micro building societies... why do you use them?

Millyonare

There are 43 building societies and roughly 500 credit unions in the UK in 2023, of which 95%+ can be described as tiny.

Let's call them "micro building societies (MBS)" for now.

Darlington BS, Cumberland BS, Antrim Credit Union, and so on.

I find them fascinating, very fond of them (as British as Tetley tea) -- but never ever use them.

Do folks on here use them?
And why?

Please don't post any personal info, etc.

Simply, curious as to the "reasons" why people save or borrow with them?

ForumUser7

Millyonare said:

There are 43 building societies and roughly 500 credit unions in the UK in 2023, of which 95%+ can be described as tiny.

Let's call them "micro building societies (MBS)" for now.

Darlington BS, Cumberland BS, Antrim Credit Union, and so on.

I find them fascinating, very fond of them (as British as Tetley tea) -- but never ever use them.

Do folks on here use them?
And why?

Please don't post any personal info, etc.

Simply, curious as to the "reasons" why people save or borrow with them?

I use them whenever they offer good rates. Darlington BS used to, not so much just now. Saffron BS usually does. Bath BS is very competitive on certain products. There are others with good rates too.

They are also a welcome break from poor high street bank customer service.

kaMelo

Millyonare said:

There are 43 building societies and roughly 500 credit unions in the UK in 2023, of which 95%+ can be described as tiny.

Let's call them "micro building societies (MBS)" for now.

Darlington BS, Cumberland BS, Antrim Credit Union, and so on.

I find them fascinating, very fond of them (as British as Tetley tea) -- but never ever use them.

Do folks on here use them?
And why?

Please don't post any personal info, etc.

Simply, curious as to the "reasons" why people save or borrow with them?

I wouldn't call The Cumberland 'micro'. It's the tenth largest BS with 34 branches and assets just shy of £3 Billion.

As to the why, their customer service is almost always better and sometimes they offer top rates. One example, at the back end of last year The Cumberland offered a 5yr fixed ISA @ 5.05%. No one else were even close to equalling that rate then and they still aren't.

Bridlington1

Millyonare said:

There are 43 building societies and roughly 500 credit unions in the UK in 2023, of which 95%+ can be described as tiny.

Let's call them "micro building societies (MBS)" for now.

Darlington BS, Cumberland BS, Antrim Credit Union, and so on.

I find them fascinating, very fond of them (as British as Tetley tea) -- but never ever use them.

Do folks on here use them?
And why?

Please don't post any personal info, etc.

Simply, curious as to the "reasons" why people save or borrow with them?

Why wouldn't you save or borrow with them? Why limit yourself to the big banks/building societies?

I will bank with whoever offers me the best rates/incentives. By natural selection I have ended up with accounts with a large chunk of Britain's building societies. Same goes with some of the Sharia accounts, I bank with them if they will offer me a good rate.

Also a lot of them let you make deposits by debit card and some even let you deposit by direct debit, which is useful for getting some of the other banks's rewards/switching incentives.