CarpetBagging- The best accounts to open at each Building Society

quinlanmd

Some might argue that it is carpetbagger funds in some building societies that mean that they are in a strong enough position to survive independently.

MiserlyMartin - I am certain that there will be strong building societies around long after I'm six foot under, and the financial services industry are all the better for them. But there won't be 58 of them for the same reason that small supermarkets and general grocery stores have disappeared/are disappearing - in the main its not carpetbaggers killing small building societies off but competition and regulation. All carpetbaggers are doing is diluting the payouts to "ordinary" members of the merging building societies (and boosting their balance sheets in the meantime, which can be no bad thing).

baby_boomer

quinlanmd wrote: »

in the main its not carpetbaggers killing small building societies off but competition and regulation.

I agree with this.

But would omit the first three words. Carpetbaggers have no effect on the final outcome.

daviduk_2

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

Good now give it a rest. In these troubled times we may be using Building Societies as safe havens and a lot of you want rid of them for a few hundred quid if you are lucky?! Shame on you all.

The link re FSA here suggests not all quite as safe havens as you suggest.
http://www.carpetbagging.co.uk/id4.html

susanjfp

Coventry Call Save Fixed Rate Bond paying 6.80% on £100 and can be applied for online looks like a good option for anyone who does not have coventry in their collection.

steady__eddie

Just read over on rpoints that a fellow reckons that Newbury have opened thier doors to out of towners, the regsave @ 5.9% (min £10, max £250 pcm, 12 payments/year) might be of interest to someone with an overwhelming desire to possess another passbook
It does however say that a chat with an advisor is required
I hope that this post will not upset any other MSE ers.

bristolleedsfan

steady__eddie wrote: »

Just read over on rpoints that a fellow reckons that Newbury have opened thier doors to out of towners, the regsave @ 5.9% (min £10, max £250 pcm, 12 payments/year) might be of interest to someone with an overwhelming desire to possess another passbook
It does however say that a chat with an advisor is required
I hope that this post will not upset any other MSE ers.

Newbury are actually withdrawing the reg saver on 31 July 2008.

https://www.emoneyfacts.co.uk/news/savings-news.aspx?newsarticleid=173780

steady__eddie

Oh shucks.

Looks like I'd better get my skates on then.

bristolleedsfan

steady__eddie wrote: »

Oh shucks.

Looks like I'd better get my skates on then.

The amount of first deposit cant be changed for the three year term and no withdrawals are allowed except on closure.

graduate

Hi all,

I'm new to this concept of carpetbagging and just wanted some advise. I have been a member of Nationwide for about the last 8 years. This year I cashed in some bonds etc. that I have had with them for the last 3-4 years and can't really see myself taking out any other products for the next few years. I still have an flex account (for holidays) and an e-savings account that is still open.

1. I am right in thinking that I only need to keep £100 in the e-savings to be eligible for any windfalls?
2. How long do you generally need to have been with a building society?
3. Can I just leave the £100 in the account or does there need to be a history of transactions? I.e. do I need to keep moving money into and out of the account?

Sorry if these are really basic questions and any help would be greatly appreciated!:D

quinlanmd

1. Yes
2. Depends, but payments in the past have generally been made to all members who qualify to vote as at the date any merger is announced.
3. There doesn't need to be a history of transactions, although it may be wise to pass through a transaction once every couple of years to ensure that the Nationwide don't convert your account to dormant status.

By the way, seeing as you are asking about carpetbagging, the Nationwide is in my opinion the building society that is least likely to see any kind of conversion/merger payments given that it is by far the largest building society (hence no merger payments are likely as the smaller society in any merger tends to distribute merger payments) and is highly unlikely to convert to "plc" status any time soon (given the experience of other societies in the past and Nationwide being able to play on its mutual status).

However, as I am sure you are aware, it is in any case worth keeping an account open (with a decent interest rate) so that you can take advantage of any good preferential existing member offers and avoid having to resubmit identification documents should you open another account in the future.