As previously mentioned, building societies were originally set up to build houses. From there they grew to make loans to people who wanted to buy houses that were already built and to accept investments from people who simply wanted to save to get a good return on their money. Depositors are not members of the society and have no say in its running. Shareholders, as members, have the right to receive information on the activity of the society, including the summary financial statement, and notification of the annual general meeting and any special general meeting. Shareholders can vote in elections for the board of directors, attend annual general and other meetings and, providing the correct procedures are followed, propose motions or stand for election themselves.
Most individuals are members of their society.
Building societies have no view on the decision on whether to join EMU, but are taking steps to prepare for that decision, so that they can offer Euro accounts if the UK joins. One way of looking at how much value a customer is getting from a financial organisation is to look at the difference between the interest rate a customer receives for their savings and the interest rate they pay on their mortgage. The narrower the margin between the two, gained by high savings rates and low mortgage rates, the better the value. Generally building societies operate on lower margins than the banks that used to be building societies. The December 2000 Moneyfacts survey of the 35 largest mortgage lenders showed that the cheapest loans, when calculated over a ten year period, were offered by building societies, which held 12 of the top 15 places.