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Consumers have ‘misconceptions’ about building societies

September 12, 2007 by admin  
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Most consumers prefer building societies to banks, a by Fool.co.uk has suggested, in spite of at least a third of respondents not even knowing what the different between them is.

Results from the study showed that building societies consistently scored higher than banks in consumer’s eyes. Six out of ten people preferred to take out mortgages with building societies and a similar proportion felt more comfortable discussing personal finances with one.

Four out of ten people even professed to a belief that building societies have their best interests at heart – a notion that David Kuo, Head of Personal Finance at Fool.co.uk, described as “schmaltzy”.

Whereas banks are public companies owned by their shareholders, building societies are owned by their members, but Mr Kuo warned that does not necessarily mean they provide a superior service.

“Best-buy tables have indicated that banks provide better products than building societies in three key products areas, namely credit card, savings accounts and mortgages,” he said.

The new survey also revealed a degree of ignorance among consumers. A third of respondents could not explain the different between a building society and a bank, while a quarter were unaware that Alliance & Leicester is now one of the latter.

Tags: belief that building, new survey, key products areas, best buy, consumer, society, latter

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