building society
Building Society: a UK style member owned savings bank that lends mainly for mortgages, and pays its profits back to members instead of outside shareholders.
In plain English
Adaeze moved to Manchester for a nursing job and, three years in, decided she was tired of paying rent to someone else's landlord.
Her colleague at the hospital, a Yorkshire woman called Sue, told her not to bother with the big banks for her first mortgage. Go to a building society, she said, they treat you like a person, not a account number.
Adaeze had never heard the term before. Back home in Enugu, everyone talks about banks, but nobody mentions building societies, because Nigeria simply does not have them in that form.
A building society is owned by its members, meaning the people who save money there and the people who borrow mortgages from it, rather than by shareholders chasing dividends. Nationwide and the Skipton are two well known examples in the UK. Because there are no outside shareholders demanding fat profits, building societies often offer slightly better savings rates and slightly friendlier mortgage terms, and any surplus they make tends to go back into services for members.
Adaeze opened a savings account with one, built up a deposit over eighteen months, and eventually got her mortgage through the same society. She still sends money to her mother in Enugu every month through a regular bank, since building societies are not really built for that kind of cross border transfer, but for the house itself, the society became her financial home.
If you ever move to the UK and someone tells you to try a building society, they are not talking about a construction company. They are pointing you toward a quieter, member first kind of banking that has been helping ordinary working people own their own front door since long before anyone Adaeze knew was born.
Adaeze saved £150 a month into her building society account for eighteen months, built up a deposit of about £3,200, and used it alongside her salary evidence to secure a mortgage on a small terraced house, the same society that held her savings later approved her home loan.
Questions people ask
Is a building society the same as a normal bank?
Not quite. A bank is usually owned by shareholders who expect dividends, while a building society is owned by its own members, meaning the savers and borrowers who use it. Both offer everyday accounts and mortgages, but the ownership structure and the focus on member benefit set building societies apart.
Can a Nigerian living in the UK join a building society?
Yes, as long as you meet the usual identity and residency checks that any UK financial institution asks for, such as proof of address and immigration status. Many Nigerians in the diaspora use building societies specifically for savings accounts and mortgages once they are settled in the UK.
Why doesn't Nigeria have building societies like the UK does?
Nigeria's financial system developed along different lines, with commercial banks and microfinance banks filling the savings and lending space instead. The closest Nigerian relatives in spirit are cooperative societies and some savings and loan institutions, though they are not structured or regulated in exactly the same way.
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