Building Society
An institution which is owned by its members, and known as a “mutual” organisation.
Membership is usually conferred by being either a borrower or an investor of the building society.
In recent years, many mutual organisations have imposed restrictions on membership, in order to discourage “carpet-baggers” who are people who attempt to become members of a mutual solely in order to obtain some form of pecuniary advantage if the mutual should “demutualise”.
In any event, there is no guarantee that a mutual lender would ever demutualise, or if it did, how far into the future that might be and whether any benefits derived would be worthwhile.
