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Age Cyrmru is the new force combining Age Concern Cymru and
Help the Aged in Wales. Age Cymru is a member of the Age UK family.
The new force combining &
There are differences in the way that banks and building societies are set up and run.
Building societies are mutual institutions; this means that they should be run in the best interests of their customers. If you have a savings account or mortgage with a building society you may have the right to vote on some issues‚ to receive information and to attend meetings.
Banks are companies that are either privately owned or listed on the stock market and owned by shareholders. Many former building societies are now banks.
If you have difficulty using banking services because of a disability‚ your bank or building society is required by law to take any reasonable steps to help you do so. For example‚ if you have impaired vision you can ask for statements and other information to be provided in an accessible format for you. The British Bankers’ Association and the Building Societies Association (see Useful websites) have further information on banks’ and building societies’ obligations under disability law.
A convenient way of getting cash is an important factor in choosing a bank or building society and account. Depending on your needs‚ you should check the following:
If you have mislaid details of savings or other bank or building society accounts‚ there are account-tracing schemes that can help you to locate your money. If you think you may have unclaimed assets in a bank‚ building society or National Savings and Investments‚ you can make a single online application to have your account traced at the My Lost Account website (see Useful websites). Alternatively contact the British Bankers’ Association and/or the Building Societies Association for details of how to make a postal application.
Frank‚ 66‚ changed his bank two years ago…
‘I had been with the same bank for most of my adult life. In the past I had never really thought about moving from one to another – I had always kept my savings in the same building society too.
‘A while back I started to look at whether I was getting a good deal. I wasn’t paying any charges for my current account but I wasn’t getting any interest to speak of on the balance either. I switched to another account that paid a better rate of interest. It wasn’t too difficult and the bank helped me change the account over. The rate is lower now than when I opened the account but it all helps.
‘I find I quite enjoy looking out for the best rates and moving my savings about. It’s become a bit of a hobby. Since the credit crunch started I’ve investigated what protection there is for savings. Not that I have more than £50‚000 in one bank – if only!’
IG19 Managing Your Money - September 2011 (PDF 2.47MB)
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The British Bankers’ Association is the leading association for the UK banking and financial services sector. They will be able to help you trace a lost bank account.
Building Societies Association is a trade association, representing mutual lenders and deposit takers in the UK including all 52 UK building societies. They will be able to help you trace a lost building society account.
My Lost Account website offers a free service to help you trace lost accounts.
Downloads
A download is a document (like a research report, a leaflet, or an application form) that can be transferred from our website to your computer. You can download a file, view it on your screen, print it, or save it to your computer.
PDF stands for ‘portable document format’.
Most downloads on this website are PDFs. We use this format to ensure that the document looks the same on everyone’s computer (website pages, by contrast, appear differently depending on how people have got their computer set up).
Computers use a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader to download PDFs. If you try clicking on a link to download a PDF and it doesn’t work, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.
The process is quite straightforward and is free.
PDFs cannot be changed. If you need to be able to type into a downloaded document (for example, if we are offering a letter template that you need to put your name on) we will provide it as a Microsoft Word document rather than a PDF. You can then download it, type into it and save it to your computer.
Downloads will open on your computer in a new browser window.
Inside this window (below all your web browser menus), there will be a toolbar with options for you to print or save the document.
Close the browser window to return to the Age UK website.
We have made every effort to make our PDFs accessible to screen readers. Here is an overview of your accessibility options available in Acrobat Reader. Please ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Reader website to ensure that they are included in your version of the programme.You can use Adobe Reader to read a PDF out loud with the following shortcut keys:
You can also convert a PDF into a web page by following these steps:
You can convert a PDF document into a text file for use with other software and hardware such as Braille printers by opening the PDF and choosing ‘Save as text’ from the File menu.
This book shows how easy it is to save your money and make it grow.
Visit our 'Books' section for details of how to order, and for other Age UK publications.
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