Cambridge Building Society

CCC's Mortgage Providers

Established in 1850, The Cambridge has played a major role in the development of local home ownership and provided a secure home for local savings for over 150 years.

During this period the Society has never lost sight of its local status: providing a convenient, local service for savers and the financial means to enable local people to purchase their own homes.

The Society's head office remains in the Centre of Cambridge. In addition, it has 6 branches in the City area and a further 15 branches in the surrounding towns and villages.

Because of the Society's strong, local focus, it does not generally provide savings accounts and mortgage facilities outside its branch network area.

MISSION STATEMENT

"The Cambridge Building Society is an independent, local, mutual society. It aims through responsible administration to offer competitive rates of interest to both savers and borrowers; and to provide a first class service to the community from conveniently situated offices."

COMMITMENT TO MUTUALITY

The Board and Senior Management of the Cambridge Building Society believe, strongly that it is in the best interest if its members, and the community within which they live and work, that the Society should maintain its independent mutual status for the following reasons:

the Cambridge Building Society was created by previous generations for the benefit of themselves, as members, and for the benefit of future generations of members;

being mutual and, therefore, not having to pay dividends to shareholders, enables it to charge lower rates on mortgages and pay higher rates to investors;

because part of the Society's strategic objective is "maintaining adequate reserves" it does not need to maximise profits at the expense of its investors and borrowers as do the banks;

the Society is prepared to open and maintain branches in rural communities from which other financial institutions are withdrawing;

the Society is open to all members of the community and is one of the few financial institutions which will allow an account to be opened with as little as £1;

the Society does not make charges for counter transactions and other minor administrative services;

the Society supports other local organisations in, for instance, the provision of social housing and community savings and loans activities;

the Society encourages its staff to become involved in local community activities;

the Society is a significant local employer with its head office based in Cambridge;

it tries, where ever possible, to use the services of other local businesses, thus adding to local prosperity;

the Society offers a choice in the financial services market in which most of the other players are national or international plc's.
SERVICES AVAILABLE FROM THE CAMBRIDGE

Savings accounts for all

The Cambridge offers a range of savings accounts to meet the needs of all local savers.

Travel money

The purchase of travellers cheques and foreign currency can be arranged at any of our branches. Orders received by lunchtime will be available for collection the following day.

Mortgages

Home loans, home improvement loans and secured personal loans are available from all of our branches.

Insurances

We can provide a range of insurance services for our borrowers:

Home and contents
Buildings only
Mortgage payments
Cambridge Building Society is a member of the General Insurance Standards Council

Life assurance and investment products

If you want advice about life assurance or investment products, we can put you intouch with Legal & General.

Representative only of the Legal & General marketing group, members of which are regulated by the Financial Services Authority, for the purposes of making introductions to other representatives for recommending, advising on and selling life assurance and investment products bearing Legal & General's name.

Security is required on property. All loans are subject to appraisal of the applicant's status and financial standing and satisfactory valuation of the property. Loans are not available to persons under 18 years of age. The Society complies with the Mortgage and Banking Codes and is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Written quotations available on request, telephone 01223 727727.

YOUR HOME IS AT RISK IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Your information Data Protection Act 1998
The information you have supplied will be used by Cambridge Building Society for the registered purposes of: Management of Customer Records; Research; Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations. The information will be kept confidential and only disclosed in strictly limited circumstances.

Occasionally we may use the information held to bring to your attention details of products and services available from Cambridge Building Society, or from other selected suppliers, which may be of interest to you.

If you do not want us to use your information for marketing purposes please tick the box on the application form or write to us.

The Data Protection Act 1998 provides you with the right of access to your personal data held by the Society on completion of a 'Request for personal data' form and payment of a £1 fee.

Information will normally be provided within 15 days of receipt of the form.

IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT, WE WANT TO PUT THINGS RIGHT.

Our commitment to you
We are committed to providing you with a first class customer service. However, there maybe occasions when you feel you have cause for complaint. If so, please tell us about it straight away and we will do all we can to put things right.

We will investigate your complaint thoroughly and aim to resolve it as quickly and amicably as possible. To do this, we need to understand the problem. So please help us to help you and follow our 'complaints procedure' below.

Complaints procedure

Your local branch
Contact a member of staff at your local branch. You can do this in person, by phone, via email or in writing. Our member of staff will be pleased to assist you. If, however, our staff member is unable to resolve the matter to your satisfaction, he or she will refer your complaint to a Branch or Department Manager.

The Manager's decision
The Branch or Department Manager will write to you the same day to confirm that your complaint is being investigated and indicate how long it will take before we can put things right. If it takes longer than the time specified, the Manager will provide you with a progress report before sending a detailed response.

If you are still dissatisfied
If after receiving the Manager's detailed response you believe that we have failed to deal with the complaint to your satisfaction, you can take the matter up with our Head of Service. Write to: Head of Service, Cambridge Building Society, Head Office Administration Centre, PO Box 232, 51 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8FF or telephone 01223 727727. Our Head of Service will review your complaint and will provide a full and considered response on behalf of the Society.

Referral to the Financial Ombudsman Service
We are committed to resolving complaints whenever possible through our complaints procedure. If after following the procedure you are not satisfied that we have resolved your complaint, you can take your dispute to an Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman is an independent adjudicator who can investigate and make a decision about outstanding disputes. The address to contact is: Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR.

A leaflet detailing the Financial Ombudsman Service is available on request at all of our branches and at our Head Office Administration Centre.

This complaint procedure does not affect your legal rights.

FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME

Cambridge Building Society is a participant in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme established under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Payments under the Scheme are limited to a maximum of £31,700, that is 100% of the first £2,000 of an investor's total shares and/or deposits in a Society, and 90% of the next £33,000. Most investors are covered, including individuals and small firms. A small number of categories of shares and deposits are not covered. Although most shares and deposits are denominated in sterling, all other currencies are covered. Further details are available on request from the Society.