Coventry Building Society was established in 1884 and is now the fourth largest building society in the UK, serving well over 1 million customers. We are committed to retaining our mutual status, believing this to be in the best long term interests of our members.
History
The Coventry Permanent Economic Building Society was founded in 1884 by a small group of citizens, one of whom was Thomas Mason Daffern, who became the Society's first secretary.
By the beginning of the First World War, the Economic as it was known, had become the largest building society in the area in terms of assets. Subsequent mergers in the 1970's and 1980's greatly enhanced the assets of the Society and in 1983, following a merger with the Coventry Provident, it became known as Coventry Building Society.
Coventry Building Society has continued to protect the financial interests of its members and this parallels the courage of Lady Godiva who rode naked through Coventry to convince her husband, Earl Leofric to waive taxes to citizens. It is in recognition of this commitment to providing a fairer deal, that the Society adopted its famous "Lady Godiva" logo.
How our Members deal with us
Our aim is to enable our members to do business with us in the way that they find most convenient online, by telephone or by visiting us at a branch.
Our network of 48 branches stretches from Sheffield in the North to Abingdon in the South, with a concentration of offices around the Coventry/Warwickshire area.
Our call centre operation is based in Coventry and we're committed to keeping this service local. The call centre is a focus of continuous investment, both in technology, but also in our people as it provides a vital point of contact for our many members that live outside our immediate heartland.
The Internet is now a vital part of our operation. But it's not just somewhere to go for information. Many customers now actively manage their Coventry accounts through Online Services on our website. It's also very popular as a way of opening new accounts, both for savings and mortgage customers.
Products and services
We have in recent years developed increasingly innovative solutions to meet the needs of customers, such as:
- Family 1st - providing families with young children with a compelling reason to save.
- The groundbreaking Sixty-Plus savings account range opened the door to preferential rates for older savers and we've now extended some of these offerings to customers aged 50 or more.
- Coventry First is a combined current and savings account which, unlike the majority of high interest current accounts, pays an outstanding rate on the entire balance.
- Step-Up allows a parent to include their income to be taken into account in the consideration of their child's first home loan.
Structure
The Society has over 1,300 staff of which over 75% are directly involved in servicing the needs of our members either in our branches or our call centre.
Day to day management of the Society is devolved by the Board to an Executive team.
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