Quote Originally Posted by Rodders rambler View Post
I stand to be corrected but i think some of the early endowment mortgages were sold with guaranteed returns.These were soon stopped as they were unrealistic.You can't blame anybody but the sellers in that case.
Yeah...! I still hold to my belief though Rodders about people's motives. Even if they were "guaranteed" (and I've never seen anything which did use this term) then it doesn't excuse people's naivety! If I were to guarantee I'd win Kirk Fell next Saturday I don't think there'd be many people who'd believe this and (hopefully!) even less prepared to bet their house on it. (I haven't met anybody yet who's that stupid! )

Quote Originally Posted by Bladerunner View Post
Stick, correct me if I'm wrong, but are you confusing building societies with mutuals? Most building societies and banks are infact the same these days. What are different are mutual building societies which are owned by their policy holders (not shareholders) and may therefore have different financial requirements?
Well, my understanding is that all UK Building Societies are mutuals, owned by their members (i.e. both savers and borrowers). The ones that gave up their mutual status (Abbey, B&B, A&L, N.R.) floated on the stock market and sold their shares - which is why all members of the society got a windfall. There is thus a vast difference twixt Banks and (the remaining)Building Societies. I think "policy holders" applies to members of mutual insurance companies rather than building societies.

Anyway, I'm off back to running threads 'cos I feel like an interloper here spoiling C.L.'s and The Heathens' fun

Anyone keeping the score by the way...