Craven Community Projects Group is proud to be supported by

Skipton Building Society

Skipton Building Society is the UK’s sixth largest building society. Founded in 1853, Skipton enjoys a national presence represented by its 79 branches, covering Aberdeen to Plymouth, with over 600,000 customers.

An innovator in the field of mortgage and investment products, the Society stands apart from its counterparts as the parent to 19 subsidiary companies, many of which operate in the financial market.

Why Mutual Matters

Doing it for the right reasons matters
Skipton Building Society is a mutual organisation which operates in the interests of its members. It is run by a board of directors who are responsible for deciding the strategy. They act as trustees, safeguarding Skipton’s assets so that future members will have access to cheaper mortgages and higher interest rates for savers.

Being able to have your say matters
Being a mutual means that most of our customers, who have a mortgage or savings account, are members and have certain rights to vote and receive information. They can also attend and speak at our AGM. Each member has one vote regardless of how much money they have invested or borrowed, or how many accounts they hold.

Offering a better service matters
Building societies differ greatly from banks that are often listed on the stock market and are owned by and run for their shareholders. Building societies such as Skipton have no shareholders requiring annual dividends because they are not companies.

This enables us to run on much lower costs and offer cheaper mortgages and better rates of interest on savings than banks.

The smallest of differences matters
A way of examining how much value a customer is getting from a financial organisation is to look at the difference between the interest rate a customer receives for their savings and the interest rate they pay for their mortgage. The narrower the difference between the two, the better value the organisation is offering.

This is called the net interest margin and, as of 31 December 2006, Skipton’s was 0.72% - one of the lowest in the industry. Most building societies operate on margins of less than 1.5% whereas banks tend to have margins above 2%.

As a mutual organisation we recognise the importance of supporting the community. Through Skipton Building Communities, we support numerous types of good causes throughout the country, not only through financial support and sponsorship, but through staff volunteering and fundraising. It’s all about giving something back to the communities in which our members live and work.

Craven Community Projects Group is indebted to Skipton Building Society for their support since November 2006, which is helping to train and support our volunteers to work with people in the local community

For further information, please visit www.skipton.co.uk