The Society's commitment to the principle of mutuality can be traced back to the first half of the nineteenth century. The Society was formally established in 1875 but its origins began 30 years earlier.

In January 1845 a group of people formed the Leeds Union Operative Land and Building Society.

Members regularly contributed towards shares. When there were sufficient funds, a ballot was held and a beneficiary was granted the necessary advance to buy a property. This procedure was repeated until all members were satisfied. In total, four Holbeck Societies were established and terminated.

In 1875 Leeds and Holbeck (Permanent) Building Society was founded by share holders of the original societies. By the end of the first year, 450 accounts had been opened and the Society had distributed a grand total of £16,000 in mortgage funds.

In March 2005, at the Society's Annual General Meeting, our members made the historic decision to change our name to Leeds Building Society and this became effective on 12 September 2005.

On 1 August 2006, following approval by the Mercantile members and confirmation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Leeds Building Society merged with Mercantile Building Society. Mercantile members overwhelmingly supported the the proposal at the Society’s AGM at the end of April with 97% of the votes in favour of the merger.

Products

The Society now offers an extensive range of mortgage and investment products. The Society is currently helping over 70,000 individuals, couples and families to buy a home, and is offering its savers greater value products and services.

Continued growth

Leeds Building Society is one of the UK's top ten building societies. The Society is owned by it's members - and intends to remain so. We continue to demonstrate the benefits of independent mutuality by offering very competitive savings and mortgage products and a range of other services to meet the needs of all our members. Our financial results demonstrate just how successful this formula is, making us consistently one of the very top performing societies on a number of measures. To view our latest results click here.

We are committed to bringing our members an expanding range of Internet services, including the convenience of sending secure mortgage applications direct to our website. In addition to this we have a full Online Savings service through our website. Customers now have the ability to view their balances, their quarterly or annual statements, make online transfers to previously selected internal or external accounts or check how much money they can still invest in the current tax year (Online ISA only). All this is offered through a secure, easy to use, 24 hour access service.

As well as Online Savings the site offers both Mortgage Life Insurance and Life Insurance online application systems, and over the last year we have added an Equity Release service to the site.

As well as meeting us face-to-face at our branches, customers can receive information from 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week, by calling our Leeds based Call Centre and speaking to a real person (not a message service) on 0113 225 7777. Our interest rate hot line offers 24-hour rate information on 08450 50 50 74. Find your nearest branch here.