About us

About us

We are proud to be part of one of the largest Building Societies in the UK, Yorkshire Building Society, following the merger on 1st April 2010. Our business is built on strong values and we have a long standing culture of giving our customers fair treatment.

As a building society we don't need to answer to external shareholders. Our priority is and always will be with our members - people like you who've taken out one of our savings or mortgage accounts.

What's more, our merger with Yorkshire Building Society means that you can trust Chelsea to look after your money. While you continue to enjoy all the advantages of Chelsea's high quality personal service, not to mention a range of accounts designed to suit your needs, behind the scenes you'll benefit from the added support of an organisation with assets of over £30 billion.

We also show our commitment to our members by playing an active role in the communities in which we have a presence, supporting charities and good causes through Yorkshire Building Society Charitable Foundation

Chelsea Building Society TV advert

In our new TV campaign we wanted to show that here at Chelsea Building Society we could open a door for you. We have a long proud history and are committed to supporting each and every member of our society whether they are savers or mortgage customers, or both!

Choosing your home is one of the biggest decisions you will make. We know how exciting it is to hold those keys in your hand for the first time and walk through your new front door.

With our new advert we wanted to show you all of the memories that are made within your home. It’s not just the front door we could help open.

Get to know us that little bit better

If you are considering becoming a Chelsea customer for the first time, you may want to get to know us a bit better. Why not read about our history to get a better insight into our traditional roots.

Find out more about Yorkshire Building Society.

View Yorkshire Building Society Memorandum and Rules

History of Chelsea

The origins of Chelsea Building Society go back to 1875, when the Camberwell and South London Building Society was formed. Three years later, in 1878, the Borough of Chelsea Permanent Building Society was formed. Over the years both societies merged with smaller societies and on 31 December 1966 the two societies merged to create a new society with assets of £36 million. The new society was called Chelsea and South London Building Society until April 1971 when the name was changed to Chelsea Building Society.

From 1966 the Society's administrative headquarters were based in Streatham, with the registered office at 110 Kings Road, Chelsea. In 1973, having outgrown the accommodation at Streatham, the administrative headquarters moved to Thirlestaine Hall in Cheltenham. On 1 July 1988 Chelsea completed a merger with the City of London Building Society, with the name Chelsea remaining unaffected.

By 2009, Chelsea had grown its assets to in excess of £14 billion making it the country's 5th largest building society. It had 35 branch offices mainly in southern England, although the direct savings and mortgage facilities meant that it could truly be regarded as a national building society.

In April 2006 a new Contact Centre in Cheltenham was opened, demonstrating a commitment to offer customers telephone support from within the UK. This purpose-built centre is designed to be environmentally friendly, just one reflection of its strong corporate responsibility pedigree.

On 31 December 2008, Chelsea merged with Catholic Building Society, based in Westminster, London. Founded in the 1960s, Catholic's guiding principles and objectives were focussed on helping first-time buyers, many of whom were on low incomes, and to give single women and widows an equal opportunity to buy their own home. Chelsea is committed to maintaining and developing Catholic's strong heritage and successful niche markets.

Chelsea's growth over recent years has been founded on providing good value products, backed up by a high quality personal service. This has enabled it to fulfil the mission of helping people own their home and achieve financial security. The Society is very proud of the fact that the majority of its lending is supported by money saved by members.

The organisation is constantly striving to improve the services it offers and welcomes all suggestions for future developments.

Merger with the Yorkshire Building Society

On 1st April 2010 Chelsea merged with Yorkshire Building Society, the UK's second largest building society. Following the merger Chelsea retained the Chelsea Building Society brands and continues to offer a full range of financial products to new and existing customers.

Mutuality

All building societies are 'mutual' organisations. This means that people who have a savings account, or mortgage, with the Society are members. As Members they have rights to vote and receive information, as well as to attend and speak at meetings. The Society is, therefore, focussed on delivering the value to our customers through excellent service and products. This is in contrast to banks, which need to both make a profit so that they can pay dividends to shareholders, and deliver value for their customers.

We do not pay dividends to shareholders. This means that, overall, we can offer lower mortgage rates and higher savings rates than PLCs.

We are much closer to our customer needs as a result of our ownership structure. Our staff know that when they serve a customer they are serving one of the owners of our business. This ensures a completely different culture compared to institutions owned by shareholders.

Our Values

Our values help to build a culture of fairness in all our dealings with customers, our staff and the wider community. We aim to live by these values in everything we do, ensuring that we give you the best experience we possibly can.

We:

• Are passionate about success
• Act with integrity and respect
• Strive to deliver quality and excellence
• Value people as individuals

Treating you fairly

We believe in providing good value, transparent products and a professional, efficient service. We also believe in treating all our customers fairly and we make sure we do this by:

• Having well trained, competent and professional staff
• Encouraging all our staff to embrace our core values in their behaviour
• Providing products and services that meet the needs of our customers
• Keeping our customers properly informed before, during and after they take a financial product with Chelsea
• Complying fully with the letter and spirit of all relevant legislation and codes of practice
• Insisting that all our advertisements and promotions are clear, fair and not misleading
• If things go wrong, handling complaints fairly, promptly and impartially
• Monitoring how we're doing through comprehensive measures and controls.

Our Values

Our values help to build a culture of fairness in all our dealings with customers, our staff and the wider community. We aim to live by these values in everything we do, ensuring that we give you the best experience we possibly can.

We:

• Are passionate about success
• Act with integrity and respect
• Strive to deliver quality and excellence
• Value people as individuals

Treating you fairly

We believe in providing good value, transparent products and a professional, efficient service. We also believe in treating all our customers fairly and we make sure we do this by:

• Having well trained, competent and professional staff
• Encouraging all our staff to embrace our core values in their behaviour
• Providing products and services that meet the needs of our customers
• Keeping our customers properly informed before, during and after they take a financial product with Chelsea
• Complying fully with the letter and spirit of all relevant legislation and codes of practice
• Insisting that all our advertisements and promotions are clear, fair and not misleading
• If things go wrong, handling complaints fairly, promptly and impartially
• Monitoring how we're doing through comprehensive measures and controls.