Information for Members - Changes to the Bank Base Rate
(Updated 27/03/20)
In response to the Bank of England’s decision to reduce bank base rate by 0.50% on the 13th March 2020 and 0.15% on the 19th March 2020, the Society is pleased to announce that it will pass on the reduction in full to our Mortgage Standard Variable Rate (SVR). Therefore, with effect from 1st May 2020 the Society’s SVR will reduce by 0.65% to 5.30%. For full details regarding our SVR changes, and how they might affect you/your product click here.
The Society is continuing to assess the impact of these changes on its savings product range. Any changes to the savings range will be communicated to Members in line with their terms and conditions.
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
In light of the current situation, we wanted to reassure you that the health and well-being of our Members and colleagues is our priority and is at the heart of the decisions we make.
Following the latest Government advice and restrictions on social gatherings this makes it very difficult for the 2020 AGM to take place in the same manner as planned. Therefore this year the AGM will no longer be held at the Witham in Barnard Castle and instead will be held at Society's Head Office (Mutual House, Morton Road, Darlington, County Durham. DL1 4PT) at 17.00 on the 27th April.
Members will be unable to attend.
The well-being of our members is vitally important to us and we strongly recommend that all Members stay at home and follow advice issued by the Government and Public Health England, for the safety of themselves, colleagues and others.
In order for the Societies AGM to be a valid meeting, our Rules require only a small number of Members to be present at the AGM, and we have therefore asked those Society staff, who are also Members and who are working in Head Office on the day to be available to ensure we meet these attendance requirements.
Non-staff Members will be unable to acess the Society's Head Office on this date or any other during the lockdown period.
For more information and to view the 2019 Annual Report & Accounts visit our AGM page:
Our Financials and AGM 2020
Supporting you in branch
At this difficult time can we ask that you only visit a branch if absolutely necessary, check the branch opening hours before you travel, and if at all possible come alone and adhere to the social distancing guidance.
All branches remain open for cash transactions, however due to health and safety we are no longer taking coin deposits.
Our branches have temporarily suspended face to face meetings to protect both our staff and Members. We are continuing to offer telephone interviews and take postal applications for account opening and if we do need to temporarily close a branch we’ll update our website and social media.
Check our branch opening times here
Supporting you online
If you’re unable to visit your local branch, our Internet banking service Darlingtonline is available 24-hours a day. You can register today by clicking the button below.
Darlingtonline
Mortgage Holidays
Whilst everyone will have individual needs and requirements, the Society can consider a range of options to support you with your mortgage. If you would like to request a mortgage payment holiday, please firstly read through our FAQs as your questions may be answered within the document.
DBS Mortgage Holiday FAQs
We are receiving a high volume of calls and would ask that if you would still like to enquire please feel free to contact us by emailing customersupport@darlington.co.uk inputting “Payment Holiday” in the subject header and quoting your name and eight digit account number in the email, and we will respond to you as soon as possible.
Access to Savings
We understand our Members may need to access their savings during this difficult time, and we can support you with penalty-free early access to savings in fixed term or notice accounts.
If you would like to discuss if this option is available to you please contact your local branch via email or telephone.
Check our branch opening times here
Beware of Fraud
Criminals are using exceptional circumstances like the current COVID-19 situation as a chance to pose as employees of a genuine organisation, such as building society / bank staff and police officers and target you for fraud scams.
To be clear, Darlington Building Society will never:
• Ask you to disclose your passwords for your accounts
• Encourage you to move funds from your own account into a different “safe” account
• Encourage you to order and pay for UK cash via the phone or internet.
• Charge up-front fees for repayment holidays
• Make home visits to collect mortgage arrears on your doorstep
• Demand an immediate payment of mortgage arrears over the phone
• Demand payment of mortgage arrears via email providing you with a link through which to make payments.
Be vigilant and always verify any contact via trusted sources, if you think you may have been a victim of fraud please email us immediately at risk@darlington.co.uk and we will respond as soon as we can. End any phone calls you are suspicious are not from us and call us on the telephone numbers provided on our website, for more information click here.
This page was updated on 30/03/2020.