My first building society account was with Abbey National many many years ago and I had a mortgage with them. All no problem. For the last year or so I have gone off them. Main complaints are overlong queues in the local branch and non-competitive interest rates on savings. Also a lack of xo-ordination between head office and the branch. For example I recently recieved instructions on what to do when a savings account matured - tried to do it and the branch couldnt do it ! With so many alternatives I wont be investing there for a while.