Hinckley and Rugby Building Society

Hinckley & Rugby Building Society is a member-owned building society with branches in Leicestershire and Warwickshire and a national membership base. It has been around for over 160 years, and today it offers two main things: savings accounts and mortgages. It does not run current accounts, credit cards or personal loans, so most people come to it either to save or to borrow against a home¹.

The society's business is savings and mortgages: its registered permissions are to accept deposits and to enter into regulated mortgage contracts as a lender³. It appears on the Bank of England's list of building societies incorporated in the UK⁴. Money held with it is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme⁵.

A mutual lender in Leicestershire and Warwickshire

Hinckley & Rugby Building Society describes itself as a member-owned building society with a 160-year history, with branches in Leicestershire and Warwickshire, where its priority is to build long-term relationships with its local communities. That local focus is real, but it is not a boundary: the society also serves a national membership base, and its personal savings accounts are open to UK residents wherever they live¹.

As a building society, it is a mutual rather than a company run for outside shareholders. The society says this directly: "we are a mutual"⁸. In practical terms, when you open a savings account or take a mortgage with it, you become a member of the society rather than just a customer. What that means for you is set out later in this page.

The society's registered business is narrow and telling: accepting deposits, and entering into a regulated mortgage contract as a lender³. That is the whole of its regulated activity. It is on the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority list of UK building societies, dated 1 September 2026, under the name Hinckley and Rugby Building Society⁴. If you want to check its status yourself, the Financial Conduct Authority's Register is the place to look, and the website address recorded there is www.hrbs.co.uk³.

Savings accounts and what they offer

Hinckley & Rugby's savings range covers the main types most savers want: an easy access account, a family of notice accounts, a regular saver, and a set of accounts reserved for existing customers. The society does not publish its rates on this page, and rates on savings accounts change often, so check its own savings pages for today's figures¹.

The society offers notice accounts alongside its other savings options⁹. A notice account is one where you tell the society in advance that you want to withdraw, and you wait the notice period for your money. The longer the notice you accept, the more the account is designed to reward you for leaving the money alone. There is also a regular saver, aimed at people saving a set amount each month¹².

Alongside these sit the Exclusive Accounts, which the society describes as "savings accounts designed for and exclusive to existing Hinckley & Rugby customers"¹³. These reward loyalty: if you already save or borrow with the society, you get access to accounts that new customers cannot open. The society also runs accounts for organisations rather than individuals, including business deposit accounts, treasurer's accounts for clubs and societies, charity accounts, and local council deposit accounts, each with its own identification requirements¹⁴.

If you open a savings account, the society provides its savings terms and conditions when the account is first opened, and the current version is available on its website. It is worth reading, because it sets out the rules on withdrawals, notice periods and how the society communicates changes¹⁵. For a wider explanation of how savings accounts work generally, including how notice accounts and easy access accounts differ, see our guide to savings accounts.

Mortgages from Hinckley & Rugby

Hinckley & Rugby lends on residential property, and its mortgage range is built around a few clear ideas. Its standard mortgages cover the ordinary case: buying a home or remortgaging one you already own¹⁶. Beyond that it has named product families for particular circumstances, which is where a smaller regional society often has something the big banks do not.

The named families are:

• Income Flex mortgages, designed around how your income is actually made up, for people whose earnings do not fit the standard salary mould¹⁷.
• Credit Flex mortgages, for borrowers whose credit history is less than straightforward¹⁸.
• Joint borrower sole proprietor (JBSP) mortgages, where a helper, often a parent, is a borrower on the mortgage but not a named owner of the property. Which? has reported that Hinckley & Rugby is among the building societies offering JBSP mortgages¹⁹.
• Green mortgages, which the society describes as cost-friendly funding for existing borrowers seeking to improve their home's EPC energy rating².

For existing borrowers the picture is different and simpler. The society offers what it calls a competitive range of retention products, meaning deals for people whose fixed or discounted period is ending who want to stay with it rather than remortgage elsewhere. It says the switching process is quick and simple, provided there has been no significant change to your circumstances since your original application²¹. So while you cannot walk into a branch and apply for a first mortgage with the society directly, once you are its borrower you deal with it directly for later deals.

For background on how mortgages work, how a decision in principle fits in, and what a lender looks at, see our mortgages guide and our buying a home section.

Mortgage advice through Mortgage Advice Bureau

New Hinckley & Rugby mortgages are only arranged through a mortgage broker. The society's own mortgage FAQ puts it plainly: "We only provide new mortgages that are arranged through a mortgage broker"⁶. You can use any broker you choose, or you can use the society's partner, Mortgage Advice Bureau. The society says it partners with Mortgage Advice Bureau to provide mortgage and protection advice, and that the bureau searches "through over 90 lenders to find a mortgage that meets all your needs"²³.

Advice given through Mortgage Advice Bureau is market-wide advice: the bureau searches over 90 lenders, so the recommendation should reflect the whole market rather than only Hinckley & Rugby's own products²⁵. The Building Societies Association's guidance notes that you can apply for a mortgage direct to a lender or use a broker, and suggests contacting the society or an independent adviser to see what suits your needs²⁶. Brokers are typically paid commission by the lender you complete with; ask any broker you use how they are paid and whether they charge you a fee on top.

For help understanding the process before you speak to anyone, MoneyHelper, the free government-backed money guidance service, publishes guides on choosing a mortgage, and our mortgages section walks through the same ground.

Who can open an account or apply

For personal savings accounts, the society's rules are straightforward: the accounts are only available to UK residents, and the society will only open your account once its identification procedures have been completed⁷. Identification is normally done electronically when you apply. The society uses TransUnion for electronic verification checks, and if those checks do not confirm your identity, you will be asked to supply two items acceptable to the society to verify your name and address¹⁴.

There are special rules for particular groups:

• Under 18s need a birth certificate or passport, plus a document confirming their address, such as a bank statement. Originals or certified copies are required, not photocopies, and an address document is not needed if a nominee is registered on the account¹⁴.
• Business deposit account applicants have the identity of the company and each signatory confirmed. Limited companies need a board resolution on company headed paper and a Companies House search; sole traders need a business bank statement dated within the last three months; partnerships need their partnership agreement plus a business bank statement¹⁴.
• Charity, treasurer's and local council accounts need a resolution naming the signatories, including their full names, signed by an official of the organisation, with the charity or council verified against the relevant register¹⁴.

If you need a document certified, the society accepts certification by a solicitor, an accountant, a bank or building society official, an independent financial adviser, a post office official, a minister of a recognised religion, or a doctor, dentist or police officer¹⁴.

For mortgage applicants, the society says it will normally check your details on the electoral register and ask for a full current UK passport, plus an original of a document such as a recent utility bill, a bank or building society statement, or a Local Authority tax bill. It explains the purpose plainly: "We do this to protect you against the risk of identity fraud and to comply with money laundering regulations"²⁵.

Banking with Hinckley & Rugby: branches, online and phone

The society's branch network sits in Leicestershire and Warwickshire, and it also operates agencies, so in person means a branch or an agency office in its home territory¹. Savings applications can be handled without a visit: forms can be downloaded from the product pages online, picked up in branch, or sent by post, and you apply in branch or by post with a completed and signed form, paying in by cash or cheque, or by electronic transfer on request⁷.

Online, the society runs H&R Online, its digital platform for mortgages and savings. Registered users can view their current balance and send secure messages, and mortgage customers can check their mortgage account balance at any time by logging in. To register for the mortgage side you need your mortgage account number².

For everyday mortgage administration, the society publishes the payment details for its mortgage accounts: payments go to an account in your full name, from a personal account, or from a business account where the payee is the business name on the mortgage, for example a limited company buy-to-let⁶. If you need to tell the society something important, including in the sad case of a bereavement, you can inform it by phone or by visiting one of its branches or agencies²⁷.

This is a society you can deal with entirely by post, phone and online if you do not live near Hinckley or Rugby, but its face-to-face presence is concentrated in its home counties. If branch access matters to you, check the current branch list on its website before opening an account, as societies of this size review their networks from time to time.

Service, complaints and the ombudsman

The society displays a customer rating of 4.79 out of 5 from its savings customers on the review platform Smart Money People¹. Ratings like this are a snapshot of how customers say they have been treated rather than a guarantee, but they are one of the few public signals of service quality for a smaller society.

If something goes wrong, the society's complaints process is simple to start. Its guidance says: "Tell us about your complaint in branch, by phone, or in writing using the below methods"²⁸. It then investigates and aims to resolve the complaint. If it cannot resolve it within eight weeks, it will write to you explaining why, including details of how to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service²⁸.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is free to consumers and can award compensation where it finds a firm has treated you unfairly. You do not have to wait the full eight weeks: once the society has given you its final response, or eight weeks have passed, you can refer the matter yourself. For free, impartial help with a complaint, MoneyHelper explains how the process works and can talk you through it. Our consumer protection page sets out your rights across financial services more generally.

What being a member of a mutual means

Hinckley & Rugby is a mutual, and building societies are owned by their members: the people who save with them and borrow from them⁸. There are no outside shareholders taking a share of the profits, and the society's stated priority is building long-term relationships with its local communities alongside its national membership¹.

In practice, membership means that opening a savings account or taking a mortgage with the society makes you a member, with the rights that come with that, rather than a customer of a company answerable to investors. The Building Societies Association, the sector's trade body, describes this as the core of what makes building societies different: they are referred to as mutuals because they are owned by their members²⁹. Members of a society can normally attend and vote at its annual general meeting, though each society sets its own rules on this.

What membership does not do is change the fundamentals: your money is protected in the same way as with any bank, and a mortgage from the society is a mortgage like any other. The difference is in who the society answers to, and in the kind of business it chooses to write, which for Hinckley & Rugby means a focus on savings, mortgages and its home region rather than a full banking service.

How savers' money is protected

Savings held with Hinckley & Rugby Building Society are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the FSCS, up to a total of £120,000 per saver⁵. The FSCS is the UK's deposit protection scheme: if a firm holding your money cannot repay it, the scheme steps in to compensate eligible depositors. Because accepting deposits is one of the society's registered permissions, savings held with it fall within the scheme's scope³.

The scheme's protection limits, eligibility rules and treatment of joint accounts are set by the FSCS itself and change from time to time, so check the FSCS website or MoneyHelper for the current position before you rely on it. Two points are worth knowing in general terms. First, protection applies per person per firm, not per account, so multiple accounts with the same society count together. Second, the society also lends, and FSCS deposit protection covers the money you hold with it, not the mortgage you owe it: a mortgage debt is unaffected by the scheme.

If you want to read more about how the FSCS works, what it covers and where it stops, see our consumer protection guide. If you have a complaint about the society that it cannot resolve, the Financial Ombudsman Service described above is the next step, and it is free.