Rebels take on C&G faces

The Regency splendour of Cheltenham will this afternoon echo to the dissenting voices of building society savers and borrowers angered at being forced to miss out on a £1.8bn windfall.

The savers and borrowers are members of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society, which is in the process of being acquired by Lloyds Bank.

The bank is paying depositors who have had accounts with the society for two years or more £500 plus 13 per cent of the balance on their accounts.

Those who are missing out are savers whose accounts have been open for less than two years and all borrowers. C&G had planned for all savers and borrowers to benefit but a High Court judgment last June has prevented this.

Today's special meeting has been called by the C&G Alternatives Group, which will demand that the society's management try to find ways that would allow those not benefiting from the takeover to realise value from their membership of the society.

There is particular concern that widows or widowers and joint account holders whose partners have died within the last two years should not miss out.